By Joel Gasson

Riders working to use Kory Sheets more in passing game

Jun 21, 2013 | 5:04 PM

Thursday was a rather bland night for the Saskatchewan Roughriders offense.

Part of it was at times a lack of execution, other teams it was because of the rather straight forward play book it appears offensive coordinator George Cortez chose from, likely not willing to tip his hand much in meaningless pre-season games.

Without getting into too much detail, all training camp long heading into Thursday's game we've definitely seen a lot more trickery and more elaborate routes from the Riders in practice than we've seen in action so far.

However, one thing that is becoming apparent pretty quickly is the team's desire to get Kory Sheets more involved in the passing game. Darian Durant let it be known on Wednesday that this is something he and Sheets have been working on.

It was something we saw on Thursday as well, as Sheets had a team high five catches, and was second on the team in yards with 34.

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“We're taking proper steps to get him involved,” said Durant. “He's definitely a big part of our passing game.”

Now this doesn't mean that Sheets is going to be taking off every down and running long elaborate routes and basically become another receiver on the field. Like on Thursday night, look for Sheets to essentially be a dump off option for Durant when the pressure is getting to him and no one is open.

“When he's scrambling the ball and he can't wind up and throw it down field,” said Sheets. “To make sure he's got another option.”

Sheets admits he still has some work to do when it comes to running these routes and getting open, but if he can get it down, Sheets says it will help keep defense's honest.

“You can't really defend against that, cover the guy that's blocking and then turns around looks for a pass” said Sheets.

Of course, Sheets was still looking pretty good on the ground too, rushing for nearly 100 yards including a 52 yard burst that nearly ended in a touchdown.

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