The Saskatchewan Roughriders don’t care about style points — just two points.
The bottom-line result was achieved on Saturday, when the Green and White improved its record to 2-1 by posting a 29-26 CFL overtime victory over the Calgary Stampeders at McMahon Stadium.
“It was full team football, a good win, and I know we’ll just keep getting better and better,” quarterback Trevor Harris said.
“I keep saying it, but I really love this team. I’m really excited to see where we’re at come mid-season when we really hit our stride.”
Injuries have hit in the early portion of the 2023 campaign, but resiliency and resourcefulness have allowed the Roughriders to enter a bye week with a winning record.
The six-game injured list includes four starting-calibre receivers — Derel Walker, Kian Schaffer-Baker, Brayden Lenius and Juwan Brescacin — along with defensive backs Jayden Dalke and Godfrey Onyeka, offensive lineman Philip Blake and defensive lineman Nicholas Dheilly.
The situation worsened early in Saturday’s game when Nelson Lokombo, who replaced Dalke as the starting safety, was injured. In the second quarter, starting left offensive tackle Jerald Hawkins suffered a knee injury that is of considerable concern to the coaching staff.
The absence of Hawkins necessitated two changes along the offensive line. Logan Ferland shifted from right guard to left tackle. Logan Bandy, who began the game as the sixth offensive lineman, filled Ferland’s guard spot — and admirably so.
“It’s a good time and place to have a bye week, with how the team is feeling right now as far as injuries go,” Ferland said. “It’s just going to be good to have the week to heal up and come back swinging.”
The Roughriders have already packed a punch despite facing an assortment of adverse circumstances. Both of their wins to date have been on the road.
Saskatchewan began its 2023 season with a 17-13 victory over the Edmonton Elks on June 11. Following a 45-27 home-field loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on June 16, the Roughriders returned to the victory column on Saturday.
“We’re really, really just fortunate that we got out of here with a win,” Harris said from Calgary. “I feel like we could have won it two or three separate times in regulation and in the first overtime, but by any means necessary. We’ll take the win.
“There’s a lot to clean up and things to get better at, but it’s the mark of a good team when we’re still building into being the team that we’re going to be and we’re able to win games like this.”
A robust running game has been the common denominator in both victories.
In Edmonton, the Roughriders ran the ball eight times for 70 yards on a final drive that devoured most of the time that remained in the fourth quarter. Jamal Morrow gained 60 of his game-high 80 yards on that final possession.
Then came Saturday, when Morrow again chewed up time and yardage in the fourth quarter.
“He showed a lot of heart out there,” Head Coach Craig Dickenson said. “Boy, did he run hard.
“A lot of times, he was stuck in the backfield and he still found a way to get out and gain yards.
“That was huge by J-Mo. J-Mo got a game ball. I thought he played an outstanding game.”
As such, he was a contributor to another gutsy victory — one that should pay dividends as the season progresses.
“It kind of allows our team to feel these wins in tight games,” Harris noted. “Those are big wins to get because you know that you believe that you can get those things done.
“Last year, when I played for Montreal, that was kind of the turning point in our season, when we were able to come away with those close games, because there’s belief on the sideline and belief’s a powerful drug.”
ADAM BOMBS
The Roughriders’ Adam Korsak punted six times for a stratospheric average of 59.2 yards on Saturday and, in so doing, flirted with a club record.
Ken Clark averaged 62.0 yards per punt against the visiting Stampeders on Aug. 14, 1983. Paul McCallum became the second member of the Roughriders’ exclusive 60 club when he hit that average, right on the nose, on Sept. 28, 2002 against the visiting Ottawa Renegades.
Also on Saturday, Korsak unloaded a 90-yard single that was the fourth-longest punt in franchise history — and the longest in a road game.
Korsak’s 90-yarder (which landed on the five-yard line and rolled through the end zone) was the longest punt by a Roughrider since Oct. 29, 2011, when Chris Milo wowed the crowd with a team-record 108-yarder against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
Milo also tied a league record that was originally set by the Toronto Argonauts’ Zenon Andrusyshyn at Calgary on Sept. 14, 1977. (Andrusyshyn, by the way, had a brief tryout with the Roughriders in 1986.)
