Davis: Saskatchewan Roughriders change styles to dominate B.C. Lions

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21 hours ago

The Saskatchewan Roughriders badly needed a mid-season makeover.
Even while winning four of their first five CFL games this season the Roughriders had been slow starters who eschewed deep passes, rarely blitzed opposing quarterbacks, got caught being too enamoured with themselves and were heading to an unfriendly stadium to play the red-hot B.C. Lions.
So the Roughriders made some strategic changes and beat the Lions rather easily on Saturday, grabbing a 16-point lead and — despite some late-game foibles — cruising to a 33-27 victory inside B.C. Place Stadium, where Saskatchewan had lost its three previous contests. The Lions were also on a two-game streak, with victories in their last two road games, before falling to 3-4.
Instead of relying solely on their predictable short-passing attack, Riders quarterback Trevor Harris took advantage of decent protection by his offensive line to complete four long passes of 30-plus yards, which included 50- and 30-yarders that Dohnte Meyers caught for touchdowns.
Harris wasn't sacked and, despite Darius Washington making his first CFL start at left tackle against a strong defensive line, the Roughriders also got 72 rushing yards from A.J. Ouellette and 12 from Ka'Deem Carey, who left the game with a gruesome knee injury in the third quarter.
'We know we're an explosive offence,' said Meyers, who led all receivers with 132 yards on seven catches. 'That's what we want to do and continue to be explosive throughout the game.
'Just because you may start fast, we want to finish fast also. That was the goal this week.'
It didn't happen exactly like that.
Meyers' touchdowns came on Saskatchewan's opening possession of each half, so after his third-quarter major put the Roughriders ahead 30-11 they scored only one more field goal from Brett Lauther, whose 4-for-4 day outing improved his season success rate to 70 per cent (14-for-20).
While completing 23 of 30 passes for 395 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, Harris said during a halftime interview the Roughriders' offence needed to keep attacking its opponents. Instead the Roughriders became more conservative and subsequently replaced Harris with short-yardage quarterback Tommy Stevens in an ill-advised attempt to kill the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
That silly strategy actually set up Lions QB Nathan Rourke's third TD pass and ensuing two-point convert, which pulled the Lions within six points and a failed short kickoff away from somehow winning a game that shouldn't have been that close.
On defence the blitz-adverse Roughriders repeatedly blitzed Rourke, who sometimes escaped but often overthrew open receivers because of the pressure. With a penchant for playing zone defences, it was surprising to see the Roughriders blitzing different linebackers and defensive backs while sometimes deploying a three-man front.
Rourke was sacked once, completed 27 of 41 passes for 337 yards and was intercepted when Riders linebacker A.J. Allen, who led his team with six tackles, tipped a ball to teammate Marcus Sayles.
Everyone is calling it a 'bounce-back game,' a 'rebound' from the Roughriders' lacklustre performance one week earlier, when a match against the visiting Calgary Stampeders was rescheduled from Friday night to Saturday afternoon because of smoky air. The home team barely quivered while being eviscerated 24-10 in that contest.
'Do we have a glass jaw or not?' Riders head coach Corey Mace had wondered afterwards, using an old boxing analogy, following his team's first loss of the CFL season.
It turns out the Roughriders are more tough-to-knockout George Chuvalo than glass-jawed Gerry Cooney.
They were angry after the loss to Calgary. The offensive and defensive lines had been dominated in the trenches, a fact noted by Mace and validated by the players. They also thought they may have become too egotistical about their unbeaten record.
They began last week's workouts with a rare, pads-on practice that featured lots of popping. The players told reporters afterwards they had learned a lesson from the loss and they vowed to work harder, which allowed them to keep pace with the 5-1 Stampeders atop the West Division. They didn't mention the strategy changes, a little nip-and-tuck that lets the Roughriders look at themselves in the mirror again.
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