Nye: Can the Riders re-discover their offence?

Jamie Nye

CFL.ca

@jamienye

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are coming out of the bye week needing more from one phase of the game: offence.

Through the first four weeks of the season, the defence and special teams have held their own. There was a hiccup against the Ottawa REDBLACKS but for the most part it’s been scoring points that has plagued the Roughriders.

They average only 15 offensive points per game that puts them in a tie for last with Montreal and Toronto.

To put it in perspective on the difference in performance of defence and offence, the defence of the Riders have scored three touchdowns. The offence has scored four.

Despite taking some criticism, Chris Jones has the Riders off to a 2-2 start in the West (Arthur Ward/CFL.ca)

What’s plaguing the offence? The list is a long one.

Health for one, specifically quarterback Zach Collaros. A head injury suffered in the second game of the season has had Head Coach Chris Jones playing yo-yo with quarterbacks Brandon Bridge and David Watford, seemingly unconvinced either guy can be the guy with Collaros out of the lineup.

Bridge does not look like the same guy who had many believing he could take the reins of the team easily if Collaros was unable to get the job done. Bridge was exciting to watch last year, putting the team in position to win every time he was called upon to either relieve Kevin Glenn or an impressive start in Hamilton.

Bridge hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass this season and has turned the ball over five times in his three games of action. Hence the move to take a peek at third-string quarterback and rookie David Watford.

But health on the defensive side of the ball has also plagued the offence as receiver Duron Carter continues to be the fill-in for defensive back Nick Marshall, who was injured in Week 1.

Carter’s move to offence has been the most talked about and criticized move of the CFL season so far. The offence clearly needs more playmakers with Naaman Roosevelt, the leading receiver of the team ranked 17th. Roosevelt is the only receiver trending for a 1,000-yard season after the team had three last year. Roosevelt was one, Carter the other and Bakari Grant, released after training camp, the third.

As much as Carter has been the most scrutinized storyline for the Riders’ offence, the offensive line appears to be a bigger issue. It won’t matter who is catching the ball for the team if the quarterback doesn’t have the time to get the ball to the right player and get the time to make the right reads.

Riders receiver-turned-DB Duron Carter had a bounce back game in Week 4 (Johany Jutras/CFL.ca)

There isn’t an offence out there that is going to survive long without strong play from the O-line. The issue is also depth. There isn’t much to go to for the Roughriders right now when they’ve had defensive lineman Eddie Steele as the next man up in the last two games.

The release of Travis Bond, who has settled in nicely in Edmonton, continues to confuse when the play hasn’t been stellar from the starting five.

The good news for the Roughriders coming off their bye week is their defence and special teams have been as good as they have.

It appears everything written and analyzed about the moves on the defensive side have been spot on. Charleston Hughes has become a veteran leader and welcome presence on the opposite side of the line to free up some more room for Willie Jefferson.

Zack Evans and recently-signed Mic’hael Brooks are making things tough to run on the Riders in the middle.

While the Riders could use a defensive back to free up Carter to again return to offence, Chris Jones should get more credit than he received for his game plan against Hamilton after Carter was exposed the previous week against Montreal.

Jones, instead of sticking Carter on the weak side corner, matched his defensive backs one on one with Tiger-Cat receivers, meaning Carter went up against someone his size and speed in Terrance Toliver and things went a lot more smoothly. Previously, Carter would have been matched up against Brandon Banks, which could have led to a similar disaster as seeing Chris Williams getting behind him a few times a week earlier.

And the Riders special teams are also playing very well. The coverage teams on punt and kick return have given up just one big play, while Christion Jones is leading the league in combined yards with the third best average on kick returns and second best on punts.

Then you have Brett Lauther, who has been a great story of resilience in the CFL. He hasn’t kicked in the league in five years and has booted some big field goals, going 10 for 11 in relief of the injured Tyler Crapigna.

While two out of three ain’t bad, the Roughriders likely don’t improve much on their .500 record if they don’t see at least a touchdown more per game from the offence.

We’ll see if the bye week allowed Offensive Coordinator Stephen McAdoo to get his group matching the play from the other sides of the ball.

Follow CFL