Vanstone looks at sputtering offence
The Saskatchewan Roughriders inadvertently commemorated Wally Buono’s farewell appearance at Mosaic Stadium by attempting to give him a game ball.
One of Brandon Bridge’s passes Saturday was closer to Buono, the B.C. Lions’ legendary head coach, than anyone clad in green.
Such is the plight of the Roughriders’ offence, which did not prevent them from winning 35-16, finishing the CFL’S regular season with a 12-6 record, and clinching a home playoff game for the first time since 2013.
Saskatchewan won handily despite registering a paltry 96 passing yards. The Roughriders had not won with a double-digit total since Nov. 2, 2003, when Nealon Greene threw for 93 yards in a 37-21 playoff victory over the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The Roughriders had not won a regular-season game with a sub100 passing-yardage total since Aug. 25, 2001, when Kevin Glenn threw for 83 yards in his first CFL start as the host Toronto Argonauts fell 14-11.
Until Saturday, the Roughriders’ most-recent sub-100 regular-season game — regardless of the outcome — was on Oct. 12, 2002, when Greene threw for 95 yards during a 20-11 loss in Winnipeg.
OK, one more: Saskatchewan had not won at home with fewer than 100 passing yards since Sept. 27, 1987, when Jeff Bentrim put up 99 yards in a 35-20 victory over B.C.
Quirk: Saskatchewan won three of the aforementioned four games, despite the poor passing numbers.
Steve Daniel, the CFL’S allworld director of game information and statistics, noted that since 2000, only nine teams have posted a regular-season victory despite registering 100 or fewer passing yards.
And now for the rest of the weekly Leader-post-mortem ...
JONES OWNS LIONS
Roughriders head coach/ defensive co-ordinator Chris Jones sent more than four pass rushers only 9.7 per cent of the time Saturday.
The following pass-rush data is courtesy of TSN’S great Derek Taylor:
Three-man rush: Lions quarterbacks Travis Lulay and Jonathon Jennings went 9-for-15 for 128 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. Lulay also scrambled for a gain of three.
Four-man: 3-10, 20 yards, one interception, two sacks. Five-man: 1-2, five yards. Six-man: None. Seven-man: None. Eight-man: 1-1, two yards. The four-man numbers are of particular interest. In those situations, Jones’ mastery of the Lions was apparent.
Most notable was a fourthquarter play on which Ed Gainey returned an interception for a 42-yard touchdown.
On that play, the Roughriders’ four-man rush was anything but standard. Defensive ends Charleston Hughes and Willie Jefferson both dropped back into coverage. Jones rushed the passer with Tobi Antigha (an athletic marvel who can play anywhere), defensive tackle Eddie Steele, and linebackers Cameron Judge and Samuel Eguavoen.
Although Lulay did not face intense pressure, the congestion of passing lanes presented a problem.
Lulay looked 25 yards downfield for Ricky Collins Jr., who was well-covered by Gainey and Mike Edem. The pass was high — Hughes occupied the lane between Lulay and Collins — and Gainey intervened.
Asked about the Roughriders’ defence by Postmedia’s Ed Willes, Lulay responded: “They tried to make you one-dimensional, then sit back in the zone. If you play backed-up all night, they’ll pounce on your mistakes.”
O-FOR-OCTOBER
The Roughriders did not throw a touchdown pass in October.
Their last TD toss — a 23-yarder from Zach Collaros to Kyran Moore — was Sept. 30 during a 34-29 victory over the host Montreal Alouettes.
That major was scored on the final play of the first quarter. Saskatchewan did not register a scoring pass for its final 19 quarters (or 285 minutes) of the regular season.
Two close calls ...
(1) Collaros threw a perfect pass to Kenny Shaw on Oct. 8 against the visiting Edmonton Eskimos. It should have been a 42-yard touchdown, but a perfect pass hit Shaw in the face mask.
(2) Oct. 20 in Calgary, Patrick Lavoie was wide open for what should have been a 12-yard major, only to have Collaros (who otherwise sparkled) miss a short throw.
PASSING WASN’T FANCY
Saskatchewan eked out 11 touchdown passes this season, matching the, er, production of 1959 and 1996. Only the Roughriders of 1961 (eight) and 1979 (nine) connected for fewer passing TDS.
Here’s the difference: The 1959, 1961, 1979 and 1996 Roughriders had a combined winning percentage of 20.5. This year’s edition could very well win a Grey Cup.
While backing up Glenn last season, Bridge still registered more TD passes (10) than Collaros’ team-leading total of nine in 2018. Glenn and Bridge combined for a Cfl-best 35 scoring passes last season.
Last year, Bridge threw one touchdown pass every 13.8 attempts. This season: One TD pass in 131 attempts. (He threw 138 passes in 2017.)
Worth noting: The Calgary Stampeders’ Bo Levi Mitchell threw a league-high 34 TD passes this season, or one every 16.3 attempts.
Last season, Trevor Harris of the Ottawa Redblacks and Mike Reilly of Edmonton shared the league lead in TD passes, with 30. Harris threw one TD pass every 19.1 attempts; Reilly, 21.8.
In other words, Bridge was a game-changer last season when given the opportunity.
A CONSERVATIVE VICTORY
The Roughriders’ average passing attempt Saturday travelled a mere 5.86 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
The average completion covered just 2.22 yards, the longest distance being eight.
Bridge, who threw nine of Saskatchewan’s 17 passes on Saturday, was also behind centre for a July 28 game — a 34-22 home-field loss to Calgary — in which the average pass was 4.73 yards beyond the line.
MARSHALL PLAN
Nine of Cameron Marshall’s 30 rushes over the past two games produced 10 yards or more.
Crucially, Marshall had backto-back runs for first downs — gains of 15 and 16 yards — after B.C. closed the gap to 32-16.
Takoby Cofield (left tackle), Philip Blake (left guard), Brendon Labatte (centre), Josiah St. John (right guard) and Thaddeus Coleman (right tackle), along with Lavoie, provided superb blocking.
A running game is best judged by its performance in situations where the other team knows that a handoff is imminent. In obvious running situations, the Lions were powerless to provide the necessary resistance.
Marshall gained 134 of Saskatchewan’s 199 rushing yards Saturday, when the Roughriders — despite the virtual lack of a passing game — achieved a positive outcome on 53.6 per cent of their offensive plays.
The percentage over 18 games: 46.9.
The Lions’ percentage on Saturday: 42.6.
The opposition’s percentage over 18 games: 47.7.
SO CLOSE ...
Saskatchewan was one yard away from sole ownership of two CFL single-season records.
As it was, the Roughriders tied the 1987 Lions in defensive touchdowns (11) and return touchdowns (15).
The totals would have been 12 and 16 if Matt Elam had not been stopped on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ one-yard line Sept. 2 after returning an interception 53 yards.
Then there is the case of Brett Lauther, who finished his first full CFL season with 54 field goals in 60 attempts — a 90-percent accuracy rate.
Lauther made four of five attempts Saturday, with the lone miss hitting an upright from 49 yards away. He was inches away from finishing at 91.7 per cent and breaking the Roughriders’ single-season mark of 90.6 (Dave Ridgway, 1993).
Either way, it was an exceptional performance by Lauther.