ROUGHRIDERS RUDELY REINTRODUCED TO REALITY
At just 1-3, all that chatter about sustained success by Rider brass is turning to ashes
The Saskatchewan Roughriders, paranoiacs that they are, closed a practice leading up to Saturday’s CFL game against the Calgary Stampeders.
Although fans, media types and suspected spies were barred from publicly owned, $278-million Mosaic Stadium on Thursday, we now have a pretty good idea of what the Roughriders worked on so diligently during that secret session.
Not defending the run.
Not covering Marquay McDaniel, Lemar Durant, et al.
Not protecting Kevin Glenn. Not being in the same postal code as Bo Levi Mitchell.
It all worked out masterfully. Bravo!
After two weeks of positivism, engendered by a 37-20 victory over the visiting Hamilton TigerCats on July 8, the Roughriders emerged from a bye week while watching McDaniel and Durant say “bye” to would-be defenders after catching ridiculously easy touchdown passes from Mitchell in a 27-10 Stampeders victory at McMahon Stadium.
Does it ever stop? On July 1, the Roughriders couldn’t be bothered to cover Weston Dressler — twice — during a 43-40 overtime loss to the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers. After the game, the Roughriders lamented coverage busts and vowed to rectify the situation.
The Roughriders rolled over a depleted Tiger-Cats squad a week later, creating a rare — and, as it turned out, unfounded — spirit of optimism.
In hindsight, the Roughriders feasted upon the still-winless Tiger-Cats before being rudely reintroduced to reality in Calgary, where the Green and White was subjected to the traditional McMahon-handling.
Back home, it was Soccer Day in Saskatchewan. Scoring-wise, the Roughriders certainly observed the occasion during Saturday’s first half.
Points: Calgary 17, Saskatchewan 0.
First downs: Calgary 15, Saskatchewan 3.
Net offence: Calgary 272, Saskatchewan 34.
How can a professional football team — even against a formidable opponent such as Calgary — be so feckless for an entire half of football/futbol?
The only reasonable explanation: These are the Roughriders ... and it never changes.
A year ago at this juncture, the Roughriders had a 1-3 record. But now, they have improved to, uh, 1-3. Cough.
The 2016 Roughriders were a team in transition under head coach, etc., Chris Jones, who was hired the previous December.
With another year to put his people and preferred pieces in place, it is hardly unreasonable to expect more than more of the same.
Subtract Saturday’s sorry showing and the offence, with Glenn handling the quarterbacking, does look better. And there are times when the defence, co-ordinated by Jones, does appear to have the makings of an effective unit.
The record, however, does not lie. They are 1-3, again, and not even remotely comparable to the West Division’s elite clubs — Calgary, the B.C. Lions and the Edmonton Eskimos.
At best, the Roughriders look like a team that could challenge Winnipeg (2-2) for fourth place and a crossover berth in the East Division playoffs. Thanks to the sideline strategies of Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, there is always a modicum of hope for Saskatchewan.
So this is what it has come to? Roughriders president-CEO Craig Reynolds keeps talking about sustained success. It is to laugh, when you look at the results.
If not for the recent bye, the Roughriders wouldn’t have been able to sustain their most-recent success for more than a week.
The minimum standard used to be a home playoff game. Now the only realistic aspiration is for the Roughriders to squeak into the playoffs, somehow, maybe.
That is not a palatable state of affairs in light of the fact that Reynolds threw hundreds of thousands of dollars and an elongated job description at Jones while wooing him away from the Cup-winning Eskimos shortly after the 2015 campaign.
For good measure, the Roughriders also added playerpersonnel guru John Murphy, who played a key role in stocking the perennially powerful Stampeders.
Those moves were made boldly, and not inexpensively.
Also costly are the continued on-field breakdowns (see: McDaniel, Durant).
It never changes — unless, of course, the opponent is a soup can.
Eventually, the Jones-led Roughriders must take an emphatic step forward and engineer an eyebrow-raising victory that electrifies the fans and validates the regime.
Saturday’s showdown with Calgary presented such an opportunity. It could have been a statement game for the Roughriders.
Well, they did make a statement, but ...