Lessons keep coming for Dyce
Bob Dyce continues to learn about being a head coach.
Dyce’s record fell to 1-2 as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ interim head coach after Saturday’s 30-27 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks. Ottawa won the game when former Rider Chris Milo connected on a 14-yard field goal with six seconds remaining.
The Redblacks called timeout one play before Milo attempted the field goal. After the teams lined up, Riders linebacker Tyron Brackenridge used Saskatchewan’s final timeout. Ottawa ran off another play before Milo kicked the game-winning field goal, leaving the Riders with only six seconds to mount a comeback bid.
“That was a miscommunication and I’ll take that,’’ Dyce said. “(Defensive coordinator) Greg Quick was talking to Brack and I hustled in late. (Brackenridge) didn’t understand my instructions. I wanted him to take a timeout as soon as they had run a play. I should have run out there a little earlier to make sure he was exactly clear on what it was I wanted.’’
Dyce was promoted from special-teams co-ordinator to head coach when Corey Chamblin was fired on Aug. 31. It’s Dyce’s first stint as a head coach at the CIS or CFL levels.
Nic Demski has done some good things during his first CFL season with the Riders.
The Winnipeg product knew immediately that his decision to run the ball out of the end zone on Saturday after Milo was wide on 46-yard field-goal attempt wasn’t among those good things.
Demski ran out of the end zone, but then returned after Ottawa’s defenders converged on him. The Riders’ first-round selection (sixth overall) in the 2015 out of Manitoba realized if he was tackled in the end zone, it would have been a safety, so he reversed his field and was tackled on the one-yard line with 56 seconds left in the third quarter.
In the CIS, the ball is automatically advanced to the 20-yard line if a player gets the ball out of the end zone after a missed field goal.
“I know that I’m better than that and it was just a rookie mistake in a bad moment,’’ Demski said. “It’s something I should not have done and I know better, but I’m going to learn from it as well.’’
Dyce met with Demski on the sideline and quietly addressed the mistake.
“I told him that first off we have to listen to instructions,’’ Dyce said. “Also there was a lot of game left and we knew that we would need him for the rest of the game. We went forward from there.’’
Dyce’s handling of the mistake contrasted to what took place on the sideline during a game against the Edmonton Eskimos on July 31, when Chamblin was caught on TSN’s cameras giving Demski an earful after taking an offside penalty.
“It was a completely different situation,’’ Demski said. “Either way, it doesn’t matter how a coach chews me out, I’m going to beat myself up about it. I know what I did was wrong. I just have to get back to the drawing board and come back better.’’
Saskatchewan’s defence forced two turnovers — both of which were fumbles by Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris — but missed opportunities haunted the Roughriders.
Late in the second quarter, defensive back Tyree Hollins dropped an interception that he likely would have returned for a touchdown.
Four plays later, Milo kicked a 46-yard field goal that cut Saskatchewan’s lead to 20-14.
“It hurts, but I’m a very positive person,’’ Hollins said. “I know the opportunity will come again.’’
Then, during the Redblacks’ final drive, defensive back Junior Mertile came within an inch of knocking down a pass from Burris to Ernest Jackson.
The 53-yard gain put the ball on Saskatchewan’s seven-yard line. Three plays later, Milo kicked the gamewinning field goal.
“It’s very frustrating right now,’’ Mertile said. “I left a lot of plays out there that I know I could have made, that I should have made. I’ve made them 100 times with my eyes closed.
“(The Redblacks) got the best of me today.’’
Roughriders receiver Rob Bagg has tied his career single-season high for touchdowns. Bagg scored his fifth TD of the 2015 season when he caught a 20-yard scoring pass from Kevin Glenn in Saturday’s second quarter. He has three TD receptions and two TD runs this season.
Bagg previously scored five TDs in 2009, when all of his majors resulted from receptions.
NUMERICAL NUGGETS: Glenn passed the 45,000 mark for career passing yardage on Saturday ... The 20 first-half points Saskatchewan scored Saturday were the team’s most all season. The previous high of 17 was recorded July 5, when the Roughriders lost 42-40 in overtime to the visiting Toronto Argonauts ... Naaman Roosevelt’s 71-yard TD reception was the Roughriders’ second-longest offensive play of the season. Demski had a 72-yard, non-scoring reception Aug. 22 during a 34-31 home-field loss to the Calgary Stampeders ... Tristan Jackson had Saskatchewan’s longest kickoff return of the season — a 70-yarder — on Saturday, and added a 42-yarder. The previous high was a 42-yarder by Steven Miller ... Defensive tackle Andre Monroe had his third sack in as many games with the Roughriders this season ... Defensive end John Chick has seven sacks over his last seven games, and eight sacks overall this season.