Johany Jutras/CFL.ca
Good thing it’s a long season or Rider Nation wouldn’t have much to remain optimistic about following the 41-3 loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
After a promising victory over the previously undefeated Ottawa REDBLACKS, the Riders arrived in Montreal licking their chops but left licking their wounds.
Montreal had just three days between its loss Monday to Toronto and Friday night’s game. Rider Nation was overly bullish on its team’s prospects for consecutive wins for the first time since September of 2014.
Against Ottawa, not many fans were picking the Riders to win. A week later, not many were going to pick against the big green machine. But that’s the life of CFL fans this year. Expect the unexpected.
Although, I don’t think anybody thought the Als would be able to put up 41 points on short rest, not to mention the fact they’d only scored a combined total of 37 points in their previous three games.
In Saskatchewan, the Riders again showed this is a team that has a long way to go before falling into the category of contender in the CFL’s West Division.
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Mitchell Gale wasn’t given much of a chance in the face of the Als’ pass rush (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)
From start to finish they showed their true identity. A team that lacks depth and a team that lacks an attitude.
You’ll see it in spurts but nowhere near consistent enough.
Head Coach Chris Jones said it leading into the game: He believed he had the more athletic team when matching up against Montreal but the Alouettes play a physical brand of football.
He followed that up by saying he would be interested to see how they matched up.
Again, that final score: Montreal 41 – Saskatchewan 3.
The 38-point deficit is the worst loss a team with Chris Jones on the sideline as a head coach or assistant has ever suffered. Jones is in his 15th season in the league.
Jones knows there is a lot more needed than athleticism when it comes to winning football games and was shown that is a major deficiency in his lineup.
Kevin Glenn had more than enough time to pick the team apart. When it came to a second-and-20 play in the third quarter, instead of holding the Alouettes to a field goal, they can bulldozed on a screen play that went 38 yards for a Brandon Rutley touchdown.
Rider receivers had no room after the catch, while Duron Carter and Nik Lewis seemed to bounce off their defenders on their way to extra yards.
While the Riders offensive line only allowed one sack on the night and that came in garbage time, Mitchell Gale wasn’t given as much time to throw and find his receivers down field.
And special teams. Oh, the special teams, which is one of the biggest indicators of physical play with one on one battles all over the field. Rider punt returns averaged 5.6 yards per return, while Stefan Logan nearly tripled that with 15.9 yards per return.
It came down to the old cliché ‘who wanted it more’. And in all aspects, the Alouettes were more willing to get their nose dirty for that extra inch.
If the Riders are going to climb out of the CFL basement they need to find their nasty side. They are going to have to take on the persona of their head coach, who is a intense as they come.
The mantra from the team was back to the film room and take accountability for yourself and your mistakes and no pointing fingers at anyone but yourself.
The coaches can definitely learn from it as well because on the second half of the double bill on TSN, we watched the top two teams in the West Division go toe to toe in a classic that ended with a 44-41 overtime win for the Stampeders over BC.
There was definitely a big dose of physicality in that game!
After what we saw Friday night in Montreal, Saskatchewan has a long way to go before any one starts believing they can be contender up against those two teams.
Although, we will find out soon just how well they match up. They begin a home and home set in Calgary on Thursday.
