I was not surprised the Saskatchewan Roughriders lost to the B.C. Lions 35-20. Without Trevor Harris and three defensive linemen and B.C. playing well on July 13 the odds were against the Riders and the odds were right.
Following a troubling habit the Rider offence started poorly. Shea Patterson’s first pass was thrown into coverage and intercepted. On the second possession he took a time count penalty and threw into coverage again. A week earlier he completed only one pass in the first quarter.
On the interception Shea said the safety made a good play. He stated he was not saying where he wished he went on the play as he does not want the next team (the Winnipeg Blue Bombers) to know where he should have gone. He added that he should have fitted the ball in better.
On the time count he said they need to get to the line quicker. He said he had been starting his cadence with six or seven seconds to go on the clock. There was not another time count penalty in the game. I recall that there were many games where Cody Fajardo was flirting with the 20 second clock repeatedly.
What the offence did well during the game was turning short passes into long gains. Sam Emilus caught a pair of short passes, in the first half, that he turned up the sidelines for 50 yards. Kian Schaffer-Baker, in the second half, turned a slant on the right side of 10 yards into 49 yards.
On the first pass to Emilus, Patterson said it was a zone read and he saw Emilus open.
On the pass to Schaffer-Baker he saw one-on-one coverage and 89 beat the defender to the inside.
Patterson played alright. He looked tentative on several plays where he was under pressure. He is still learning when to run for the yardage possible and when to keep trying to throw the ball downfield. He would do well to watch how Vernon Adams Jr. for the Lions handled those situations for the Lions. From experience Adams knows when to go and does not hesitate when he has broken through or away from the rush to run with the ball. A pair of plays illustrate their approaches.
In the fourth quarter the Riders were second and goal from the Lion 11. There is pressure and Patterson breaks right but slows trying to throw the ball and then goes for the corner of the end zone. He is hit hard and downed at the 1.
A short time later the Lions are second and 7 from the Rider 11. As Adams drops back he can see Bryan Cox has pushed to the inside and there is no contain. There is no hesitation. He goes for the corner and enters the end zone untouched.
The Riders had 278 yards passing. I thought the most interesting stat of the game was that 243 yards were to the Canadian receivers Emilus and Schaffer-Baker.
On defence the Riders had significant pressure on Adams in the first half recording four sacks. They did not get a sack in the second half where they were blitzing more often than the first half.
Coach Corey Mace said they got the sacks sending four or three rushers rather than when they were sending six or seven rushers.
He said they forced some errant throws but they were not disciplined in the pass rush. Mace spoke of missed assignments on the defence. Too often they lost contain on Adams as he slipped up the middle or to the outside.
He was not asked but I think that missing three defensive linemen caught up to the defence in the second half.
The Rider defensive backs recorded another pair of interceptions with Rolan Milligan getting his fourth of the season.
He said Stanley Berryhill III was running an out and that he had man coverage. He saw Adams looking over and anticipated the pass and made a play on the ball. He was aided by Berryhill stumbling on his cut. Still, even if Berryhill had cut at full speed, Milligan was in perfect position.
Milligan was not eager to talk about Justin McInnis catching 14 passes for 243 yards. McInnis might have broken 300 yards in receptions had he not gone out of the game twice with cramping. Milligan said they really did not have an answer for McInnis and would have to look at the film. It will be painful watching.
On special teams the Riders executed a perfect dribble kickoff in the fourth quarter with Brent Lauther dribbling the ball exactly 10 yards before he grabbed the ball.
Mace said he thought the flow was going their way and the offence was moving the ball and called the play. He said they had seen during the week the play was there to be made.
By calling for the onside kick Mace has created a valuable uncertainty in opposing teams. They cannot count on the Riders being predictable in short yardage, punts and kickoffs. Don Matthews kept everyone on edge. On the field he regularly used faked kicks and kick block plays. In the 1995 Grey Cup in Regina Matthews was coaching the Baltimore Stallions. A punt block late in the second quarter by the Stallions set up a touchdown that gave the Stallions the lead.
The Riders face the Blue Bombers on Friday. Zack Collaros is another quarterback adept at evading undisciplined pass rushes. If the Riders are to win they will have to be better at containing Collaros.
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.
