Every Monday afternoon on the SportsCage, join Barney Shynkaruk and members from the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ coaching staff with a breakdown of game match-ups and the very latest from inside the Riders’ locker room.
On June 9, offensive coordinator Marc Mueller was our guest on the Riders Coaches Show.
Barney Shynkaruk:
Visit Derek and Ryan there and talk solar with them. All right, Coaches Show time. The Coaches Show is brought to you by Steelcraft Doors Regina, made in Western Canada for Western Canada. A new 40,000 square foot warehouse is set to open in Regina, and the Roughriders Foundation 50/50. Rider5050.ca, a nice little BC getaway, is the early bird prize this week.
Let's go out on the Western Pizza Guest Hotline. We're joined by Mark Mueller, who made some time for us today. Oh, see, Mark, thanks. Thanks for doing this today. I know it's a short week. It's a bit of a, I called it a grindy week. You guys get back, and then you've got to go back out to Toronto. Is that a fair assessment, or am I a little off there?
Marc Mueller:
No, anytime you get a short week. Well, first off, thanks for having me. But anytime you have a short week, especially when it includes travel one way or both ways, you have the same amount of work with just less time.
So every game has the same amount of preparation, you know, that needs to go into it. Sometimes days or some weeks you have more days, some days you have less. So, the same amount of work has to get done.
So, guys, work hard, and we'll make sure that we're prepared for practice tomorrow morning.
Shynkaruk:
A bit of a generic one here, but you watched a lot of tape, I'm sure, since the win in Hamilton. How do you grade that game from the offensive side of the ball on Saturday?
Mueller:
Yeah, I thought it was OK. I thought we did some really good things in spurts, but we also left some plays out there. That's just any game. And, you know, there's always, you know, play calls you want back.
There's always plays you want back, whether you're playing or you're coaching. So I think there's lots of room for improvement, but I thought there was a lot of great efforts out there. And I thought the guys played really hard.
And, you know, you're going to play hard in every game, so you might as well you might as well win them. So I think that the guys performed well and worked hard. And I think there's lots of ways to improve from it as well, which is good, especially early.
Kris Mazurak:
Coach, congratulations, 2-0, only 16 more for the undefeated season we spoke about last week with Coach Mace. So we're all in on that. It seemed like this is just a fan's perspective watching on the couch.
Running game in the first half, looking good. AJ, big run. It kind of went away in the second.
Was that dictated by the Hamilton defence or what was the sort of the cause of, you know, the passing attack got going with Trevor?
Mueller:
Well, I mean, there's give and take in every game. And sometimes you have run plays called that sometimes you throw, and sometimes there are pass plays called where you end up actually running it. So there are some plays out there where we kind of have, you know, some things that we can do based on the defence.
And there's sometimes plays where we have where we kind of dictate where we want to go with it. And, you know, we've got good players and smart players that can handle that. So, you know, kind of as the way the game goes, you know, you have to adapt during it, and whether that's at halftime or during the game, you've got to kind of make some changes based on what the defence is doing.
And I worked with the defensive coordinator over there for a long time, Brent Monson. He's a really good football coach, and he does a good job. So he kept us on our toes.
Mazurak:
Ka’Deem Carey, I'd say, for being in town for 10 minutes and then all of a sudden you're playing the game, he had a few carries or whatever. I thought he acclimated well. Your thoughts on Kadeem with not a lot of time in Ryder Nation?
Mueller:
Yeah, I mean, Ka’Deem's a good football player. He's proven that at every single stop he's had probably since he first put a helmet on. And, but I mean, part of the thing that helps with Kadeem is that, you know, I've worked with him before, you know, I mean, he's been in an offense, he's been in, you know, an offense that has the same structure as this one, you know, in Calgary and in Toronto and now with us, you know, the same, a lot of the very similar, not the same, but similar terminology or the bones of the offense come from the same place. And, you know, he's a smart guy.
He can understand what those are and what the changes are. And, you know, he went out there and he performed well, just like, you know, everybody here, we expect if they get to put the jersey on, on whatever it is, Friday nights or Saturday nights or Thursday nights, or whatever we got here in the CFL, that they'll live up to the S on the helmet. And Ka’Deem did that in Hamilton.
Shynkaruk:
He had four (carries) for 26 (yards). Did he play as much as you expected, or more or less?
Mueller:
Yeah, sometimes, you know, the game dictates it a bit, but where it goes, you know, if AJ's out there and rolling and doing well, you know, we'd like to have him out there, but, you know, the more times we can get both of those guys rolling, the better it'll be for, for both of them, you know, and, and the offence.
Mazurak:
I thought by the second half, Trevor Harris really started to cook, but one of the things is that a lot of us are very nervous. Sam Emilus didn't play for the most of the second half. Are you allowed to say what's the status?
Is it okay? Is it a precautionary thing? Cause I mean, there's a lot of fans, Sam E, he's a big part of this offense.
Mueller:
Oh yeah, I know. I thought, you know, Sam had a good game. You know, I think that Sam had a catch, I think in the fourth quarter.
So he only missed the last couple of drives there, but I don't know what's going on with him. We, I mean, we'll find out tomorrow. I would expect that if he can go, he'll play and he'll be a big part of our offence.
