HOME’S WHERE THE FOCUS IS
Riders on own soil as Lions pay weekend visit
“Moderately successful” describes the Saskatchewan Roughriders early in their first season at Mosaic Stadium.
The Riders have a 2-1 record in their new home, compared to 0-3 on the road.
“For whatever reason we’ve played a little bit better at home against good teams and we’ve been able to get good wins there,’’ Riders receiver Rob Bagg said. “Really, the location shouldn’t have anything do to with the result.’’
The 2-4 Riders, who are last in the West Division, will need whatever advantage they can gain when they play host to the B.C. Lions on Sunday. The Lions roll into Mosaic Stadium at 5-2 after last Saturday’s 30-15 win over the Riders in the opener of a home-and-home set.
“Anytime you’re the home team in a game, you get up for it because you know the support will be there from the fans,’’ cornerback Jovon Johnson said. “Playing in Saskatchewan, our fans are the best in the league. We know that we’re going to get the full support of the fans. It’s going to be loud and it’s going to be hard for any team that comes here to play.’’
The Riders are better at home than on the road in terms of offence — averaging 38.3 points per game at Mosaic Stadium, compared to a paltry 13.6 on the road. The opposite is true defensively, as the Riders have surrendered 30 points per game at home and 24.6 on the road.
Both of Saskatchewan’s wins have come at home — a 37-20 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 8 and a 38-27 triumph over the Toronto Argonauts on July 29. The Riders were edged 43-40 in overtime by the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers on July 1.
The Riders followed up the wins over the East Division teams with poor performances against the host Calgary Stampeders (who won 27-10 at home on July 22) and, most recently, the Lions. Sunday’s game presents an opportunity for the Riders to bounce back against a quality West Division opponent.
“It’s one word for us on defence and it’s ‘discipline,’” middle linebacker Henoc Muamba said. “A lot of things we got hit on (for big plays against the Lions) were disciplinary things. We tried to do more than our job required us to do. The thing the coaching staff focused on was to just do your job.’’
The Riders need to do a better job of slowing down the Lions, who rolled up 547 yards of total offence. They threw for 345 yards and rushed for 202.
B.C.’s Bryan Burnham led all receivers with 131 yards and a touchdown on five catches. Speedster Chris Williams had three receptions for 75 yards, including a 49-yard reception when he simply outran Johnson’s coverage.
“I have to be more techniquesound (against Williams),’’ Johnson said. “The one deep ball he did catch, I turned toward the quarterback and I should have turned toward (Williams) so I could see what route he was running. I looked towards the quarterback and I lost him. It wasn’t what they did, it was what we didn’t do.’’
Johnson feels those type of mistakes are correctable.
“We didn’t do a good enough job of getting them off the field offensively to get our offence back on the field,’’ Johnson said.
There is urgency to the Riders performing against the Lions because Saskatchewan is falling behind in the competitive West. The Riders kicked off a five-game stretch against West foes with back-to-back games against the Lions.
After the upcoming bye week, the Roughriders are to play the Edmonton Eskimos (Aug. 25 at Commonwealth Stadium) before a home-and-home set against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (Sept. 3 at Mosaic Stadium; Sept. 9 at Investors Group Field).
The Riders are 3-26 against intra-divisional rivals since midSeptember of 2014, and are 1-12 in Chris Jones’s tenure as head coach and general manager.
“We said last week that it was very important that we start playing well and not just playing well, but beating a good West Division opponent,’’ Jones said. “Again, we failed to do that.
“We’re not going to sit there and cry about it or feel sorry about it. We’re going to do what we’ve always done as coaches and players — put our noses to the grindstone and try to find a way to win.’’