By Mitchell Blair
For Riderville.com
It’s almost inexplicable to comprehend after the successes in recent years by the Saskatchewan Roughriders, but the football team is tied for the worst record in the CFL after losing 24-11 to the B.C Lions in Vancouver Friday night. It leaves both teams and the Toronto Argonauts sitting with a record of 1-5.
After another dismal road outing, Riders Head Coach Greg Marshall boiled everything into one sentence when talking to 620 CKRM’s Carm Carteri about what is wrong with his football team.
“We are our own worst enemies right now,” a subdued Marshall said. “Missed kicks, dropped passes, blown assignments, you can’t do that no matter who you are playing. We have to eliminate those things, but the guys making those mistakes are the guys we are depending on. We just have to look at everything and correct ourselves. We have to keep beating ourselves. We are playing against two teams right now; our opponents and ourselves.
Running back Neal Hughes was one of many Riders who wasn’t in a great mood after the game. He acknowledges his team is just not getting it done.
“This isn’t fun, “a dejected Hughes said. “ We’re trying to figure out as a team what we need to do better. I think we’ve just got to get back to basics and forget about getting this win or that win. We just have to play football and if we do that winning will take care itself. We’ve got to start playing one play at a time and play that play to the best of your abilities.”
Defensive lineman Dario Romero was happy with the way the game started for his group, but not with the way it ended.
“I thought we started out dominating them and getting after their quarterback, “said Romero. “However, you have to give it to them because they just kept coming and grinding it out and they got the win.”
Romero was part of an Edmonton team that struggled mightily and he says the experiences he had with the Eskimos over the past couple of years is helping him out even though he is very frustrated with what is going on.
“Being with the Eskimos and being through this the last couple of seasons makes it a little easier. Its tough to find an answer as to why we are losing because we have all the tools, we have all the guys and we have the talent, but we just keep shooting ourselves in the foot.” Romero said. “We give up a big play and it sets us back on our heels. We’ve got what it takes and we just have to figure out how to take what we have and create some positives.”
The team will hit the Mosaic Stadium for practice next week before welcoming the Calgary Stampeders back to Mosaic Stadium for a Friday night encounter with kickoff starting at 730.
