EDMONTON — The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t like the way Week 1 of their training camp wrapped up Sunday.
But their 35-12 pre-season loss to the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium eventually could come in handy in terms of lessons learned.
“Obviously we’re all competitors and nobody likes to lose, but at the end of the day, it’s more about teaching and more about learning — where we’re at, what we need to get better at — and take it into the season,” veteran slotback Bakari Grant said.
“We didn’t have a lot of our guys here, but at the same time, we expect guys to come in and do what we’ve been taught. A loss like that has plenty to teach you.”
The Roughriders rested a number of veterans, including defensive linemen Zack Evans, Charleston Hughes, Willie Jefferson and Eddie Steele, defensive backs Crezdon Butler, Ed Gainey and Jovon Johnson, receivers Rob Bagg and Chad Owens, linebacker Sam Eguavoen and tailback Jerome Messam.
The replacements for those players faced some of the Eskimos’ starters early on — on its first drive, Edmonton’s No. 1 offence faced a Saskatchewan defence that had just one returning starter from last season — and the result often was as expected.
“You would hope that we would come over here and be farther along, but we left about 10 or 12 veterans — basically the entire defence — at home …,” Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said.
“We brought these young guys over. I was hoping we would have a little stronger performance, but that’s where we are. We’re not going to go hide from it. We’re going to go coach them, act like it’s Day 1 again, make it fun and continue to learn.”
The Eskimos accepted the opening kickoff and drove 67 yards in 10 plays, the last of which was a three-yard touchdown run by C.J. Gable. The march included five penalties against the Roughriders, including three offside infractions, an illegal-contact call and a major foul for facemasking.
Saskatchewan’s defence on the drive included one returning starter from 2017 (sophomore linebacker Derrick Moncrief) and one prospective starter in 2018 (rookie cornerback Nick Marshall), while the Eskimos deployed 12 veteran offensive players.
That unit drove 75 yards on five plays for its second TD in as many possessions, with Mike Reilly finding Duke Williams with a 20-yard scoring pass. Sean Whyte’s second convert made it 14-0 for the Eskimos at 8:34 of the first quarter.
The Roughriders got on the board at 11:01 of the quarter on a 25-yard field goal by Brett Lauther. Starting quarterback David Watford led the offence 62 yards in six plays before the drive stalled at the Edmonton 17-yard line.
Watford was at the controls on the Roughriders’ next possession as well and put together a 10-play, 76-yard drive. But the march ended at the Eskimos’ 27-yard line, forcing Lauther to kick a 35-yard field goal that cut the deficit to 14-6.
Lauther was back for more at 7:48 of the second quarter, hoofing a 55-yard field goal with the wind at his back.
Shaq Cooper’s 11-yard touchdown run and Whyte’s convert with 20 seconds left in the second quarter completed the first-half scoring. The Eskimos led 21-9 at the break.
Watford played the whole first half, completing eight of 17 pass attempts for 87 yards with an interception. That pick resulted in Cooper’s TD run.
Marquise Williams was at the helm for Saskatchewan’s first possession of the second half, which started after an interception by Marshall.
Williams moved the Roughriders 46 yards to the Edmonton 26, setting up a 33-yard Lauther field goal that made the score 21-12 for the Eskimos at 3:43 of the third quarter.
Jordan Robinson’s 37-yard TD run and Whyte’s convert put Edmonton ahead 28-12 at 11:05 of the third.
Williams finished with three completions in seven pass attempts for 32 yards with one pick. He added one carry for nine yards.
In the fourth quarter, B.J. Daniels’ first possession as the Roughriders’ quarterback was productive in terms of yards — 81 in 14 plays — but it ended in a failed third-down gamble from the Eskimos’ nine-yard line.
Daniels ran the offence three times, finishing 9-for-20 for 133 yards and two rushes for 12 yards.
“The goal of the offence is to score touchdowns,” Jones said, “and certainly when you don’t score touchdowns and the opponent does, it’s not something that you look at very kindly.”
The Roughriders finished with 23 first downs, 114 yards rushing and 252 yards passing. Edmonton also had 23 first downs and 252 yards passing to go with 123 yards rushing. Saskatchewan took 12 penalties for 98 yards, while the Eskimos were flagged 11 times for 114 yards.
The Roughriders complete their two-game pre-season schedule on June 8 against the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium.
