September 15, 2019

The Loss to Sask Is the Kind That Stings

It stings, for a minute we thought we had it. But that’s the good thing about the CFL, you just never know. We just have to finish a little better. The offence has to pick it up sooner, starting with me,” said Vernon Adams Jr after the game.

Nonetheless, our Alouettes racked up more offensive yards than their opponents (390 vs 364) and even possession time was in their favour. The final score (27 to 25), however, made the Riders the heroes of the day. With a little less than one minute on the clock, Lauther nailed the field goal that led to a Saskatchewan win at Mosaic Stadium. While the ocean of green went wild, Khari Jones and his team went home knowing some lessons would be learned from the heartbreaking loss.

There were some positives to take away from the game, but the scoreboard is the scoreboard. We’re definitely not happy coming out with a loss with the opportunities that we had. It’ll hopefully be a learning opportunity for us, for the guys, and we’ll come back strong next week,” Head Coach Khari Jones said of his locker room’s level of competitiveness last night.

More scoring drives is what the offence will be aspiring to next Saturday as we face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. While it wasn’t completely dry last night, it could have had a more dynamic start. After Boris Bede put up all nine points in the first half (three successful field goals), RB Will Stanback and receiver Eugene Lewis both made contributions later in the game. In the third quarter, Will Stanback ran straight to the end zone, powering through the gap that was skillfully opened by the o-line. After the clean and effective touchdown, followed a two-point conversion graciously handled by the Vernon AdamsDeVier Posey combo that gave us an eight-point lead after three quarters.

 

 

The same o-line that helped Will allowed only two sacks to a defence that is known for its sacking abilities. However, the Riders defence was prepared to shut-down the Stanback show, limiting our RB to an average of 4.8 yards per carry. Not so bad of a number, but lower than what we expect from our powerhouse.

Early in the third, the Riders bounced back with two consecutive rushing touchdowns – the second one was initiated by a wobbly snap causing a fumble on a punt -, and had the momentum with 12 minutes to play. The one thing Bob Slowik’s unit struggled with last night was Sask’s solid run game. The Riders scored all three of their touchdowns on the ground and William Powell left the house with 94 yards in 15 carries and an average of 6.3 yards per run. There’s a topic the squad will want to study in the upcoming days, particularly since the Bombers are known for their rushing capabilities with Chris Streveler and Andrew Harris in the mix.

Just mistakes all around hurt us. There was the errant snap, Boris had a chance and missed it. We had some balls that I felt we could have caught. There are some things on defence that we could have done better, their running game really got going,” said Khari. “There are a lot of things that unfortunately we have to take from a losing standpoint. It would have been different taking them from a win.

The best of those two consecutive scoring drives was certainly the way we reciprocated. Vernon Adams Jr., gutsy as we know him to be – found Eugene Lewis 27-yards deep, right in the end zone. Geno, who finished the game with a total of 130 receiving yards, wasn’t his only option on that play. As a matter of fact DeVier Posey would have been an easier target, but Vernon being Vernon dared to make the difficult throw, trusting his receiver would get rid of his double coverage and make the catch. Rightfully so.

 

 

The guys gave us some explosive plays, but the cohesion we had been seeing in the past weeks between Vernon and his receivers wasn’t on point last night. Our quarterback can’t be held entirely responsible for the 61% completion rate. The general synchronicity of the group was a little off.

On defence, a couple of blitzes set the Riders back when Pat Levels sacked Fajardo for a loss of four yards, as well as when Greg Reid swiftly found his way to the QB. Reid was just as effective in coverage as he was pressing Fajardo. He knocked down two passes, including a dangerous deep ball that easily could have put Sask on the board at their first offensive drive. Henoc Muamba (eight tackles) and Boseko Lokombo (seven tackles) were both productive. Boseko once again proving he has what it takes to fill in for Taylor Loffler. On special teams, penalties and bad snaps were costly, but unusual and fixable.

Yesterday’s double-header was a heartbreaking one for East Division teams – the Ticats lost by one point when their final field goal attempt was blocked by Calgary’s Tre Roberson -, but we’re still holding on to the second place in the East. Back to work on Tuesday as we prepare to take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at McGill Stadium on Saturday, September 21.