Jones in no mood to celebrate following loss
REGINA — The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t bid farewell to their home the way they would have hoped, but by the end of it all, as the fireworks lit up the nighttime Regina sky and the fans celebrated 80 years of history, it didn’t seem to matter.
Chris Jones, of course, would beg to differ, after the Riders fell 24-6 to the BC Lions on Saturday night in the last CFL game ever at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s pro football so every loss is every bit as important as any other loss,” started Jones. “Unfortunately, it was the last game that’ll be played here. Certainly we would like to have gone out with a win.”
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The loss drops the Riders to 5-12 and in a season that’s volleyed between frustration and optimism, Saturday night’s defeat had to have stung at least a little bit more.
“Our crowd was outstanding,” said Jones. “We know what football means here and it’s very disappointing when we can’t execute better for our fans.”
The Riders managed only two field goals against the Lions’ defence off the foot of Tyler Crapigna. Darian Durant and Jake Waters shared reps at quarterback but it didn’t matter who was under centre – both were under siege all night by the Lions’ front seven, which generated seven sacks.
Adam Bighill and Solomon Elimimian had two sacks each while the latter added 10 tackles in another dominant outing for the 2014 Most Outstanding Player.
Jeremiah Johnson’s first-quarter touchdown was all the Lions needed but Jonathon Jennings added two touchdown passes for good measure. The Riders’ head coach and general manager, while complimentary of Wally Buono’s Lions squad – now the second-place team in the West – said he expected more from his club.
“No,” Jones replied, adamantly, asked if it’s too much to expect a win on such an emotional night. “No, no, no. Because they’re a beatable football team. They’re not the Green Bay Packers from the 60’s. They’re a good football team but they’re not great.
“I feel like we did some things to make them look even better,” he added. “But you’ve got to give them all the credit in the world – they’re very well-coached, they execute at a high level on all three phases and again we got beat by the better football team tonight.”
The setback on Saturday night was the second straight for the Riders, putting a damper on a four-game winning streak and the ensuing heavy dose of optimism that had emerged over the second half of the season.
Riders fans still have plenty of reason to be excited about what’s to come in Riderville, from the new stadium to the young, promising players, many of which have now gotten their first taste of CFL action.
Yet with some cautious optimism also come questions – questions like whether Durant, already a living legend in Riderville, will return in 2017.
Saturday night marked the end of an era as fans bid farewell to Mosaic (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)
Jones took Saturday’s matchup as an opportunity to get Waters his first taste of CFL action but said afterwards he expects No. 4 to be back next year.
“I fully expect Darian will be back, yes,” said Jones.
Waters, one of three young quarterbacks on the Riders’ roster along with Mitchell Gale and Brandon Bridge, completed three of five passing attempts but had to exit the game due to a shoulder injury.
“I just wanted to evaluate our young quarterback in a situation early in the game and not have him sit over there and get tight and get cold,” said Jones. “I wanted to be able to evaluate him with people that are competing at a high level and trying to win the football game early in the game.
“I thought he did a decent job. He had a couple of bonehead plays and unfortunately he took a shot to his shoulder and wasn’t able to return. But I thought he was calm in the pocket and again he’s a young quarterback.”
As the GM, Jones has likely had eyes on the upcoming off-season for a while now. Jones, the coach, however, isn’t looking past next weekend.
The Riders travel to BC for a rematch in one last road test, somewhere the Riders have struggled throughout 2016.
“We’re going to have to play better football on the road next year than what we played this year,” said Jones. “We’ve got one more opportunity to do that and we’re gonna evaluate a lot of people and our main goal is to do everything we can do to win the football game.”
