Chris Jones knows exactly where his Saskatchewan Roughriders stand in relation to the Calgary Stampeders.
“We’re 0-and-2 versus Calgary (this season), so that’s a pretty (big) disparity,” the Roughriders’ head coach-GM said after Sunday’s 15-9 loss to the Stampeders in CFL action at Mosaic Stadium.
Saskatchewan was closer Sunday than it had been July 22, when the host Stampeders rolled to a 27-10 victory. But a reduced margin of victory in the rematch didn’t matter much to the Roughriders, who lost their 10th straight regular-season game to Calgary.
The last time Saskatchewan beat the Stampeders in a regular-season contest was July 5, 2013, when the Roughriders posted a 36-21 victory at home.
With Sunday’s victory, Calgary stretched its winning streak to nine games and improved its league-best record to 11-1-1. The Stampeders also have won 16 straight games against teams from the West Division.
The Roughriders, meanwhile, fell to 6-6-0. Their offence was dormant for much of the contest and finished with 13 first downs and 210 yards of net offence.
Asked if the Stampeders did anything special on defence, Jones replied: “They lined up and whipped our butt.”
“Defence and special teams did a wonderful job tonight and the offence didn’t hold up our end of the bargain,” added guard Derek Dennis. “We’ve got some things to clean up.
“We fought hard, but we had an opportunity to win the game and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
Saskatchewan started its final possession of the game at its 34-yard line with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter. Backup quarterback Brandon Bridge — who had replaced starter Kevin Glenn to begin the final frame — drove the Roughriders to the Calgary 36-yard line with less than a minute to play, but he was sacked and fumbled. The Stampeders recovered the fumble and then ran out the clock.
Glenn started after missing the Roughriders’ previous game, a 27-19 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sept. 15. Bridge started for Saskatchewan in that contest.
Glenn didn’t play in Hamilton because of a bruised right hand, which he injured in a 48-28 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 9. Glenn appeared to hit his throwing hand on a Calgary defender on the last play of the first half Sunday, but he stayed in the game.
However, the veteran struggled to put together sustained drives. He finished with 12 completions in 19 pass attempts for 127 yards with one interception.
The Roughriders had the ball 11 times with Glenn at the controls. Those possessions ended in eight punts, one interception, one failed third-down gamble and the halftime whistle.
“(The Stampeders) played well,” said Glenn, who noted his hand was fine. “They pretty much had our number. It was one thing after another. We didn’t get the protection I think we needed and then when we did get an opportunity to put up big plays, we had penalties — offsides and things like that.
“We just didn’t get into a rhythm, similar to before (in the loss in Calgary). We’ve got to figure it out against them. It just seems like, for some reason, we just can’t get it going against them.”
Calgary’s Rene Paredes kicked a 38-yard field goal at 8:45 of the first quarter and a 36-yarder at 7:12 of the second quarter to give his team a 6-0 lead.
The Roughriders got on the board at 10:27 of the second quarter when Stampeders punter Rob Maver conceded a safety — and those two points concluded the first-half scoring.
Paredes kicked a 17-yard field goal at 5:18 of the third quarter to stretch the lead to 9-2 and added a 39-yarder at 12:10 to make it 12-2. His 30-yarder at 7:50 of the fourth quarter gave Calgary a 15-2 lead.
Holding the Stampeders to five field goals didn’t amount to a moral victory in the mind of Roughriders linebacker Sam Eguavoen.
“We made a lot of mistakes on defence to let them get into field-goal range and then we buckled up; we’ve got to buckle up earlier,” said Eguavoen, whose team gave up 355 yards of net offence.
“Calgary’s a good team, they don’t make a lot of mistakes and they’re going to take the points when they’re presented to them.”
Bridge connected with Devon Bailey for a 14-yard touchdown at 10:04 of the fourth quarter and Tyler Crapigna added the convert to make it 15-9. That major completed the scoring.
“In the first half, we could have played better and put ourselves in a better position to compete towards the end,” said Saskatchewan slotback Bakari Grant. “But in the fourth quarter, going against a team like Calgary, you want to have a chance to win the game — and we did that. We’ve just got to be able to capitalize.”
Bridge completed six of seven pass attempts for 91 yards and also led the Roughriders in rushing with 12 yards on three carries. Saskatchewan managed just 28 yards on 12 rushes in the contest.
Bailey paced the Roughriders with 68 yards on three catches, while Grant added six catches for 59 yards. Naaman Roosevelt had two receptions for 23 yards before leaving the game in the second quarter after taking a hit to the head from Calgary’s Tunde Adeleke.
“It was a helmet-to-helmet hit,” Jones said. “But (the officials) came back and gave us the flag, so appropriate action was taken.”
Calgary quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was 24-for-32 passing for 222 yards, while tailback Jerome Messam rushed 23 times for 127 yards.
Next up for the Roughriders is a game Friday in Ottawa against the Redblacks.
