Long ball connection continues to elude Roughriders

CALGARY Cody Fajardo doesn't have the answer to the Saskatchewan Roughriders' challenges when it comes to completing long passes.

The CFL team's franchise quarterback just knows the Riders won't be successful if they continue to rely on short and intermediate passes.

“We can't go down the field dinking and dunking the whole time because it's very hard as an offence to do that,” Fajardo said after Saturday's 23-17 CFL loss to the Calgary Stampeders at Mcmahon Stadium.

“It takes one bad throw, one dropped pass or one sack and you're out of your game plan. We've had to work so hard our whole season for touchdowns because the deep ball isn't there.”

On Saturday, Fajardo engineered drives of 11 and 15 plays that ended with Brett Lauther field goals of 23 and 27 yards, respectively. Another 11-play drive stalled, resulting in a single off the right foot of punter Jon Ryan.

The only quick-strike potential was demonstrated on a four-play, 97-yard march that included a 71yard completion to Kian Schaffer-baker, who caught a deep pass down the left sideline. William Powell, who had opened the drive with a 22-yard run, concluded the possession with a four-yard TD run. But that possession was the exception.

“It's hard to go 10 plays every single drive and that's where we're at,” Fajardo said. “That's the frustrating thing about not connecting with long balls down the field.”

Schaffer-baker's 71-yard catch was just the fifth completion of 30-plus yards this season for the Riders.

Brayden Lenius has the other four, on receptions of 53, 39, 31 and 30 yards.

In 2019, Fajardo connected on 23 passes of 30-plus yards en route to being named the West Division's most outstanding player and a CFL all-star.

Fifteen of those 23 gains of 30plus were registered by Shaq Evans, who led the Riders in receiving yards (1,334) in 2019. A broken foot has limited Evans to five quarters this season.

“We just need to find a guy who can make a play other than Schaffer-baker, who is going to draw a double team,” Fajardo said.

“We know that Shaq is close, but he's still a game or two away. We need to find somebody to get some confidence with the deep ball.”