Roughriders head into bye week on a high

REGINA — Ask Kevin Glenn about Ed Gainey’s four-interception performance and he’ll admit the defensive back had a stellar game but not before he takes a bit of credit for his success.

“Gainey getting all of those picks, I’m going to credit that to us throwing to him before the game,” Glenn laughed to members of the media after Sunday night’s contest. “I threw a couple of balls to him and he caught them so that’s kind of why he got all of those picks.”

Maybe it was the extra reps he got before the game that helped Gainey to his record-setting night or perhaps it was a conversation that the 27-year-old had with his head coach earlier in the week.

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With four in last week’s contest, Ed Gainey surpassed a career high in interceptions in a single season (The Canadian Press)

“He was a very productive player (last year) and this year I’ve felt that he’s been a bit hesitant,” Chris Jones told the media after contest. “I’ve been on him since camp to be more aggressive. He and I spoke this week and I told him, “you’re a good player, you’re just not quite playing like a good player.’ Tonight I saw that same confidence that I’ve seen from him in the past.”

Whatever the reason, Gainey was one of the stars of the Roughriders 41-8 victory over the BC Lions. To go along with his four interceptions, the six-year CFL vet had two tackles, one fumble recovery and a touchdown – a pick-six on his second interception of the evening.

But it wasn’t just the defence that was carrying the team on Sunday night – a defence that held the Lions off the score sheet until late in the fourth quarter – the Riders offence came alive after a rather forgettable outing the week prior.

“Everybody game to play tonight,” said Glenn. “When you have the defence getting takeaways like that, you can’t do anything but put points on the board as an offence. I think the defensive energy kind of carried the team tonight.”

Glenn had a strong outing, connecting on 19 of 25 passes for 320 yards, three touchdowns and just a single interception. His favourite target of the night through the air was Naaman Roosevelt, who had three catches for 80 yards. Cameron Marshall was also looked upon often, rushing 12 times for 46 yards and a touchdown while also catching three passes for 58 yards and a major score.

Duron Carter and Bakari Grant also got into the scoring action as they both caught touchdown passes from the Saskatchewan pivot.

“Since we’ve been here, this is certainly the most solid game we’ve played,” Jones said. “All three phases showed up tonight and played well early in the football game and played until the finish.”

Starting games on the right foot has been a struggle for the Riders so far this season. In Week 7, Saskatchewan didn’t get on the scoreboard until the fourth quarter. In Week 6, they only scored a field goal in the first 15 minutes of the contest and Week 5? No score until the second half.

The Riders are last in the league in points for in the first quarter with 22 and are also dead last in the second quarter with 41. So when they came out flying and scored 15 points in the first quarter – thanks to Grant and Gainey touchdowns – the team never looked back on their way to victory.

Saskatchewan has taken full advantage of their new stadium and, with Sunday night’s win, have improved to a 3-1 record at the new Mosaic Stadium. But when it comes to playing on the road, they’ve yet to find their footing.

Without a win on the road this season – Saskatchewan is 0-3 away from Mosaic – Glenn and his Riders have to find a way to win in order to keep up in the tough West Division. They’ll have a week off to figure out just how to do that as they head into a bye before returning in Week 10 to take on the undefeated Edmonton Eskimos.

“This was a good win but we have to win on the road,” Glenn admitted. “To be at the top of this league, we have to win on the road. We know that we can play like this at home but we have to play this exact way on the road. We’ll get a test after the bye week in Edmonton.”