The 29-year-old had a career-high 10 tackles last week against Toronto, including three along the goal line
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C.J. Reavis is hoping to build off of last week’s strong performance — with one exception.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ strong-side linebacker had a career-high 10 tackles, a quarterback sack and a knockdown against the Toronto Argonauts in Week 12 of the CFL season.
However, it came in a 20-19 loss, which was Saskatchewan’s fifth straight game without a win dating back to July 19.
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“It felt good,” said Reavis, 29. “(But) I’d rather win than have a great game any day.
“We’ve got to figure out how to win.”
What made Reavis’ game even more impressive was that three of his stops came along the goal line.
In the second quarter, Reavis stopped Argos’ short-yardage quarterback Cameron Dukes on third-and-goal from the one-yard line, before making back-to-back tackles on second- and third-down in another goal-line stand in the fourth quarter.
“Just trusting what I see and playing fast,” said Reavis, whose team had another goal-line stand in the third quarter. “It felt like it was kind of going in slow motion for me so I guess I was just in the zone.”
And while Reavis was seemingly all over the field last Thursday, he still thinks he could have done more.
“The play before my knockdown … they ran a hitch route on me and I should jumped the hitch and intercepted the ball,” explained Reavis. “That’s a play right there that I’ve got on my mind that I should have made.”
That desire to strive for perfection is not lost on Riders’ head coach Corey Mace.
“I thought he had a really good game,” said Mace. “And I know certainly from the film and stuff that he’s watched that there’d be stuff that he could feel like he could even do more for the team.
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“And that’s just kind of the guy that he is.”
After last week’s performance, the 6-foot-0, 198-pound Virginia native leads the Roughriders in defensive tackles with 51 — one ahead of halfback Rolan Milligan Jr. and four ahead of middle linebacker Jameer Thurman. He also has three sacks, which matches last year’s total.
Along with three sacks last season, Reavis notched 59 tackles, three forced fumbles and an interception in 17 games, while earning the starting SAM linebacker job over Derrick Moncrief.
“I wake up every day grateful; super grateful,” said Reavis, who played two games for the Riders in his rookie season in 2022 before suffering an Achilles tendon injury in the season finale that year. “I pray every morning and thank God for this blessing I have.
“I know a lot of people not in my position who wish they were here. Got a lot of guys who could be here.”
Hoping to build off his strong game last week, Reavis and the Roughriders (5-5-1) are now set to host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-6) on Sunday (5 p.m., TSN) in the 59th edition of the Labour Day Classic.
And while the prairie rivalry is at stake, it’s also a battle for top spot in the West Division with Saskatchewan holding a one-point lead over Winnipeg in the standings.
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For Reavis, he’s not looking too far ahead and just focusing on the need to win this week.
“It’s a big game for the fans obviously, but it’s just the next game for us,” said Reavis. “We’ve got to win, man.
“I don’t really watch the standings too much just because it’s kind of wonky right now. Every week, we’ve got to focus on just the next game is the biggest game coming up.
“It’s been a long time since we got that W, so I feel like it’s just important because we’ve got to win the next game.”
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