Roughriders kicker Brett Lauther 'back to work' after rough outing
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After converting on just two of his five field goal attempts for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a 28-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, the 34-year-old kicker wanted to apologize more than anything for his performance.
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'It's baffling, it's hard to explain, and just (want to offer) an apology to everyone, really,' Lauther said as the Roughriders returned to practice on Tuesday. 'Because sometimes I don't understand it either.'
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While Lauther made field goals from 40 and 25 yards on Saturday, he missed from 51, 50 and 29 yards out while also missing a convert.
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'It was just me,' said Lauther, who has made 265 of 322 field goals (82.3 per cent) in his career. 'Everyone's trying to cover up other things, and coaches and teammates are unreal, but yeah, that's just on me.
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'There's nothing wrong with the hold, snaps, no wind or any issues. None of those were difficult kicks. You got to put those through.'
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After making his lone field goal attempt in Week 1 against the Ottawa Redblacks, Lauther and the Roughriders were forced to practise indoors all week leading up to the game in Hamilton due to smoky conditions in Regina.
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While head coach Corey Mace said that the lack of reps due to the low roof indoors could have been a factor, the veteran kicker didn't want to use that as an excuse either.
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'It's just coach being a good coach, really,' said Lauther, who reached 1,000 career points while playing in his 100th game as a Roughrider on Saturday. 'He kind of mentioned it to me right after, and that's what I think any good team or any position they're going to say.
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'But I've been kicking long enough and for enough years that, I don't think it has any effect and it's not why … I don't have any excuses for what happened. It's solely on me. I don't want anyone else trying to take the blame or anything in the media or publicly, because they're just trying to be a good teammate and good person.
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'Really just want to say a quick thanks to everyone here, because every guy came up to me after that game, and there wasn't one negative thing said.'
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When the Roughriders returned to practice Tuesday, outdoors at Mosaic Stadium, the Nova Scotia product was one of the first on the field ahead of Friday's Week 3 road game against the Toronto Argonauts.
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'Just back to work today,' said Lauther, who hadn't missed a convert since Sept. 22, 2023. 'Came in (Monday) on the off day, trying to figure some stuff out, working on a couple little things to try to get the swing back and just feeling better out there, more comfortable and really looking forward to going out Friday and trying to find a way to score points when the guys need it.'
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