The Saskatchewan Roughriders played better against the Edmonton Elks on Saturday, Sept. 27 than they had against the Montreal Alouettes two weeks earlier, which is little comfort as they did not play well in Edmonton until there were three minutes to go in the game.
Quarterback Trevor Harris and Head Coach Corey Mace lamented yet another poor start for the Riders. Mace said they have kept talking as a team that they can’t spot teams 10 point leads. He said they are not good enough to start 10 down.
On Saturday night it was 11 down.
The poor start versus the Elks was predominantly an offensive problem. The first two Rider drives ended with turnovers with the first having the rare stat of two interceptions on the same drive.
Each interception was on one of the in breakers Harris said the Riders like to run. Harris is one of the few quarterbacks in the league to consistently throw such passes. They demand extreme precision as defenders converge from multiple directions.
On the first interception Harris said it was their first dig route of the game and he did not lift the ball high enough. He said he babied it.
On the second interception he said he tried to fit it into the receiver but the defender got his hand on the ball. He said he can make that throw 90 per cent of the time and is not going to stop throwing the route.
The third turnover was a fumble by KeeSean Johnson who had the ball punched out as he was in the air after making the catch.
The defence had a brilliant first half until the final minute when they gave up a 47-yard reception to Kaion Julien-Grant.
I think it was the only play they lost containment on Cody Fajardo in the half. When he rolled unpressured he had an extra couple of seconds to find Julien-Grant. It was too reminiscent of the previous Rider - Elks game where the Elks completed a pair of long passes after the Riders lost contain.
In the first half the Rider defence had lots of pressure, including three sacks, as they confounded Elks pass protection with stunts.
In the second half the Elk offence had greater success as the Riders failed to get the first half pressure on Fajardo and they had no sacks.
Mace said the Elks used different formations to deal with the Riders when the Riders sent four rushers. He said when the Riders sent five, Fajardo was completing quick passes.
The Elks had their greatest second half success when the Rider defenders failed to contain Fajardo and Elks running back, Justin Rankin. When either was able to get outside the Riders had problems.
Still the Riders had a chance to tie the game with their furious late fourth quarter comeback. Only a failed two point convert kept the game from going into overtime.
The two point convert play seemed strange as Harris threw it to the left in an area of the end zone where there was no receiver. Harris said he read man coverage as the play began and looked to the left. As he was releasing the ball he realized the Rider receivers had kind of collisioned. Ajou Ajou and Sam Emilius ran into each other as they tried to cross and the play was doomed.
It was the second failed Rider two point conversion of the game. Earlier the Riders had tried to run it in with A.J. Ouellete. Harris said the Elks played the run on the play and were ready for Ouellette.
Harris said he thought the Riders would have won had the game gone to overtime.
On the poor Rider starts I see a team that has played conservative football on offence and defence especially early in games.
Of the six Rider possessions in the first half the Riders ran the ball to start the second, third, fourth and fifth possessions. They had a pass to start the first and sixth possession. The last possession had to have a pass as it started with only 28 seconds to go in the half.
The defence seeks to avoid blitzing and the approach has generally worked well. To be effective they need their best defensive backs on the field. They need Nelson Lokombo in particular back at safety.
I expect against Ottawa this weekend the Riders will start more drives with passing and attack the Redblacks offence with more pressure.
