Ryder Varga feels he’s more equipped than at any point in the season to make an impact for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in their Western Semi-Final game against the B.C. Lions.
Varga only made his season debut Aug. 1, the result of a nearly year-long recuperation from a knee injury. Though he’s played for the last three months, he’s only really just starting to feel like himself again.
“Your baseline is from so long ago,” Varga told Voice of the Roughriders Dave Thomas. “I feel good now, but maybe my baseline is still a little bit higher. I feel better every week.
“Looking back to when I first came back from injury, I thought I felt really good. But feeling how I feel now, I know I wasn’t at 100 percent. It’s a progressive thing every week. They say an ACL is really a two-year, 18-month recovery until you really feel like yourself again. Every week getting a little bit better.”
Varga, a Regina native, signed with the Riders in May. He hasn’t played much on defence at linebacker this season. Instead, he’s been a staple on special teams, where he’s made three tackles in 12 games.
Now he gets a chance to play the Lions, one of his former teams, in a playoff game.
“You just look at every opponent the same at this point,” Varga said. “It’s another game. It’s cool to play in B.C., and you think about the times you had there. But the past is the past. I’m looking forward to representing the Riders on Saturday.
“We don’t want to leave. We don’t want to stop playing football. We’re going to do whatever it takes to keep moving on.”
Though the Riders struggled in the second half of the season, they managed to qualify for the playoffs with a last-drive win over the Montreal Alouettes on Oct. 17. They enter their game against the Lions with two straight wins.
“We’re starting to click a little bit on all cylinders,” Varga said. “It was just little stuff that kept happening to us and we weren’t really correcting. But I feel like the last couple weeks … that we’re really confident in what we’ve got to do to win this game.
“We’re going to be working all week to find some stuff in the film room that’s going to help us win.”
It sure helps him feel better about his own lot now that he’s at as close to full health as possible – all things considered.
“It feels like forever ago, to be honest,” Varga said. “At the same time, the year’s gone by in a flash. It feels like training camp was yesterday for me with this team. I can’t be happier to be here and be with the guys and get ready for playoff action. That’s what we’ve worked all year for.”
