It was a sombre Saskatchewan Roughriders locker room after Saturday, Oct. 21’s 29-26 loss to the Toronto Argonauts that eliminated the Riders from the 2023 playoffs. Many players sat quietly at their lockers looking into space. Some did not want to talk. Others were open to answering questions.
Since 1978 when I started covering the Riders there have been three seasons (1989, 2007 and 2013) when there was a joyous locker room celebrating a Grey Cup to end the season. For the remaining 42 seasons it has been disappointment.
Saturday afternoon had a promising opening with an aggressive Rider offence going deep on the first play of the game for a 39-yard completion to Kian Schaffer-Baker. Three passes later the Riders were in the Argo end zone.
Riders head coach Craig Dickenson said they wanted to push a bit to start the game. They had seen some holes in the Argo defence. He said they did need some time for the plays to develop.
Quarterback Jake Dolegala said the Argos were giving them coverage that let the Riders go deep. He said it was pretty much open all game.
The Riders played hard but could never pull away from the Argos.
A major problem was run defence yet again. Toronto ran the ball for 183 yards. Except for the game a week ago against the Stampeders the Riders have surrendered big yards on the ground during their seven-game losing streak.
Defensive tackle Micah Johnson said they played hard but did not execute well enough. He said he was at a loss for words. I shook his hand and wished him well.
Linebacker Micah Teitz said they need everyone right on every single play and that did not happen. He said he is headed back to Calgary this winter where he is building a house in southwest Calgary with his fiancee. He said he is not a downtown guy.
While the Argos ran well the Riders struggled on the ground gaining but 37 yards. Jamal Morrow said the Argos were loading the box and were very aggressive. He said the Riders knew frequent blitzes were coming. The Argos probably lead the league in blitzes.
As I shook Morrow’s hand and wished him the best he said he appreciated I was old school, still making hand written notes of interviews rather than recording conversations.
In the end, the game came down to the Riders having a drive with 0:52 to go in the game and Jake Dolegala throwing an interception to Mason Pierce on the first play of the drive.
Dolegala said it was a bad read by him. He said the Argos had been baiting him. He added that the Argo halfback made a really good play. Dolegala forced the pass to Schaffer-Baker when he had Sam Emilus open underneath.
Dickenson said the Riders were trying to push the ball. He said they had to push. I would disagree. They had lots of time. A trio of 8-10 yard completions would have had the Riders well within field goal range.
The head coach spoke of Dolegala having a tremendous arm and being a leader but he has yet to reach consistency, which is no surprise for a quarterback in his first season as a starter.
Dickenson summed up the game by saying the Riders played well for 50 minutes but could not find a way to win.
He quoted the sign in the Rider locker room – “I’m in” – and said all the players were all in from the get go.
He said they had a different team from last year. They looked at adding character and emphasized the offensive line but the result was the same. At the end of the day he said, "it is all on me." He is wrong in saying “all.” There is shared responsibility but he is the only one, as I write this column Sunday evening, who has taken responsibility.
As his post-game press conference ended I said to him that I appreciated how he had directly and candidly answered my questions over the years. Unlike some Rider head coaches he has responded directly and thoughtfully to media questions. He gracefully acknowledged my comment and left the room.
This morning, as I was going to church, I saw my Rider parking pass still attached to the rear view mirror. I pulled it off.
Bill Selnes, who’s based in Melfort, has written about the Saskatchewan Roughriders since the late 1970s. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Football Reporters of Canada wing on Nov. 24, 2013.
