RIDERS WIN IN SPITE OF THEMSELVES
Clumsy victory luckily came during game against Als suffering a huge losing streak
Unlike their old stadium, the Saskatchewan Roughriders did not collapse on Friday. But, oh, how they tried.
On the surface, it may seem preposterous and petty to poke holes in a 37-12 CFL victory — especially one that gave Saskatchewan a 10-7 record.
Remember, though, that the Roughriders had the good fortune of playing the feckless Montreal Alouettes, who expertly lost for the 10th consecutive time.
The Montreal Winged Wheelers would have provided a tougher challenge.
You just knew it would be one of those nights when a microphone malfunction prevented the national anthem from being amplified.
The rest of the short-circuits were provided by the Roughriders and Alouettes, who slogged through a dreary affair before, appropriately enough, the first non-sellout at 33,350-seat Mosaic Stadium (30,083).
The west-side grandstand of Taylor Field had crumpled earlier in the day, the result of a “controlled collapse” that was infinitely more watchable than whatever it was that the Roughriders and Alouettes served up on Friday.
Thanks to the pile of rubble that is the 2017 Alouettes, the Roughriders were never in any danger of losing their penultimate game of the regular season.
But they did lose their minds more than once.
Bakari Grant, for example, started showboating before crossing the goal-line and ended up fumbling on the Alouettes’ one-yard line. (Leon Lett, eat your heart out.)
The normally automatic Tyler Crapigna hit an upright on a 30-yard field-goal attempt.
Duron Carter, Saskatchewan’s most dangerous receiver and a rare two-way player, was virtually ignored on offence. Only the Roughriders, it appears, can shut him down.
And the Roughriders’ quarterbacking situation, always a popular topic, was a confused mess.
Kevin Glenn was doing just fine, thank you, so he was illogically replaced on two occasions by Brandon Bridge during a sloppy spectacle that had the look and feel of an exhibition game.
The third-string quarterback, Vernon Adams Jr., also received some snaps — primarily as a dispenser of hand-offs.
Once again, the Roughriders subjected eyewitnesses to the mysterious strategy of replacing Glenn when he was moving the offence quite nicely. Adams entered the game for one doomed play, whereupon Glenn returned to the field and threw an incompletion on secondand-10 from Montreal’s 16-yard line. Paging Mr. Crapigna ...
The 37 points may look impressive, but that total radiates underachievement when you consider that the Roughriders offence’s average starting point was midfield.
Saskatchewan began one possession on Montreal’s 31-yard line — and still ended up punting!
A first-and-goal situation from the five-yard line became second-and-six. One Bridge incompletion later, the Roughriders settled for that surefire dazzler, the 14-yard field goal.
The yawns continued as the teams combined for 26 penalties. The fans had every reason to feel penalized by the entire, somniferous spectacle.
Granted, the tenor of this column is a throwback to the days, not long ago, when the Roughriders were more likely to be the “12” in 37-12.
So the progress in Year 2 of the Chris Jones regime is worth noting and celebrating.
The team has improved to the point where a victory — once a novelty — can be critiqued in this manner.
The strides the team has taken under Jones — the head coach, general manager and vicepresident of football operations — were evident Oct. 20 when the Roughriders thumped the perennially powerful Calgary Stampeders 30-7 at McMahon Stadium.
Coming off such an eye-opening outing, Saskatchewan should never have led by scores of 14-6 (second quarter) and 24-12 (third) against such a sorry lot.
This one should have been more one-sided than Taylor
Field vs. Budget Demolition.
On a more positive note ... Jones’ defence was, in adherence
■ to recent tradition, formidable. He repeatedly threw a corner blitz at the Alouettes — even using Carter as an extra pass rusher — and visitors’ brilliant football minds never even came remotely close to figuring it out. Defensive halfback Crezdon Butler, wearing the No. 17 once sported by fellow Clemson product Joey Walters, registered two sacks.
Glenn threw two touchdown
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passes — giving him an impressive 25 for the season — despite being undeservedly treated like a yo-yo. His biggest play was a 49-yard touchdown pass to a wide-open Caleb Holley on third-and-two, a situation in which Montreal fell for a pump fake.
Chad Owens, 35, looked like
■
Chad Owens, 25. The Flyin’ Hawaiian caught nine passes for 114 yards and a TD, in addition to rushing three times for 22 yards.
Trent Richardson looked more
■
like the Alabama version than the NFL flop that he turned out to be, rushing 20 times for 127 yards and his first two CFL touchdowns.
Best of all, Richardson’s rugged rushes allowed the Roughriders to devour time on the clock, a humane and compassionate approach to play-calling that put everyone — the Alouettes, the fans, et al — out of their misery as quickly as possible.
For that, the Roughriders deserve the heartiest congratulations.