It was only a matter time for No. 33 to get going.

After missing the majority of last week’s game against Montreal, Jerome Messam had a breakout performance Saturday night at McMahon.

In the Stamps’ big 27-10 victory against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Messam came out of the gates running and kept going. He wound up with a 135-yard rushing performance on 28 carries, hitting the 100-yard mark for the first time this season.

He scored a late touchdown to cap off his impressive night.

“I know what I can do,” Messam said.  “It’s been tough the past little bit, but I’ve been chipping away week by week. I really appreciate coach trusting in our offensive line, first and foremost, and getting the call to do what I do.”

Facing the Riders brings out the best in Messam, who thrives on being able to find the holes and grind away their defence with his tough physical running game.

He’s cracked the 100-yard three times in four meetings with the Roughriders since coming over from Saskatchewan in a 2015 trade.

“It’s something about that green, I see that green and I get mean,” he laughed. “But seriously, I just know a lot of their personnel and I’m familiar with how they coach their defence and so is (head coach) Dave (Dickenson). I think we’re schemed well for them and I just went with what the calls were.”

Jerome Messam celebrates his touchdown with O-lineman Dan Federkeil during second-half action at McMahon Saturday night. (Larry MacDougal, The Canadian Press)

“He took us on his back,” Dickenson said of Messam. “I told him this week that I was going to try and get him more touches but sometimes it just depends on how the game goes. I thought he could take over the game headed into it, and he did.”

With his season total now sitting at 323 yards on 76 carries, Messam is just 209 yards shy of the 5,000 mark for his career.

“It felt really good to get out there and do what I can do,” Messam said.  “I feel like we could do this every week. When we stay balanced, teams really can’t stick with us.”