It's tough to tell exactly why Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin was so furious after Friday's 31-24 home loss to the Calgary Stampeders. That's simply because he was very guarded and measured in his postgame comments as his club fell to 9-5 with four games remaining in the 2014 CFL regular season.
There's plenty to be upset about, but there's plenty to be encouraged by as well. The Roughriders' offensive woes continued going into the Calgary game, one week after the team was shutout 24-0 in Edmonton for their first blanking in 28 years. Chamblin said he was going with his "gut" in starting rookie Seth Doege at quarterback, his first pro start. That move didn't pay off, as the Texas Tech grad fired three first half interceptions and was replaced by sophomore Tino Sunseri.
Perhaps he was upset about that.
The Riders were down 9-0 at halftime against Calgary on Friday and sunk to 24-0 in the third quarter. Quite frankly things were looking grim for the rest of the game at that point, and maybe even for the rest of this season, with injured quarterback Darian Durant helplessly looking on from the sidelines.
But somewhere along the way, the Rider offense caught a spark. Sunseri hooked up with rookie wideout Dan DePalma for a 66-yard catch-and-run touchdown late in the third quarter which ended the Riders' shutout streak at 103:48.
You likely saw the game, but the Riders went on a tear from that point on, tying the game 24-24 but with 4:00 remaining, they were facing a 3rd-and-2 situation at the Calgary 50-yard line. Despite having momentum on their side, Chamblin elected to yank his offense off the field and punt. The Stamps took over at their 25 and marched the length of the field to score the winning points.
That decision to punt seemed to be one of the main reasons for Chamblin's anger after the game.
"We should've gone for it on 3rd-and-1," Chamblin fumed. "We have to have confidence we can do that. My biggest regret is that. Whether we win or lose, we have to be aggressive. We can't be soft there. I'd rather be damned by doing. I live my life to be aggressive and that's the way we're going to play for the rest of the season."
Yah, that might be the reason why he was so ticked off. But in the final minute, the Riders held the Stampeders to a field goal and reasonably had a chance to win the game but a penalty on that field goal gave Calgary a first down and quarterback Drew Tate promptly put it in the endzone to significantly hinder the Riders' chance at a comeback.
Lesson learned. But I have a tough time thinking Saskatchewan will make these errors in the playoffs and they're just a week or two away from nailing down a berth as it is. They may not even have to win another game, given the pace at which B.C. and Winnipeg are losing games behind them.
A loss stinks but I walked out of that energetic stadium Friday evening with a renewed sense of optimism around this football club. Depending on who you believe, Darian Durant may or may not be coming back this season but at least we now know this team can score points without him. Sunseri seems to have found his mojo and against any other CFL team, they probably win that game Friday night. If they want to win back-to-back Grey Cups, they're going to have to go through Calgary and Friday's game served notice the Riders won't fade away.
Chamblin can see it too, however the Riders' sideline boss just wishes it was coming around a little more quickly.
"We're not looking for moral victories," Chamblin continued. "You want to make sure each and every nightthat we're able to win. We did some good things in there. I'm very encouraged and I thought guys stepped up and improved their play. There's a chance we can get it going in the right direction."
Next up it's a visit to Montreal for a Turkey Day meeting with the Alouettes on an afternoon where they'll retire Anthony Calvillo's #13.
Let's see how far the Riders have come by then.