Milo broke a record that had been set by Ken Clark, who launched a 101-yarder versus the Blue Bombers on Sept. 4, 1983. Terry Baker boomed a 94-yarder against Winnipeg on Sept. 6, 1987.
Korsak is averaging 53.3 yards per punt after his first three CFL games. He was the Roughriders’ first-round selection (third overall) in the 2023 Global Draft.
FAR FEWER FLAGS
Craig Dickenson’s oft-stated determination to reduce penalties has clearly rubbed off on the players.
To support that contention, here are the Roughriders’ three-game penalty totals since Dickenson took over as Head Coach in 2019:
2019: 25 penalties (plus four declined) for 235 yards.
2021: 36 (three declined) for 355.
2022: 34 (one declined) for 325.
2023: 16 (two declined) for 176.
This year’s total of 16 is quite noteworthy when you consider that the 2021 Roughriders were assessed 20 penalties in one game — Aug. 14 against the visiting Tiger-Cats. That was the Roughriders’ second game of the COVID-delayed 2021 season.
ZING-ZING!
The Roughriders’ offence was not principally responsible for a touchdown until late in the third quarter, when the visitors struck for two big completions in a row.
On second-and-seven, Harris looked to his left and found Kendall Watson — who was playing in his first CFL game — for a 21-yard gain. On the next play, Harris hit a wide-open Tevin Jones over the middle for a 44-yard pass-and-run score.
“It was big, because we were knocking on the door,” Harris said.
“There were just a couple of things here and there that weren’t going quite right. Then we were finally able to blow the lid off there and get some confidence and let some momentum really carry us.
“That was a big one for us, but we want to make sure we’re punching the ball into the end zone quite a bit more than that.”
On the Roughriders’ first possession of the fourth quarter, they marched 83 yards to pay dirt in four plays — the key being a 60-yard sprint by Shawn Bane Jr., after he caught a short toss from Harris.
When Saskatchewan next possessed the ball, the offence moved 58 yards in eight plays before short-yardage quarterback Shea Patterson was stopped on a third-and-one gamble at Calgary’s nine-yard line.
Key blocks: (1) By receiver Samuel Emilus to spring Bane Jr. for extra yardage on the 60-yarder. (2 and 3) By Morrow on the aforementioned, back-to-back completions to Watson and Jones. Morrow picked up a blitzing Micah Awe to allow Harris time to find Watson. On the next play, Morrow and fullback Bruno LaBelle provided extra protection to give Harris three seconds in which to throw. A pump fake by Harris froze the Calgary defence and created an open throwing lane as Jones ran a skinny post.
SHORT SNORTS
- The 133 yards by Morrow were the most along the ground by a Roughrider since July 27, 2019, when William Powell piled up 142 in a 45-18 conquest of the host B.C. Lions.
- Rolan Milligan Jr. has three interceptions since joining the Roughriders late in the 2021 season. All three picks have been registered in Alberta. His first CFL interception came on Aug. 13 of last year against Edmonton. He also notched a pick in this year’s season opener at Commonwealth Stadium. The third interception, on Saturday, was returned 56 yards to Calgary’s one-yard line in the third quarter. The latter pick was immediately followed by Patterson’s first of two one-yard TD runs.
- On Saturday, Defensive Co-ordinator Jason Shivers sent the house — seven pass rushers — on the play that resulted in the interception by Milligan Jr. Derrick Moncrief, untouched on a blitz from the left side, hurried Stampeders quarterback Jake Maier and forced a high throw that was snared by Milligan Jr.
- Middle linebacker Larry Dean has 19 defensive tackles over his last two games. He made 10 tackles against Winnipeg and added nine stops and a key interception on Saturday. With 23 tackles over three games, Dean is on pace for 138 over the course of the season. The team record of 120 was set last season by Darnell Sankey. Dean, with 101 tackles, also hit triple digits.
- Maier in two games against the Roughriders last season: 27-for-41 for 310 yards, with two touchdowns and zero interceptions. Maier on Saturday: 18-for-35 for 288 yards, with one TD and three picks. His quarterback-efficiency ratings versus Saskatchewan: 118.0 (Oct. 22), 103.6 (Oct. 29), 53.0 (Saturday).
- The Roughriders return to the practice field on Sunday. Their next two games are at home, against Edmonton (July 6) and Calgary (July 15).
