Smith’s a bright spot for Riders
While following the foibles of a feckless football team, the reflexive response is to accentuate the myriad negative aspects of a season gone horribly, irreparably wrong.
But there is a modicum of hope.
It is provided by rookie quarterback Brett Smith, whose elevation to a featured role was initially thought to be yet another major setback for a Saskatchewan Roughriders team that can hardly withstand any more adversity.
The tone for the season was set near halftime of the regular-season opener on June 27, when quarterback Darian Durant suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon against the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Saskatchewan’s franchise player was admirably replaced by Kevin Glenn, who provided the team with a proven pivot in relief — the kind of Plan B the Roughriders sorely lacked for the final nine games of last season, while Durant was sidelined with a torn tendon in his right elbow.
Glenn was the league’s leader in passing yardage when, on July 26, he suffered a torn right pectoral muscle — an injury that landed him on a crowded six-game injured list — on the final play of the third quarter at home against the Hamilton TigerCats. Over to you, Brett Smith. The former University of Wyoming Cowboys star struggled to move the offence against the Tiger-Cats, who won 31-21.
Subsequently, with only one full day of practice between games, Smith drew his first pro start July 31 against the host Edmonton Eskimos and their formidable defence.
He did as well as could be expected, completing 15 of 22 passes for 132 yards. His two interceptions — one of which was returned for a touchdown — were thrown on back-to-back plays in a 30-5 Edmonton victory.
Such an indoctrination, against a blitz-happy team, could easily rattle, and even ruin, a young quarterback.
Not Smith. He hung in there and performed with determination despite the sheer impossibility of a win.
In the week that followed, with the benefit of three practices, the 23-year-old Smith embraced a starting role that he could not have expected to assume so early in his career.
Then it was off to Toronto, where the Argonauts emerged with a 30-26 victory on Saturday to saddle Saskatchewan with an 0-7 record for the first time since (here we go again) 1979.
Amid the doom and gloom, there was a bright spot — the play of Smith.
He completed 23 of 35 passes for 298 yards, with two touchdown passes (both to Chris Getzlaf) and an interception (a pick-six for the second successive week).
Impressively, Smith shrugged off the interception and guided Saskatchewan to a touchdown on its next possession.
That major, a 55-yard payoff pitch to Getzlaf, was made possible by Smith’s escapability. After somehow evading several snorting Toronto pass-rushers, Smith found a wide-open Getzlaf down the right sideline.
Actually, Getzlaf accessed the end zone four times on Saturday, only to have touchdown receptions of 55 and 18 yards washed away by penalties.
Smith persevered and eventually threw his first CFL touchdown pass, a sixyarder to Getzlaf.
That is the routine with Smith. Regardless of how many obstacles are thrown in his way, he keeps battling.
So there he was, in the waning seconds on Saturday, marching Saskatchewan to the Toronto 15-yard line before the game’s final two passes fell incomplete.
The lack of a finishing touch should not significantly detract from Smith’s performance.
He looks very much like a keeper — someone who is worth an investment of time.
At some point, the Roughriders will require an heir apparent to Durant, who is barely a week shy of turning 33.
Durant has declared that he will return next season, better than ever. But after sustaining two seasonending injuries within 10 months, Durant is not guaranteed to recapture his championship-winning form of 2013.
Hence the need for another viable option in 2016, just in case Durant cannot make it all the way back.
Smith’s showing on Saturday fostered hope that he can be that option, if need be.
He showed poise under pressure, an ability to scramble, and a gunslinger’s mentality that allows him to challenge defences downfield.
Consider the fact that Smith produced the Roughriders’ two longest completions of the season — a 62-yarder to Korey Williams and the aforementioned 55-yarder to Getzlaf — during Saturday’s game.
Moreover, completions of 55 yards (to Getzlaf) and 32 yards (to Rob Bagg) were negated on a night when the Roughriders were assessed a franchise-record 24 penalties.
The team’s fortunes are flagging in other ways, but there is at least one compelling reason to maintain some interest in the 2015 season.
That reason is Brett Smith.