THE CANADIAN PRESS
Let’s be honest, the league is better off when the Saskatchewan Roughriders are relevant on the field. Now I mean this next thought as a compliment: The Riders playing good football is good for the CFL because they make a great sports villain.
Start with their head coach, Chris Jones. Between his clad in black no matter how hot it is sideline outfits to his departure from Edmonton before the last bottle of Grey Cup Champagne had been finished to the variety of fines that has been levied on him, Jones is perfectly cast as the evil mastermind.
The fact that he is a damn good coach also helps out with this portrayal. They signed controversial receiver Duron Carter in the off-season, plus they have that sometimes-overwhelming fan base who are always lurking no matter where you are on Earth. They check all the boxes you want for the team that is fun to root against.
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After a rough outing in Week 7, Kevin Glenn bounced back with his best performance of 2017 (The Canadian Press)
Again, I mean this in a good way, sports are way more fun when you have the perceived “evil empire” organization. Baseball is better when the Yankees are in the hunt for the AL East — not when they’re eight games under .500. Well, after going 8-28 over the past two seasons and zero playoff wins since beating Hamilton 45-23 back in 2013, the team started to slip into obscurity, especially in a West Division dominated by Calgary, Edmonton and the BC Lions.
Now, obviously I’m not saying “they’re back!” after their 41-8 win over the Lions — they’re still last in the West — but watching that blowout I was reminded that a dangerous Roughriders team makes everything just that much more interesting.
After re-watching the Riders’ win over the Lions, I am left with one question that I don’t have an answer to: How much of that win was about the improvement Saskatchewan is making versus how much can you chalk up to the Lions just having a tough day at the office as they tried to bring back Jonathon Jennings as the team’s starter? How do you go from being up 30-0 at one point over the same opponent just a week earlier to losing by 33 points?
The Leos rolled up 535 yards of offence in Week 7 but on Sunday night could muster up just 86 yards at the half. I wish I could give you a definitive answer. Instead, treat the rest of the column as one of those highbrow artsy movies that forces you to interpret what the meaning of the film is instead of it just being Vin Diesel round house kicking the antagonist right before the bomb detonates. Here are my observations:
1. The Roughriders’ three man rush was simply devastating.
Everyone will focus on Jennings’ four interceptions and I’ll get there in a moment but the story for me was Saskatchewan’s ability to sack or pressure Jennings with a minimum amount of rushers. The best thing I can say about the Lions’ offensive line was that it wasn’t just one man who let the unit down, this was a team effort. The second offensive play saw A.C. Leonard just man handle Hunter Steward, leading to a Tobi Antigha sack. Near the end of the quarter it was centre Cody Husband being overpowered by Ese Mrabure, who barreled right up the middle to take down Jennings. Just so we have complete balance on the blame game, later on it was Leonard again, this time in the third quarter, knifing through both Kelvin Palmer and Kirby Fabien for the third sack of the night.
It’s one thing to pressure a quarterback when you send seven but it is far more impressive when you can disrupt the opposing passer by only sending three. It was a consistent and relentless pass rush from start to finish. Just a week earlier, this same offensive line gave up just one sack on 31 pass attempts and plowed through this same defensive front, allowing the Lions to gain over 200 yards on the ground. So again I ask, what happened?
2. Jonathon Jennings did not look like the quarterback I predicted would win the MOP.
On his first pass of the night, Jennings went deep for Nick Moore and under threw him. On his first pass of the third quarter, he tried to force one into double coverage to Emmanuel Arceneaux. As for his interceptions, they were a combination of poor decision-making, desperation and not getting enough help from his teammates.
Jonathon Jennings threw four interceptions in his first game back from injury (The Canadian Press)
Don’t get me wrong, Jennings deserves as much blame for his shaky return but some fans will just look at his four interceptions and assume it was all on him. It wasn’t. Maybe the play that best summed up the Lions’ night was his final interception near the goal line after that beautiful 50-yard run by Jeremiah Johnson. Jennings again had immediate pressure in his face from Antigha, forcing him to scramble, and then his pass goes off of Chris Williams right into the hands of Derrick Moncrief as the Lions’ best chance for a touchdown has been snuffed out. It was that kind of a night.
3. Wait, how long has Solomon Elimimian had the nickname “Better call Sol”?
I heard Chris Cuthbert throw that out there early in the game. Has he always had this nickname? How did I miss that? I think we can all agree the last season of ‘Better Call Saul’ was fantastic. What a great nickname!
4. No one will have a better defensive stat line then Ed Gainey.
This will be the safest prediction I make all year after Gainey became the first player since 1986 to record four interceptions in one game. Some will say Gainey benefited from his team’s pass rush and some questionable quarterback decisions but that grossly overlooks how smartly he read the Lions quarterback all night as he constantly put himself in position to make the big play.
In 66 career games, Gainey had five interceptions. He almost matched that in one game.
5. Cameron Marshall is a hell of a running back, not so much of a high jumper.
On his first-quarter 23-yard catch and run, Marshall attempted to high jump over Buddy Jackson only to whack him in the face. I’ll give him an ‘A’ for effort but a ‘D’ for the result. Of course, that one play was off set with his brilliant night, finishing off with 104 total yards, two touchdowns and a more than adequate block on Elimimian on Kevin Glenn’s first touchdown pass of the evening.
Finally, bonus marks for Marshall for outrunning “Better Call Sol” on his 29-yard touchdown catch.
6. Wally Buono filled out that “Diversity is Strength” shirt impressively.
The man is 67 and made me feel shame for how I look. I have nothing else to add.
Wally Buono wore the ‘Diversity is Strength’ t-shirt during the Lions’ clash in Regina (The Canadian Press)
7. Saskatchewan’s offence will be so much more dangerous once Duron Carter is fully integrated.
Beyond his 131-yard, two-touchdown performance against the Argonauts in Week 6, Carter has not exactly been lighting up the league. I imagine he would admit he figured he would be doing better than averaging fewer than 60 yards a game.
But I will leave on a high note; it was a really nice gesture by Carter to give his touchdown ball to a kid in the stands. After scoring, Carter tossed the ball to a kid wearing his 89 jersey only to have the fan give it back to Carter. Duron immediately flipped the ball back to the deserving fan. It was a nice moment. Hey, wait a minute, I thought Carter was supposed to be a villain?
