Can the Green and White avoid a repeat of 2014?
There is encouraging news regarding the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ run-and-oh-shoot offence.
Zach Collaros is concussion free and will therefore start at quarterback Saturday against the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium. As the word circulated about Collaros passing the CFL’S concussion protocol without the slightest snag, Rider Nation’s collective sigh of relief was audible.
Even so, sighs of a different description have been emitted by those who must endure the Roughriders’ alleged offence, which has eked out a mere 14 touchdowns in 11 games.
Ordinarily, such a microscopic TD total would be indicative of a team that is enduring a horrid season — a description that does not even remotely apply to the Roughriders of 2018.
A winner of four consecutive games, Saskatchewan has a 7-4 record — second only to the 9-2 Calgary Stampeders in the league’s overall standings — and has a legitimate shot at staging a home playoff game for the first time since 2013.
The 2013 edition, a championship team, was a different study.
Saskatchewan boasted a franchise quarterback (Darian Durant), a sublimely skilled running back (Kory Sheets) and a star-studded receiving corps (Weston Dressler, Chris Getzlaf, Taj Smith, Geroy Simon and Rob Bagg).
The muscle was supplied by left guard Brendon Labatte — who was named the league’s most outstanding offensive lineman in 2013 — in collaboration with left tackle Xavier Fulton, centre Dominic Picard, right guard Chris Best and right tackle Ben Heenan. Considering the personnel, the Roughriders were expected to be an offensive powerhouse, and so they were.
If the Roughriders are to win their first title since 2013, they will do so while using a different formula. Perhaps the key is to emulate the 2014 Roughriders, without that annoyance that is known as a season-ending injury to the starting quarterback.
Memories of four years ago came flashing back Saturday when Collaros was flattened by a blitzing Jeff Hecht during a 32-27 victory over the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Collaros was forced to leave the game for strictly precautionary reasons, as it turned out.
At the time of the hit, though, there were impulsive recollections of the Banjo Bowl of four years earlier, when Durant was felled by Bryant Turner Jr., and suffered a torn tendon in his right (throwing) elbow.
The Roughriders went on to win, 30-24 — a seventh successive victory improving their record to 8-2.
Yet, from a practical standpoint, Saskatchewan’s 2014 season was effectively over. The Roughriders lost seven of their final nine games, the last of which was a playoff contest in which the Green and White was intercepted five times.
“What might have been?” was a frequently asked question throughout the long winter that ensued.
Perhaps, with the passage of time, the 2014 campaign can be viewed in a different context and provide a template for the 2018 team to follow.
Even before Durant was hurt, the 2014 Roughriders established that they could win consistently — to the extent that they were touted as a legitimate Grey Cup threat — even without a top-tier offence. After throwing 31 TD passes in 2013, Durant followed up with eight scoring strikes in 9½ games. The supporting cast on offence was not as strong as it was a year earlier, but the Roughriders continued to win.
At 8-2, they had matched the 10-game pace of the previous season. A resourceful team kept finding different ways to win, at least until Durant was sidelined.
The 2018 Roughriders demonstrate many of the same traits. Although the offence is conservative and, at times, non-existent, the other facets of the team can camouflage the deficiencies.
Defensive end John Chick was a terror for the first half of the 2014 campaign. This time around, both Saskatchewan ends — Willie Jefferson and Charleston Hughes — can create havoc for rival offences.
Saskatchewan’s special teams can also make a difference, as evidenced by two punt-return touchdowns ( by Christion Jones and Kyran Moore). Dressler also took two punts the distance after returning from an NFL tryout in late August of 2014.
(Dressler and Durant were on the field together for barely six quarters in 2014. The return of Dressler was thought to be the final piece of the puzzle. See again: “What might have been?”)
So now, with the Roughriders enjoying a September surge, perhaps they can finish a story that began to unfold four years ago.
The defence is even stronger than it was in 2014. The special teams perform at a comparably high level, with Brett Lauther demonstrating a consistent ability to produce three points on the many occasions when the offence stalls in, or approaching, the red zone.
With the Roughriders being well-stocked when the overall composition of the roster is considered, the key to sustained success may simply prove to be the continued availability of Collaros — who is 5-2 as a starter this season.
Even if he doesn’t shoot out the lights, his veteran presence and winning pedigree could prevent a repeat of the “turn out the lights” scenario from 2014.