ALL NOT LOST AFTER RIDERS LIVE THROUGH LOST SEASON
Rebuild could be quick, and 2015 could well be just a bump on the road back
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are coming off a somniferous season in which they tied a franchise single-season record by absorbing 15 losses.
Matador defence and instability at quarterback — the Roughriders started four different players at football’s most crucial position — contributed to the plight of the Green and White.
There were forehead-slapping coaching decisions, leading to an upheaval on the sidelines, and some veteran players who passed their best-before date.
It all added up to an unforeseen mess — a season in which the once-formidable Roughriders finished dead last in the nineteam CFL. Yet, there is hope. As ugly as it was, a season such as 2015 can prove to be an aberration, and even an impetus for future success.
The nature of the CFL dictates that a team can reverse its fortunes in surprisingly short order. That is also something the Roughriders have proven over time.
Examples abound throughout Roughriders and league history of teams that have performed a quick about-face. Consider, for example, the Ottawa Redblacks — who won two games during their maiden season of 2014, only to post 12 victories this year en route to finishing first in the East Division.
This season’s other first-place team, the Edmonton Eskimos, had a 4-14 record and occupied the West Division’s cellar in 2013.
That same year, the Roughriders punctuated a two-year turnaround by defeating the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats 45-23 to win the 101st Grey Cup game.
Hamilton — a winner of only six games in 2012, and therefore another example of how a team can be resuscitated if the resolve is evident and much-needed direction is provided — trailed 31-6 at halftime before a giddy Mosaic Stadium gathering that included Tom Hanks and Martin Short.
The Roughriders had come up woefully short two years earlier, finishing 5-13 in 2011 after losing two consecutive Grey Cup heartbreakers to the Montreal Alouettes.
The 2011 Roughriders were somewhat reminiscent of the illfated 2015 edition.
A veteran core got old very quickly, as did the losing. Head coach Greg Marshall was sacked after the 2011 Roughriders’ record dropped to 1-7. Four years henceforth, Saskatchewan was 0-9 for only the second time in its history before Corey Chamblin (head coach) and Brendan Taman (general manager and vice-president of football operations) were cashiered.
Had Taman been retained, he would have assuredly embarked on a reconstruction program, having succeeded magnificently in that regard after a 2011 season that included a stretch in which the Roughriders went 286 minutes 29 seconds without erupting for an offensive touchdown.
Granted autonomy by thenpresident/CEO Jim Hopson, Taman hired Chamblin — who proved to be a difference-maker in his first two seasons as the Roughriders’ field boss — and unloaded the abundant dead wood.
On the opening day of the CFL’s free agency period, Taman signed left guard Brendon LaBatte and centre Dominic Picard. Both players would become cornerstones on a top-flight offensive line that typically provided airtight protection for quarterback Darian Durant and opened gaping holes for a terrific tailback named Kory Sheets.
Sheets was but one example of the Roughriders adding an impact player in 2012. Consider, too, that left tackle Xavier Fulton was acquired from Edmonton for the low, low price of a fifth-round draft pick, and that Sheets and Taj Smith entered the equation after exhausting their NFL options.
Fast-forward to 2013. Sheets rushed for 1,598 yards in slightly more than 14 regular-season games, and was subsequently named the MVP of the championship game after amassing a Grey Cup-record 197 yards along the ground. Smith had a team-high 78 receptions in the regular season. LaBatte was named the league’s most outstanding offensive lineman.
A nucleus that was established in 2012 was augmented one year later by key free agent signings such as defensive ends John Chick and Ricky Foley, middle linebacker Rey Williams, linebacker/defensive back Weldon Brown, and defensive back Dwight Anderson.
It helped matters that Ben Heenan quickly emerged as a toptier right tackle. Heenan joined the Roughriders in 2012 after being selected first overall in the CFL draft.
In 2016, the Roughriders will once again have the top pick. Ineptitude does have its rewards. The No. 1 choice, quite the consolation prize, is a start for a team that desperately needs to rebuild its Canadian core.
But the revival of the Riders need not be a painful and protracted process — a scenario with which seasoned Saskatchewan supporters would be familiar.
In 1987, for example, the Roughriders missed the playoffs for a CFL-record 11th successive season. The 1987 Roughriders’ most-notable accomplishment was actually finishing the season, being that a buy-or-die telethon had been held in July of that year.
But while the 1987 Roughriders were in the process of eking out five victories and one tie, a template for success was being established.
Future stars such as Kent Austin, Tom Burgess and Don Narcisse joined the team. Bobby Jurasin, a sophomore rush end and a first-time starter, had 22 sacks to set an enduring team record.
A year later, the Roughriders went 11-7 and made the playoffs for the first time since 1976. The 1989 squad finished the job, outlasting Hamilton 43-40 in the greatest of all championship games.
As was the case in 2013, the Roughriders were two years removed from a dismal year when they captured a championship.
If they can adhere to a similar pattern, the Roughriders will field a Grey Cup-calibre team in 2017 — their first season in a new, $278 million stadium.
Of course, such an ascent back to the podium is not guaranteed. It will require sound management and, yes, some good luck. Durant is certainly overdue for a break or two after suffering backto-back season-ending injuries.
But the record demonstrates that a team can use a dismal season, such as the one the Roughriders have just experienced, as a catalyst for change — and even a championship.
In 1981, for example, the Toronto Argonauts won two games. They reached the Grey Cup game in 1982, under first-year head coach Bob O’Billovich and won it all the following season.
Comparably, the Tiger-Cats were coming off a two-win season when they hired Ron Lancaster to run the show, effective with the 1998 season. The Tiger-Cats came tantalizingly close to winning the 1998 Grey Cup with Lancaster in charge, and completed the job one year later.
Let’s not forget the 1981 Roughriders, who went 9-7 after enduring two successive 2-14 seasons.
So take heart, Roughriders fans. The woes of 2015 could easily prove to be a blip.
The No. 1 choice, quite the consolation prize, is a start for a team that desperately needs to rebuild its Canadian core.