The Ottawa Redblacks were a stubborn foe but the Saskatchewan Roughriders are the better team and played better than in their loss to the Edmonton Elks.
The Riders won the Friday, Oct. 3 game 20-13.
There was no spotting the opposition with a 10 point lead this game. The Riders scored a touchdown on the first drive.
The frustration for the offence this game came for the balance of the first half when they could not mount another scoring drive. Trevor Harris repeatedly spoke about “self-inflicted wounds” in his post-game interview session.
On the second Rider drive, Kian Schaffer-Baker dropped a perfect pass. On the third possession it was Harris overthrowing A.J. Ouellette. On the fourth Harris, under pressure, was short on a pass to Keesean Johnson. On the fifth, a Redblack blitz sacked Harris.
While the offence was finding ways to hurt themselves the Rider defence appeared to know the Redblack offence.
Linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr. jumped an out route to Eugene Lewis and took the interception for a touchdown.
Brooks was so excited after the game words just tumbled out of him. He told Rob Vanstone it was a dream come true, it was deja vu, he could see it happen as he had seen it before as he is a real visualization person.
He told me they watched film on how the Redblacks lined up and were ready for the route to Lewis. He said the defence constantly talk through the whole play - pre-snap and post-snap.
He would have had a second interception had he landed a foot inside instead of outside the boundary.
The next two Rider interceptions were on passes that reminded me of what had happened the previous week to Trevor Harris in Edmonton. Each play involved a Redblack receiver going well downfield and breaking in.
Just as the Elks linebackers dropped deeper to cut off the room to drop the passes into the in breaking receivers the Rider linebackers dropped deep on Friday night.
Riders Head Coach Corey Mace said the Riders understood and anticipated where the passes would go. He said Coach Travis Brown had worked to get the eyes of the linebackers in the right spots.
The Rider linebackers were also able to take deeper drops as the first two interceptions came on second and long and the Redblacks could not run the ball.
In the second half the Riders broke their tendency to run to start drives. Of the six Rider possessions they started four of the drives with passes.
On why they went to the pass in the second half Harris said it was more a question for offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller. He added they were effective throwing the ball. More self-inflicted wounds kept them from scoring until the fourth quarter.
Harris can explain so much about a play. Answering Rob Vanstone on Dohnte Meyers' 66-yard touchdown reception to start the fourth quarter he said he could see the blitz coming. He said he knew if he put the ball in front of Meyers, the receiver could take it upfield. To try to give Meyers more space he tried, before the snap, to nudge the safety to the right with his eyes.
Despite all the good work there was the final self-inflicted wound of the night in the final three minutes when an Ottawa blitz got to Harris and the turnover gave Ottawa a chance to come back.
The defence rose up and sacked Dustin Crum on first down from the Rider 16. They did not blitz Crum. Mace said Crum is much better on zero coverage so they did not blitz and tried to force Crum to read the Rider zone coverage. Mace said despite having two starting defensive backs out from injury they relied on the backs who were left to cover well enough to let the rush reach Crum. Mike Rose made a nice move on the guard and Crum had no chance to escape.
On their last drive the Riders confounded the Redblacks and everyone watching by passing instead of running the ball. They ran out the clock with three consecutive pass completions.
On why they were passing Harris said again it was a better question for Mueller. He said he takes pride that the team can lean on him. He expressed appreciation that Mueller had the trust and confidence in him to call passing plays in that situation.
The Redblacks helped make Mueller’s play calls by loading up the line to stop the run. A veteran quarterback such as Harris has the advantage when he knows the defence is blitzing.
Harris concluded his remarks by telling Britton Gray that he has played on great offences. He says that once such offences have worked through little things, they explode.
