The Saskatchewan Roughriders cleansed their palates Sunday.
Eight days after being beaten 30-15 by the B.C. Lions in Vancouver, the Roughriders earned a measure of revenge with a dominant 41-8 CFL victory over the Lions at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s been a frustrating week for our entire program — coaches, players, everybody,” Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said after his team improved its record to 3-4-0. “There was a bad taste in our mouth (after the loss in Vancouver).
“I think for the first time since I’ve been here, I saw a little physicality that we need to bring every week,” added Jones, who was hired to run the Roughriders’ football operations in December of 2015. “If we do that and bring the level of execution (we’ll be fine) because, quite honestly, I called the same exact game plan without any deviation from the week prior.”
The Lions manhandled the Roughriders in the first game of the home-and-home set, rushing for 202 yards, passing for 345 yards and possessing the ball for 38 minutes four seconds. B.C. built up a 30-0 lead before giving up two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter en route to its seventh straight victory over the Roughriders.
That streak was snapped emphatically on Sunday.
Saskatchewan got off to the fast start, grabbing a 15-0 lead in the first quarter and building that to 29-0 by halftime. That was the Roughriders’ biggest halftime advantage in a game since Aug. 26, 2006, when they led the Hamilton Tiger-Cats by 31 points (34-3).
The Roughriders didn’t let up in the second half of Sunday’s game, either.
“Since we’ve been here, it’s certainly the most solid game that we’ve played,” said Jones, who joined the Roughriders shortly after guiding the Edmonton Eskimos to the 2015 Grey Cup title. “All three phases showed up tonight and played well early in the football game and played to the finish.”
As a result, the Roughriders washed away the memories of the Aug. 5 loss in Vancouver. But quarterback Kevin Glenn again dismissed the idea that his team had redeemed itself after its showing in B.C.
“For me, it was more so just the next game,” said Glenn, who completed 19 of 25 pass attempts for 320 yards with three touchdowns Sunday. “When you have an outing like the game before this one in B.C., you want to get on the field as soon as possible. That was one of the things that we stressed during the week.
“Everybody came to play tonight. When you’ve got a defence getting takeaways like that, you can’t do nothing but put points on the board as an offence. I think the defensive energy carried the team tonight. They were flying around the ball tonight.”
Saskatchewan forced seven turnovers, including five interceptions, one fumble and one on downs.
The biggest performance was turned in by defensive back Ed Gainey, who had three interceptions in the first half. He added a fourth in the fourth quarter to set a single-game franchise record.
“I started off slow these first six games of the season and I expect a lot more out of myself,” said Gainey, who had the first four interceptions recorded by a Saskatchewan defensive back this season.
“These past two weeks I’ve been able to get my hands on some balls and wasn’t able to bring them in. I had my son (10-month-old Grayson) coming in to town this week and I just had a feeling that I was going to be able to make some plays out there today. I didn’t think it was going to be four, but they came and I took advantage of them.”
The Roughriders got on the board first at 6:52 of the first quarter on a 39-yard single by Tyler Crapigna, whose 39-yard field-goal attempt was wide right.
That marked the first time since Saskatchewan’s 37-20 victory over Hamilton on July 8 that the Roughriders had a first-quarter lead.
The Lions took possession at their 35-yard line, but their drive lasted just two plays and ended with Gainey’s first interception.
Four plays later, Glenn hit Bakari Grant down the middle with a 35-yard touchdown pass. Crapigna added the convert and Saskatchewan led 8-0 at 9:44 of the first quarter.
Gainey was back for more on the Lions’ next possession. He picked off a Jonathon Jennings pass and weaved his way through traffic for a 49-yard touchdown — the Roughriders’ first pick-six since Macho Harris turned the trick against the Montreal Alouettes on Sept. 27, 2015.
Crapigna’s convert gave the Roughriders a 15-0 lead and they carried that advantage into the second quarter. The 15 points were the most Saskatchewan scored in the first quarter this season.
Early in the second quarter, Glenn hit Naaman Roosevelt for a 24-yard gain to the Lions’ one-yard line and Cameron Marshall punched it two plays later. Crapigna’s convert gave the Roughriders a 22-0 lead 2:01 into the frame.
After Glenn was picked off by Loucheiz Purifoy, the Lions drove into Saskatchewan territory. But Gainey picked off Jennings again, becoming the first Saskatchewan DB with three picks in a game since Harris in that aforementioned game against Montreal.
The Roughriders took a 29-0 lead at 13:04 of the second quarter when Crapigna converted Marshall’s 29-yard scoring reception. The two-play, 43-yard drive was set up by a 39-yard punt return by Christion Jones.
The Roughriders stretched their lead to 36 points with 2:52 left in the third quarter, when Glenn hit Duron Carter from seven yards out and Crapigna kicked the convert.
B.C. broke the shutout at 4:07 of the fourth quarter, when Jennings lobbed a pass to Chris Williams and the speedy wideout outran the defence for a 56-yard touchdown. Jennings connected with Marco Iannuzzi for the two-point convert that made it 36-8.
A conceded safety and a 24-yard Crapigna field goal rounded out the scoring for the Roughriders, whose coach once again was able to flash a large smile after the contest.
“Anytime you can win a football game, you just don’t realize the ability over the next six or eight hours to exhale a little bit until you come back and watch the film in the morning — (and you’re) probably pissed off at that point,” Jones said with a chuckle.
“We put a lot of pressure on ourselves. Our expectation level is a lot higher than probably anybody else around. We expect to win every ball game and certainly when we don’t play well, with as much work as we put into it, then we’re not happy.
“It’s not like something that you can live with. You have that bad taste in your mouth. I know personally I go back to the hotel every night and just order in. Football matters and when you work as hard as we do, it’s a relief when you can walk off and you got a win and you know you deserved it.”
Saskatchewan now has a bye. Its next game is Aug. 25 in Edmonton.
