Dave Chidley/CFL.ca
TORONTO — Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Chris Jones faced the media following his team’s 25-21 defeat at the hands of the Toronto Argonauts in the Eastern Final.
“I just left a strong locker room of guys in there,” said Jones, whose team reversed a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter only to lose at the death. “When you lose a ballgame of this magnitude, and on top of that you’ve played good defence all day (then) when you need it you can’t get a stop, it was tough.”
The Riders head coach credited Corey Chamblin’s Argos defence for its varied looks.
“Corey did a real nice job of disguising his coverages and sending different movements and blitzes,” explained Jones. “Their defence did a real nice job, (and) had our quarterbacks in a position where they didn’t see the game very well.”
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The architect of the surging Riders admitted that his veterans — quarterback Kevin Glenn, receiver Chad Owens, etc. — blamed themselves for the defeat.
“They were both wanting to take responsibility for the loss, (but) you never lose on one mistake,” said Jones. “We took too many penalties (and) were the more undisciplined football team today — that cost us.”
From a big-picture perspective, the Saskatchewan head coach was satisfied with his team’s recovery from a 2-4 start to the season.
“We just talked about it in the locker room — nobody gave us a chance, they were ready to run our coaching staff our of town,” reflected Jones. “It’s a great group of guys, a great coaching staff and neither group minds working. I couldn’t be more proud. Unfortunately we just fell a little short.”
Turning to his team’s winter plans, Jones believes his team has the makings of a championship contender going forward.
“The character, the makeup of our locker room’s extremely good,” said Jones when asked about positives for the organization. “We have people that genuinely care about each other (and) don’t mind to work. Now it’s just a matter of minute details.”
