The Saskatchewan Roughriders aren’t interested in kicking a man when he’s down.
Members of the CFL team were well aware what kicker Tyler Crapigna was going through Saturday. Nine days after missing a potential game-winning field-goal try against the host Montreal Alouettes, Crapigna had a go-ahead attempt in double overtime hit the left upright against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Mosaic Stadium.
Four plays later, Justin Medlock drilled a 28-yard field goal that gave the Bombers a 43-40 victory.
“He’s going through a character-building phase right now,” Roughriders receiver Rob Bagg said of Crapigna. “These experiences will just make his game better and stronger.
“We’re not going to turn our backs on Tyler. We wouldn’t have been in overtime if he didn’t kick four field goals. The man had a great game. Most kickers would probably be good kicking four of five any day. The timing was unfortunate, but it wasn’t one play that lost us this game.”
There certainly were other costly missteps.
Defensively, the Roughriders blew coverages that left Bombers receivers running free toward the end zone. Weston Dressler, whom many would consider Winnipeg’s most dangerous receiver, caught two touchdown passes on plays on which he wasn’t even covered.
Offensively, Saskatchewan had numerous chances to bury the Bombers. But drives stalled and the Roughriders were forced to punt away the football or attempt field goals.
“We had an opportunity to blow them out, realistically,” Bagg said. “When we watch the film, I think we’ll see that a lot of their points came off of our mistakes. Everyone had a hand in it.”
Bagg pointed specifically to a play in the first overtime period, when he and quarterback Kevin Glenn just missed connecting on a 24-yard touchdown pass.
If the throw had been completed, Saskatchewan would have won 43-40. Instead, the near-miss forced Crapigna to kick a 30-yard field goal that tied the contest at 40 and forced a second OT mini-game.
“If I was 100 per cent, that would have been an easy six,” said Bagg, who has been hampered by an ankle injury suffered in training camp. “It’s certainly not all on Ty. I believe he’s a great kicker and I’ll still ride with him, absolutely. I’m not questioning his skill set or his mental strength.”
Bagg isn’t the only one feeling that way.
In the wake of Crapigna’s last-play, 45-yard miss in Montreal, Glenn said he gave the kicker a hug and told him to keep his head up.
The veteran quarterback had a similar message for Crapigna on Saturday — but only after Glenn twice put the blame on himself for throwing two interceptions in a contest in which he also threw for 377 yards and four touchdowns.
“Tyler is a strong person, so he’ll get through this,” Glenn said. “This is nothing that we as professional football players haven’t been through.
“We’ve always had hurdles that we needed to get over and situations that, at times, we’ve felt were bad. But with the help of his teammates, he’ll get through this. We all believe in Tyler and Tyler’s going to come through for us when it counts.”
Crapigna connected on field-goal tries from 48, 32, 35 and 32 yards in Saturday’s game. He also hit all four of his 32-yard convert attempts.
But as head coach-GM Chris Jones noted, a kicker’s work is magnified, especially when he misses an important attempt.
“Certainly I feel for the young man,” Jones added, “but nobody feels worse than him.”
That was evident when Crapigna met the media in the Roughriders’ locker room.
He may have hit three game-winning field-goal tries for Saskatchewan in 2016, but those were a long way from his mind Saturday.
“That was last year; this is a different year,” said Crapigna, who no doubt is well aware that backup Quinn van Gylswyk is waiting in the wings. “I’ve got to be good this year. Last year is last year. I don’t really care about what happened that year.”
The loss Saturday dropped the Roughriders’ record this season to 0-2-0, the mark they’ll take into Saturday’s contest against the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-1-0).
The Roughriders vowed to support Crapigna during the upcoming week of practice, just as they would any teammate who was struggling. But while other players may not be able to relate to the under-the-microscope life of a kicker, they can understand his plight.
“There were a couple of plays that got away from me (Saturday), but it’s not up front and not everybody sees it like (they see) a kicker,” defensive tackle Zach Minter said. “Throwing negativity his way is not going to help at all. It’s a family here.”
