Saskatchewan Roughriders s Edmonton Eskimos e during first half CFL pre-season action in Edmonton, Alta., on Sunday May 27, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson.
SASKATOON — Chris Jones got personal when assessing the play of the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ three quarterbacks in the CFL team’s pre-season opener.
“We were a little bit inconsistent,” the Roughriders’ head coach and general manager said following Sunday’s 35-12 pre-season loss to the host Edmonton Eskimos.
“There were flashes of really good things by all of them and then there were flashes of things that, like I told them in (the locker room), looked like me out there sometimes — which is not a good thing.”
The first domino fell Monday, when the Roughriders released Marquise Williams. The 25-year-old product of the University of North Carolina joined the Roughriders in training camp last season and dressed for eight regular-season games as the third-stringer before being supplanted by Vernon Adams Jr.
Williams struggled during Sunday’s game, when he split the quarterbacking duties with David Watford and B.J. Daniels.
Zach Collaros and Brandon Bridge were in uniform for the contest, but neither played as the three pivots vying to be the third-stringer took all of the snaps.
Watford started and played in seven series, all in the first half. He completed eight of 17 pass attempts for 87 yards with one interception and rushed once for one yard.
The Roughriders generated 124 yards of net offence and nine points during Watford’s time at the controls.
The game marked the first time since 2015 that he had played quarterback in a contest. After leaving Hampton University, Watford played receiver with the NFL’s Philadelphia Eagles before joining the Roughriders’ practice roster late last season.
“It took probably a drive or two to knock some of the rust off,” Watford said. “It’s about getting comfortable and making those throws.
“I missed (receiver Devon) Bailey low on the first drive (to force a punt). I have to get comfortable throwing the ball, be confident, let the plays come to me and not try to force anything.”
The interception he threw to Johnny Adams was an example of that. Watford threw a pass he shouldn’t have and the Eskimos’ DB was Johnny on the spot to pick it off.
“You never want to make mistakes like that,” Watford said. “But you learn from that stuff. I have to be better and be smarter with the ball. It’ll come.”
Williams took the reins of the offence in the third quarter. In his five possessions, Saskatchewan scored three points and compiled 54 net yards in 18 plays.
He was good on three of seven pass attempts for 32 yards with an interception. He and tailback Zac Stacy also got their wires crossed on a third-down gamble and fumbled the exchange, leading to another turnover.
Daniels replaced Williams in the fourth quarter and ran the offence for three possessions. Daniels was 9-for-20 passing for 133 yards and rushed twice for 12 yards to help the Roughriders accumulate 173 net yards on 29 plays.
Each of his first two drives ended with a third-down incompletion deep in Edmonton territory and the third was terminated by the end of the game.
“(The best part of the day was) moving the ball,” Daniels said. “That’s what the offence is supposed to do and needs to do to be successful.
“Completing first-down passes and moving the ball on short yardage, that was the key for us to move the ball a little bit. I’m proud of that.”
Like Watford, Daniels hadn’t played much quarterback since 2015. He was used as a receiver, running back and returner in the NFL before moving back behind centre in Your Call Football this spring.
“I think I did well (Sunday),” he said. “I’m just thankful to be here and thankful for the opportunity.”
Jones wants to see the quarterbacks do a better job of protecting the football and getting the offence to the line of scrimmage in time.
He pointed to three instances of poor clock management Sunday: One in which a timeout was called to avoid a time-count violation, one in which a flag was thrown after the play clock expired, and one in which the ball was snapped just as the clock reached zero.
After watching Sunday’s film, the coaches will have the remainder of training camp and a second pre-season game (June 8 against the visiting Calgary Stampeders) to decide who will slot in where on the quarterbacking depth chart.
There are other circumstances for the coaches to consider — as Jones noted, Watford played against the Eskimos’ starting defence while Daniels played against Edmonton’s backups — so the quarterbacks can work only on improving and leave the decision up to the coaches.
“I can’t really control that and I can’t really think about it, either,” Watford said. “I can just do my job every day. Wherever they want to put me, wherever they want me to be, that’s where I’ll be and I’ll try to continue to make the most of it.”
- Three other players were released Monday.
Defensive back Sam Williams, defensive lineman Justin Horton and running back Josh McPhearson also were cut. Williams was the only veteran of that trio; he played in four games last season.
