TSN and SportsCage analyst Glen Suitor believes the Saskatchewan Roughriders should make a change at kicker after the team decided to have Trevor Harris punt the ball 45 yards to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the fourth quarter while leading 31-24 during the Labour Day Classic.
"Let's be frank, that situation screamed for a field goal attempt from 51 yards. You make it two possessions, it's game over right there. That's the conventional wisdom and the right call is to put your field goal team on the field. I think it would have been about a 51 yarder and you make it a two-possession game. Now, 51 is not a gimme, so there is some possibility of a miss there on the field goal," Suitor said on the SportsCage.
"They didn't do that and it appears to me from the outside looking in that it's because they're not confident in him to make those. In my opinion, now it becomes the rest of the locker room saying to themselves: 'If Brett [Lauther] is still kicking when we go to Winnipeg, then that means that I can miss three or four tackles every game as a DB or I can drop two passes a game as a receiver. I'll get half a season to work out of my slump.'"
Harris was credited with a rouge from his punt, which extended the Riders lead to 32-24. Later, the Bombers offence marched down and scored a touchdown when Zach Collaros passed it to Dalton Schoen, which made the score to 32-30. Saskatchewan ultimately closed out the game when Tevaughn Campbell prevented the Bombers from converting a two-point attempt and intercepted the ball while returning it 112 yards for a pick-two, extending the Riders lead to 34-30. Lauther finished the game making his lone field goal attempt from 34 yards but he missed a 32-yard point after touchdown attempt late in the third quarter.
"Brett's a fantastic human being and I don't think you cut Brett. I think you now have to look at maybe the injured list so no one can steal him and give Campbell Fair an opportunity," Suitor said. "When it changes the game management for your head coach because you're not confident in him, I think that's probably beyond the point where you should have made a change."
Statistically among CFL kickers, Lauther is last when it comes to field goal percentage at 65.7 percent. Suitor provided a story from his playing career when he was in a similar slump to Lauther.
"I'll give you guys a quick story: the closest that I came to this thing was when Don Matthews was our head coach and I was in the training room after two bad games in a row. I'm sitting there getting ice on my ankle, Don Matthews walks in and he says: 'Here's what I can tell you, Glen, if you have one bad game I wouldn't even come and talk to you about it, It's a one-off, everybody has one, don't worry about it, recover for the next game, that's all I care about. If you have two in a row, we're gonna talk, this is becoming habit-forming, and if you have three in a row, you're not gonna be able to have a fourth,'" Suitor recalled.
"I think it's a different scenario with Brett in being that abrupt with him and I don't think coaches even talk to players anymore like that. Although, it drove home the point to me in a very open and true way that if I don't have a good game that's coming up, I'm not going to be able to go out there and have a fourth attempt. I think we're there now, I like Brett, I've been saying for a month now that I think he can work out of this, but if you're making a decision to not kick a field goal and that opportunity to get it at a two-possession game because you don't have confidence in your kicker, it's time to make a change."
The Green and White face the Bombers for the Labour Day rematch on Saturday. Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk, and Wes Cates bring you the pre-game show at 11 a.m. Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 2 p.m. Listen to our thorough coverage on 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
