Flags were flying in Toronto

TORONTO — It’s official: The Saskatchewan Roughriders are repeat offenders.

Saskatchewan set a team record for penalties during Saturday’s 30-26 CFL loss to the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre.

The Roughriders were flagged 24 times, breaking the franchise single-game record of 22 set Aug. 11, 1993 in a game against the Ottawa Rough Riders.

Officials marched off 192 yards in penalties against the Roughriders on Saturday. That’s the second-highest single-game total in franchise history, behind only the 206 yards Saskatchewan was assessed in that game against Ottawa in ’93.

“It’s really frustrating,” said cornerback Geoff Tisdale, who was identified as the culprit twice during Saturday’s game.

“We know there are going to be penalties in a game — there’s no such thing as a clean game without penalties — but we can’t pile up 14 or however many we had. We can’t do that and expect to win.”

Uh, Geoff ? The Roughriders were flagged 14 times in the first half alone.

“You can’t win like that,” he replied, “no matter how good you’re playing.”

In the first half, penalties cost Saskatchewan three touchdowns and a field goal. One of the majors, a 44-yard interception return by Tisdale, was wiped out because Tisdale himself was penalized for illegal contact on a receiver.

The Roughriders’ offence was penalized nine times, the defence was flagged eight times and the special teams were called six times. There was even one call against a player on the bench after a melee broke out on the Saskatchewan sideline.

Head coach Corey Chamblin repeatedly has said the Roughriders have to eliminate negative plays (most notably penalties) that counteract big plays. That habit continued Saturday — and veterans were often guilty of the infractions.

That, Chamblin said, is “definitely concerning.”

“I’m not sure what their problem is right now,” he said. “When I look across the board, whether they’re tired or whatever the deal is, they have to bounce back and they’ve got to do some things to clean it up.” They know it, too. “It’s making a conscious decision,” said slotback Chris Getzlaf, who caught four touchdown passes from quarterback Brett Smith in the game — although two of them were nullified by penalties.

“A lot of these penalties are really avoidable and everyone’s got to take a look in the mirror and really hold themselves accountable for it.

“Taking penalties like that is not a coaching error. It’s a player error.”

The Argos weren’t much better Saturday.

Toronto was assessed 19 penalties for 175 yards, 30 of which came on back-to-back roughing-the-passer calls with Saskatchewan driving for a potential game-winning touchdown in the last minute. The teams’ combined total of 43 penalties was three shy of the CFL single-game record, set July 9, 1992 by the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

The Roughriders entered Week 7 of the 2015 campaign having taken the most penalties in the league (85) for the most yards (732). They’ll no doubt retain their lead in both categories.