Chris Jones had to burn a timeout Tuesday … and he wasn’t happy about it.
The head coach and general manager of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders called a halt to his team’s practice at Mosaic Stadium and gathered the players around him. For about three minutes, Jones read the Roughriders the riot act before restarting the workout.
“We can’t put two days together,” Jones told reporters after practice. “We’re 2-and-2 and there’s a reason. We show up one day and we practise pretty good with great intensity and then we come out today and slop around for pretty much the whole day.
“Until we can figure that out, coaching staff-wise and leadership-wise, we’re going to struggle.”
The session Tuesday was Saskatchewan’s last full practice before Thursday’s game in Hamilton against the Tiger-Cats (5:30 p.m., CKRM, TSN). The Roughriders are to hold a walk-through Wednesday, but it won’t be a full-blown workout.
The fact that he had to stop a practice of that magnitude didn’t sit well with Jones.
“We’re not in any position to where we’re good enough just to take them off the practice field,” he said. “We’ve got to line up and throw and catch and know our blocking assignments.
“It’s frustrating as a coach and, quite honestly, it’s frustrating (for the veterans). I can assure you that if you go ask Brendon LaBatte, he’s just about as frustrated as I am because he has been here a long time and this football team and organization mean a whole lot to him.”
Jones was right.
“It’s never good (to have practice stopped),” said LaBatte, the Roughriders’ veteran guard. “It has been a long time coming, though, honestly.
“We go out there and we watch our walk-throughs and our pre-practice stuff and it’s garbage. There are missed assignments and balls on the ground. I think (a Jones eruption) has been a little overdue, honestly.”
LaBatte joined the Roughriders in 2012, so he has seen some ups and downs in his six-plus seasons with the team. So far this season, he has seen things he didn’t expect to see from pro football players.
“You try to get guys on the right page and it takes guys a while to get going,” LaBatte said. “It’s like we go out there and it’s not time to go to work yet. That’s unfortunate.
“We’ve got to try to get everybody on board so that every time we put the helmets on and step in between the lines, (the players know) we’re being evaluated. I don’t know if that has quite sunk in to everybody around here.
“This is professional football,” he added. “If you don’t do your job, you’re going to not have a job. To not even come to practice with the intent of getting better, I don’t understand it. That’s kind of where we’re at. We’ve got some guys who are kind of easing into it and are not fully bought in yet.”
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Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has been a busy man so far this season, doling out fines and suspensions for hits that were deemed to have crossed the line.
Roughriders defensive tackle Mic’hael Brooks is one of those who has been disciplined, earning a fine for a high hit on Montreal Alouettes receiver B.J. Cunningham when Cunningham was in a vulnerable position.
With Ambrosie lowering the boom, Jones is surprised that some players are still taking chances.
“It’s the craziest thing,” he said. “We’re not immune. We’re certainly not immune for people to do dumb stuff. I guess when you’re involved in football, sometimes things like that happen.”
In reality, Jones supports the disciplinary action that Ambrosie has taken.
“He’s not over there walking on eggshells, afraid of the players,” Jones said. “When they do something that’s stupid, where it puts somebody at risk regardless of what their intentions are, dumb is dumb.
“If a guy takes a late hit or a shot on somebody, (Ambrosie) has been swift to come down with either a suspension or a fine. That’s the way these people earn their living. They’ve got families depending on (the player) staying on the field. For all of us, it’s good leadership.”
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When the Roughriders defeated the Tiger-Cats 18-13 on July 5, Jones and his defensive staff used a novel strategy with their defensive backs.
Instead of keeping the DBs in their normal positions, the Roughriders lined up certain players on specific receivers. Duron Carter covered Terrence Toliver everywhere he went, Ed Gainey went head to head with Brandon Banks all over the field and so on.
Has that tactic worked well?
“We only did it (in) one game, so we’ll see,” Jones said. “We happened to win one football game with it, so right now, I’m a genius. Let them light us up for 500 (yards) and have 30 points and I’ll be stupid come the next day.”
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The Edmonton Eskimos are investigating the possibility of bringing former NFL star Terrell Owens to the CFL — he’s currently on their negotiation list — and the 44-year-old receiver appears interested.
According to reports, Owens has activated the 10-day window that requires the Eskimos to make him a contract offer. If they don’t, he can become a free agent.
On Tuesday, Jones was asked about Owens’ potential trip north.
“I don’t know him, so I have no idea whether he has got any years left in him or not,” said Jones, a 50-year-old product of the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. “I know he’s an alumni of my old school. He’s a UTC Moccasin. He came after I did — but not too much longer after I did.”
