Chris Jones wasn’t exactly popping champagne corks Friday, but he was cautiously optimistic.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach and general manager was visibly pleased after his CFL team opened the 2018 regular season with a 27-19 victory over the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium.
“It’s better than a loss, I know that,” Jones said. “We’ve been there where we’ve had to pull ourselves out of a hole. Now it’s time that we get used to doing this a lot and it becomes the norm, to be able to get up and know the next morning that you played good enough and you played solid enough.”
Saskatchewan went into Friday’s game having lost three straight regular-season openers, the longest such streak in the CFL. The Roughriders fell in 2017 to the Montreal Alouettes, in 2016 to the Argos and in 2015 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The last time Saskatchewan opened with a win was 2014, when it defeated the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 31-10. Hamilton’s starting quarterback that day was Zach Collaros.
The Roughriders acquired Collaros from the Tiger-Cats on Jan. 3 of this year and he made his first start for Saskatchewan on Friday. He was solid, completing 18 of 25 pass attempts for 203 yards with a touchdown en route to his first win as a starter since Sept. 16, 2016. He had lost his previous 12 starts with the Tiger-Cats.
“Anytime you win a game, it feels good,” Collaros said. “We’re not going to make too big of a deal out of it. It’s a long season and we’re focused on next week.”
Saskatchewan visits the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday.
Collaros was only one of the Roughriders’ new players who had an impact on Friday’s game.
Defensive end Charleston Hughes had three sacks, cornerback Nick Marshall had a 65-yard interception return for a touchdown and kicker Brett Lauther was 4-for-5 on field-goal tries.
Jones was asked if the victory provided validation for Saskatchewan’s off-season of change.
“That’s one win,” he replied. “Validation is when we put a whole bunch of them together and, at the end of the year, we’ve got a whole bunch of them, we host a playoff (game) and get to the Grey Cup and win it. That’s validation.”
On Friday, the teams traded singles in the first quarter. The Argos went ahead at 5:48 of the first quarter on Ronnie Pfeffer’s 50-yard punt single, but the Roughriders tied it when Lauther’s 32-yard field-goal attempt was wide and went through the end zone for a rouge.
Lauther put the Roughriders ahead 4-1 at 1:02 of the second quarter when he connected on a 45-yard field-goal attempt. That was his first successful try since Oct. 4, 2013, when he was a member of the Tiger-Cats.
The Roughriders scored the game’s first touchdown at 7:33 of the quarter, when Collaros hit Naaman Roosevelt with a 13-yard scoring pass. It was the quarterback’s first TD pass since Aug. 18 of last season when, as a member of the Tiger-Cats, he threw a 45-yarder to Luke Tasker.
Collaros’ scoring pass Friday came two plays after the Roughriders gambled on a third-and-three from the Toronto 49-yard line. Collaros lobbed a pass to Caleb Holley, who gathered it in for a 34-yard gain.
Two plays later, Collaros found Roosevelt for the major. Lauther booted the convert and the Roughriders led 11-1.
Lauther hit from 43 yards out at 12:44 to give Saskatchewan a 14-1 lead, but the Argos cut the lead back to 10 at 14:57. Pfeffer kicked a 35-yard three-pointer three plays after the Roughriders’ Tre Mason fumbled at the Saskatchewan 29-yard line.
The Roughriders took that 14-4 lead into halftime.
After Pfeffer’s 52-yard punt single at 7:14 of the third quarter cut the advantage to nine points, Lauther kicked a 46-yard field goal at 14:54 to put the Roughriders up 17-5. That was the score after three quarters.
Toronto backup quarterback James Franklin scored on a one-yard run at 1:54 of the fourth and Pfeffer added the convert to cut the lead to 17-12. That play was set up by a 46-yard pass from Ricky Ray to James Wilder Jr., that put the ball at the Roughriders’ two-yard line.
The next points went to Marshall, who caught a poorly thrown pass from Ray at the Saskatchewan 45-yard line and returned it for the major. Lauther’s convert made it 24-12.
The Argos didn’t go away, though. Ray and Franklin put together a 11-play, 78-yard drive that ended with Franklin’s two-yard TD pass to Declan Cross at 12:44. Pfeffer’s convert made it 24-19.
Lauther sealed the outcome with a 32-yard field goal at 14:47 of the fourth.
Jerome Messam rushed 21 times for 72 yards for the Roughriders, while nine receivers caught passes. Holley had a team-high 47 yards on two catches.
The Roughriders’ defence made life miserable for Ray, recording three sacks (all by Hughes) and 11 quarterback pressures.
The veteran QB was 22-for-37 passing for 232 yards. Wilder managed just 17 yards on five carries.
“Like I was telling the team, this was the rematch,” said Roughriders defensive end Willie Jefferson, referring to the fact the Argos eliminated Saskatchewan from the 2017 playoffs. “In the Eastern Final, they gave us a run for our money and they came out with the Grey Cup.
“But this is a whole new year. They had to come to our house and show us what they were going to do. We wanted to start the season off strong and fast and show them that we can get after the quarterback and that’s what we did.”
