Backup QBs roughed up in Riders’ loss to Edmonton
Questions remain about the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ backup quarterbacks after Sunday’s 35-12 pre-season loss to the host Edmonton Eskimos.
David Watford, Marquise Williams and B.J. Daniels all saw action at Commonwealth Stadium. The Riders’ trio wasn’t able to generate a touchdown as Saskatchewan settled for Brett Lauther field goals of 25, 35, 55 and 33 yards.
Sunday’s game may have been the best chance for the young quarterbacks to step up, because veterans Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge weren’t dressed.
Collaros and Bridge are both expected to see more action when the Riders play host to the Calgary Stampeders on June 8 in the second game of their pre-season schedule.
Watford played the entire first half, completing eight of 17 pass attempts for 87 yards, and was also intercepted by Johnny Adam. Watford was also going against Edmonton’s starters early in the first quarter, so he faced a more daunting challenge in terms of personnel than did Williams or Daniels.
“There is a lot of film to watch and things to correct because mistakes were made,’’ Daniels said. “There is a lot of stuff that I can go back and correct. It was my first time playing quarterback in three years and I wanted to get those jitters out of the way.’’
Williams took over for Watford in the third quarter and didn’t fare much better against Edmonton’s prospects. He connected on three of seven passes for 32 yards and was intercepted by Josh Woodman.
Daniels played in the fourth quarter and completed nine of 20 passes for 133 yards, but without any interceptions.
The Riders have another two weeks of training camp to sort out which of Watford, Williams or Daniels will be third on the depth chart. None of the young quarterbacks did enough on Sunday to differentiate themselves from each other.
“That’s not in my control,’’ Watford said. “My job is to do what I can do and I have a lot of stuff that I need to work on. Whatever the coaches decide, that’s on them.’’
A positive sign was the play of the Riders’ offensive line, which provided all three quarterbacks with time to make their reads before attempting a pass.
“It was a decent first game for the guys who are new around the offensive line,’’ said right tackle Thaddeus Coleman. “The quarterbacks had time and we definitely played their starting defensive line (in the opening portion of the first quarter). (Watford) had a lot of time, but there are some things that we definitely still have to work on.’’
Terran Vaughn started at left tackle and appeared to handle the defensive line pressure in the first half. He gave way to Takoby Cofield in the second half.
Edmonton then recorded backto-back sacks by Gerald Rivers on the left side of Saskatchewan’s offensive line. Cofield settled down after those sacks.
Chris Jones, the Riders’ head coach and general manager, had hoped for a better overall performance from his team even though it had only a week to prepare for its first pre-season game.
“You would have hoped that we would have come here farther along, but we left about 10-12 veterans, and basically the entire defence, at home,’’ Jones told reporters on Sunday.
“We left a lot of our defensive leaders at home. Maybe with them in there, a few penalties could have been avoided, but unfortunately we did what we did and we brought the young guys over. I was hoping we would have a stronger performance, but that is where we are. We are not going to hide from it.’’
With Tyler Crapigna sidelined by a nagging injury, Lauther has handled the place-kicking duties during training camp.
Lauther’s performance eases concerns about Crapigna’s backups.
Regardless, Crapigna is expected to be on the active roster when the regular season kicks off on June 15 at Mosaic Stadium against the Toronto Argonauts.