The Saskatchewan Roughrider offence would have needed to score 50 to beat the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, Sept. 13. Alas, they could score but 31 to the Alouettes’ 48. While the offence could have played better it was a bad night for the Rider defence.
Starting two rookie defensive backs at cornerback seemed a poor idea when it was announced Saturday afternoon that the Riders would have to replace Marcus Sayles and Tevaughn Campbell with Benny Sapp III and Kefala Exumé.
The Riders had little choice with Sayles and Campbell being game time decisions. With Sayles, Campbell, Nelson Lokombo and Jaxon Ford being out of the lineup they were forced deep into their defensive back reserves.
Exumé had a long night chasing Tyson Philpot who caught nine passes for 238 yards. Riders Coach Corey Mace said he has been watching Philpot since he was in high school. He added that Philpot found himself in one-on-one situations and went up and came down with it, making big plays. He said they could have done a better job in their details and not make it look so easy.
Mace sought a careful balance after the game between acknowledging the rookie corners had problems and there being mental busts involving all the defenders.
Exumé was also the starting corner against the Stampeders in the Riders previous loss to the Stampeders in late August. He had challenges covering Calgary receivers in that game.
Montreal, as professional teams will do, attacked Exumé’s side of the field. I am not sure they threw a pass in Sapp’s direction until the second half.
Ultimately, Mace recognized Exumé could not stay at corner late in the third quarter and replaced him.
While it was not a surprise that the cornerbacks struggled, I was surprised that the Rider defensive line was dominated by the Alouettes offensive line.
Giving up 125 yards rushing on 19 carries to Stevie Scott III, the backup running back, was startling. Defensive tackle Caleb Sanders, spoke of the unit as not being consistent and needing to communicate where guys were going. He summed up their night as some games you got it and sometimes not.
Against the Blue Bombers, Malik Carney was playing multiple positions at linebacker and defensive line causing havoc. On Saturday he was looking off balance. Several times on running plays he was drawn in and the Alouettes went out.
Mace said Montreal did some things schematically that gave the Riders problems but he mentioned tackling as an issue at least three times. He described their tackling as terrible.
At the same time they were being hard pressed to stop the run, the line was not getting pressure on McLeod Bethel-Thompson. Not recording a sack was symptomatic of a pass rush that rarely exerted pressure. MBT had time all game to wait for receivers to go deep.
Mace summed up the defence as it did not look like them out there tonight.
Football is an unpredictable game. Just over a month ago the Riders dominated the Alouettes 34-6 with MBT also the quarterback. He threw for only 126 yards and was benched in favour of Caleb Evans. The Alouettes could only run the ball for 59 yards.
I make few predictions but no matter the injury situation I am sure the Riders will not line up again with Sapp and Exumé as their starting cornerbacks.
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.
