AMATEUR-HOUR OFFENCE DOOMS RIDERS
Conservative playbook, poor execution send fans home bored and frustrated
By returning an interception for a touchdown, Tobi Antigha had the right idea — keep the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ offence off the field.
Antigha scored the Roughriders’ lone major, a 52-yard picksix, in Saturday’s 34-22 CFL loss to the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium.
Bo Levi Mitchell threw three touchdown passes as Calgary improved its record to 6-0.
The Roughriders (3-3), meanwhile, have recorded four touchdown passes all season.
That total, modest as it is, may represent overachievement.
Truly, the Roughriders offence is amateur hour. Worse yet, fans suffered through an amateurish three hours of watching an understaffed, ill-conceived and grossly overmatched Saskatchewan, er, offence.
What a thoughtful way to reward the 33,350 patrons who forked over good money to watch a 10-cent offence.
Facility fee? Make that “futility fee.”
In response to a sellout, the offence served up a smell-out — stinking out the joint from the opening series until the merciful end of the somniferous spectacle. So much for that refreshing newstadium fragrance.
Appropriately, Saskatchewan’s final play from scrimmage was a dropped pass by Shaq Evans — who is playing the wide receiver position at which Duron Carter, a CFL all-star last season, should be showcased.
But obstinately, illogically and intractably, Roughriders head coach and general manager Chris Jones persists in playing one of the league’s premier offensive weapons on defence.
This is akin to asking Beyoncé to sing Turkey In The Straw.
Carter has performed commendably as a defensive back, but that’s not the point. The offence is woeful and Carter, who could help, matters is playing cornerback.
Saskatchewan continues to move the football at a centipedal clip without its starting quarterback, the concussed Zach Collaros.
Brandon Bridge, the next man up, clearly isn’t ready for extended front-line duty.
He missed open receivers on Saturday, and at one point, seemed determined to knock over one would-be pass-catcher by hitting him with a bullet from short range. It was right out of the Jack Ruby Football Academy. No touch. No touchdowns. “Brandon did not throw the ball exceptional tonight,” said Jones, having watched some passes that were seemingly intended for Whitmore Park.
Even when Carter was used as a receiver, following an injury to two-time 1,000-yard man Naaman Roosevelt, No. 89 was generally ignored.
The fans, for their part, were generally bored.
For some reason, the quarterback draw on second-and-15 doesn’t electrify the masses. Neither do passes that travel an average of 4.73 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. (Nine of the Roughriders’ 30 passes were to a receiver who was behind the line of scrimmage. Smelling salts, please.)
Let’s not forget the repeated time count violations!
Oh, and how about the exhilarating second-and-seven handoff to Tre Mason with 10 minutes left and the Roughriders trailing by 12 points?
Mason erupted for a three-yard gain — a trey for Tre! — and the fans had the temerity to react to a non-loss (see also: non-fumble) by booing. The Roughriders try to revolutionize the game, and what thanks do they get?
For sheer madcap comedy, it was hard to rival the Keystone Kwarterbacks. Bridge’s longest pass travelled 18 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. He’s allegedly blessed with a strong throwing arm, but who could tell that from this performance?
Bridge was replaced briefly by David Watford. On Watfords’s second play at the controls, he rolled to his left — pretending to be taking off on a designed run — before coming to a screeching halt and throwing 25 yards downfield to nobody in particular. The gallery didn’t sound impressed.
The fans’ discontent was also evident when the Roughriders were in a first-and-14 predicament on the three-yard line.
Trailing 31-22 midway through the fourth quarter, the Roughriders brought in some additional blocking and, of course, handed off.
Four yards on the play. Cue the boos.
Bridge, uneasy in the pocket, then ran for two yards on second-and-10. More booing.
“I’ve never seen a more conservative game plan by Sask offence,” CFL career receptions leader Nik Lewis wrote on Twitter (@nikel18). “First down is run or screen. No balls over 10 yards.”
Another erstwhile CFL receiver, Marquay McDaniel (@_McDaniel16), added: “No trust in Bridge. I’ve never seen so many screens thrown in a game.”
The Roughriders’ offensive strategy is so dumbed down, they may be working from a pop-up playbook.
Hold on. Playbook? Pamphlet, maybe.
“I’ve heard of vanilla offences,” valued reader Rod Fink said in an email, “but tapioca?”
Offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo will absorb much of the heat, and criticism is certainly warranted.
But consider the bind in which McAdoo finds himself.
His most dangerous receiver, Carter, is primarily a defensive player.
The Roughriders’ one established CFL quarterback is concussed.
By the fourth quarter, Roosevelt was unavailable.
The weaponry, overall, is not of professional calibre. (Are the receivers wearing oven mitts?)
The Roughriders supposedly employ a small army of scouts. Much of the off-season is spent conducting free agent camps. And, for some reason, the team also auditioned a multitude of prospects at training camp.
And yet, the team’s brain trust cannot find a cornerback who is better than a converted receiver? Or, failing that, a receiver who can even approximate Carter’s production? Or a quarterback who is capable of completing a rudimentary pass or demonstrating some degree of comfort in the pocket?
The words that follow aren’t especially comforting, either.
“I can tell Edmonton right now,” Jones said, looking ahead to Thursday’s road game against the Eskimos, “we’re going to run the football, we’re going to be running Sally, we’re going to throw screens, and that’s what we’re doing to do.
“We’re going to get good at that, and we’re going to play great defence and special teams.”
(Question: If they end up running Sally, will she fumble, too?)
The Roughriders’ offence is so predictable that Jones is already telling the Eskimos what he intends to do. Punt, in other words.
His defence, by contrast, is capable of greatness.
On the surface, 34 points surrendered doesn’t reflect positively on the defence, but the raw total is most deceiving.
One Calgary touchdown was scored on a 78-yard punt return by Terry Williams. (In the Roughriders’ previous game, they surrendered a 98-yard punt return to the Hamilton TigerCats’ Frankie Williams. The way things are trending, the Eskimos might want to bring another Williams — Gizmo — out of retirement for Thursday’s game.)
Calgary’s first two majors came after Saskatchewan turned over the ball on its 41- and 40-yard lines.
The Stampeders, who led 24-0 after 15 minutes, began another first-quarter possession on Saskatchewan’s 43-yard line and ended up settling for a 52-yard field goal.
On the night, Calgary was limited to 12 first downs (two fewer than Saskatchewan) and just 227 yards of net offence.
The Roughriders, for all their foibles and fumbles, actually out-gained the Stampeders by 12 yards.
In the final analysis, let it be said that the Riders effectively shut down both teams’ offences. Please, hold your applause.