Shynkaruk:
Hey, AJ, AJ, right. Career-long and all that. The one thing that, that I noticed about him sometimes, Mark, and you know, you're a former quarterback, man, can that guy block like that's something maybe he doesn't get enough credit for and blocking in, in the passing game?
Mueller:
Yeah. I mean, I think he's one of the better protectors that I've been able to be around in my 10 years in the CFL. And I mean, you know, we used to say all the time, I had the pleasure of coaching running backs in my previous stop for a long time.
And we always said, Hey guys, like everyone here can run the ball, and that's why you're here. But if you can't protect, it doesn't mean you can't play. It just means you can't play for us.
And AJ and the guys that we have definitely can do that. You know, AJ does a lot of stuff back there, whether it's, you know, helping other guys know who to block or who he cleans things up all the time. You know, that's, he's a very well-rounded back, and I don't want to say that's his best attribute because he's obviously great catching and running the ball, but it's, it's right up there.
Mazurak:
Keyshawn Johnson, I would say that was his best game as a rider. He really went off. I mean, you guys obviously saw this last year, even probably through training camp.
Now we're getting a chance to see it. Probably one of the things that impresses me the most is just like right there, reliability and ball security. Did he come with that?
Or is that something that you're preaching to these guys every day?
Mueller:
Well, I can know a lot of guys come from, you know, pretty good backgrounds where they play and they, they've had a lot of, you know, good coaching on the way up, but it's something that, you know, coach Mase really preaches is, is, you know, have a, an obsession for possession. You know, we've got to make sure that we possess the ball; the team that possesses the ball the most is usually going to win the game. So whether that's holding it, whether that's throwing it, whether that's, you know, defending it, you want to make sure that you're around the football.
And I think that the guys do a good job of understanding that it's a big part of the game. And the more time, especially on offence, that we have the ball, the more chances we have to score.
Shynkaruk:
Looking ahead to this one in Toronto, obviously, we talked about Kadeem Carey; it'll be a chip-on-the-shoulder game there. And I'm sure there'll be a lot of write-ups about that and a lot of hype around that, but going into Toronto on that short week, Ryan Dinwiddie is a good coach. You know, what are you expecting from them on the defensive side?
Mueller:
They're always well-coached and well-prepared. I mean, it's, it's, ever since Ardees got there, they've been, you know, first or second in the East and in contention to go to the Grey Cup or in the Grey Cup. So Ryan does a great job.
I was around Ryan, and I'd consider him a very close friend of mine. And it's always good to go and compete against guys that you consider are one of the best at what they do, and to go, go into Toronto and get to play a well-coached team with really good players on it is a great challenge. And we're excited for it.
That's why you do it.
Mazurak:
In that game on Saturday against the Stamps, there were flashes or whatever, but the Stamps came in and they played well. They're having a situation at quarterback. And if we, if we can take, take advantage of that, the, that Riders, or pardon me, the Argonaut defence.
So it's Kevin Eiben and Jason Shivers, co defensive coordinators. What is like one of the big things or the big challenges when you guys are game planning is they do a lot of things.
Mueller:
Well, yeah, I mean, they got good players and they're well-coached, both those guys you mentioned, we'll make sure that they're prepared for what we do and they know what we put on film and things like that. So I think it's just making sure that, you know, we're, we're understanding what we're doing best and, you know, and put our, you know, the players in the best position to, to go out there and execute.
Shynkaruk:
Okay. Last one, Mark, did you call Frank McChrystal and have a long conversation? How excited were you for that?
Mueller:
Yeah. I mean, I was really happy when I got the heads up a day before it was announced by, by AZ and then talk to Rob Vanstone here. It's I mean, it's awesome.
It's awesome for a whole bunch of people, Frank and his family, you know, all the people that were fellow volunteers, I think people forget that a lot of the big chunk of Frank's career was spent as a volunteer in a junior program. Right. So a lot of time that he put into it, not getting paid.
And I think that it was built on volunteers. So guys like, you know, Bernie Schmidt, who then was my offensive coordinator and a whole bunch of directors, are just as much involved in that. And Frank will be the first to say that, but it's pure joy for Frank.
I actually got the chance to see him and Bernie come out to a practice during training camp. And that was a pretty fun day for us, especially for me to show those guys around here and have them on the field for a training camp practice. So I'm really excited for everybody, everybody that can go.
And I mean, I'm really, really proud to say that I played and coached for Frank.
Shynkaruk:
Yeah.
Mazurak:
He said on, he said when we had him on last week that yes, he was excited about going into the hall of fame, but the most impressive thing that day is he made it through an afternoon shopping trip at Costco with other senior citizens. That's what brought a smile to his face.
Mueller:
I just hope, I think that the bust, whatever it has, or the, the statue that they have them either has the toque or the mustache. It's got to have one or the other, preferably both, but you know, whatever they go with, I think will be more than fitting for Frank.
Shynkaruk:
Last week, coach Mace brought up his dad, John, listen, watches the program down in San Diego. I don't know if Larry does, but Larry and Frank probably have some stories that can't be told on the sports cage.
Mueller:
Well, I mean, I just, I don't, not whether they can't be or no one would listen to them. It's one or the other for sure. You know, or they're untrue.
Shynkaruk:
Mark, thanks so much. Like I said, it's a bit of a grindy week. I know you did this for us today.
Thanks a lot. Good luck this week. Keep it rolling.
Mueller:
Appreciate you, man. See you around.
