The healthy quarterback also feels the pain.
At the midpoint of the 2023 CFL season, Jake Dolegala has already seen two fellow Saskatchewan Roughriders signal-callers — Trevor Harris and Mason Fine — leave a CFL game after being injured.
On July 15, Harris suffered a serious knee injury during the fourth quarter against the visiting Calgary Stampeders.
Harris was replaced by Fine, who injured a hamstring during Friday’s second quarter at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium.
Dolegala took over and eventually scored Saskatchewan’s only touchdown in a 41-12 loss to the Montreal Alouettes. The Roughriders’ other QB, Shea Patterson, dressed for the game despite being hampered by a knee injury.
Afterward, Dolegala was asked about the emotional toll that is exacted by seeing Harris leave the field on a cart and Fine limp to the sideline.
“I’d like to think we’re one of the tightest, if not the tightest, QB rooms in the league,” he said. “We all love each other.
“It sucks, because you’re rooting for each guy who’s out there, whoever’s out there. Seeing anyone go down, it’s not fun.”
Head Coach Craig Dickenson told CKRM that Fine has a hamstring injury that will likely sideline him for two to three weeks.
Barring a rapid recovery by Fine, Dolegala will run the offence on Sunday against the B.C. Lions (5 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).
If injuries indeed force the Roughriders to start a third quarterback by their 10th game, the team will be dealing with such a scenario for the sixth time in 21 calendar years.
2002: Nealon Greene started the first six games before injuring a hamstring. Kevin Glenn took over for the seventh game, only to suffer torn ligaments in his left thumb. Greene gutted his way through the next two starts before the hamstring injury worsened. With Jonathan Beasley nursing a comparable injury, one-time fourth-stringer Rocky Butler was elevated to No. 1 duty for the Labour Day Classic. Butler proceeded to rush for three TDs in a 33-19 upset victory over the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
2004: Greene suffered a broken leg in the regular-season opener and was replaced by Butler, who started in Week 2 while Henry Burris recovered from a sprained ankle. Burris became the starter in Week 3 and nearly piloted the team to a Grey Cup berth.
2006: Kerry Joseph started the first eight games before being sidelined by a knee injury. Marcus Crandell started the ninth game, in which he suffered a dislocated elbow. Cue another relief appearance by Butler, who started Saskatchewan’s 10th game of 2006.
2008: A hamstring injury to Crandell in Week 2 opened the door for Steven Jyles and Darian Durant to see action in relief. Durant made his first CFL start in Week 3 and quickly sparkled. Alas, he suffered a rib injury in the Roughriders’ fifth game, which was completed by Jyles. Crandell was back for Games 6, 7 and 8 before Michael Bishop was handed the reins at mid-season. Jyles and Durant each received one subsequent start.
2015: Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles’ tendon near halftime of the season opener. There was a seamless transition to Glenn, who produced eye-popping passing totals until sustaining a shoulder injury in the Roughriders’ fifth game. Brett Smith made the next six starts before Glenn was reactivated. Glenn started four more games before being traded to Montreal. Smith then held the No. 1 job for back-to-back games before Keith Price started the season finale. He was, however, replaced in the fourth quarter by Smith, who ignited the offence and helped the Roughriders post a 30-24 overtime victory in Montreal. Whew!
Dating back to 1963, there are some other examples of Saskatchewan going three deep in terms of starting quarterbacks by the 10th game. In these cases, the quarterbacking carousel was not exclusively, or even largely, the result of injuries.
1963: Bob Ptacek was the quarterback of record for two games before Ron Lancaster made his first six starts as a Roughrider. Lancaster was left at home for the ninth game — a 4-4 tie in Calgary, where Lee Grosscup got the start before being spelled by Ptacek. Lancaster started and finished the 10th game, during which Frank Tripucka also saw duty behind centre. None of the quarterback changes resulted from injury. Eventually, the wise decision was made to stick with Lancaster.
1979: Tom Clements started the first seven games before being traded to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Larry Dick then suffered a career-ending knee injury in his first start of 1979. Lloyd Patterson (Game 9) and Craig Juntunen (Game 10) received subsequent starts. Danny Sanders eventually became the Roughriders’ fifth starter of 1979.
1980: Free-agent signing John Hufnagel suffered a thumb injury in Week 1. Sanders got the nod for Week 2, followed by Tom Rozantz in Week 3. Hufnagel then returned and provided some stability, although a mid-season trade for Joe Barnes led to a quarterback rotation. Barnes spelled Hufnagel in the Roughriders’ eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th games of 1980 before taking over as the starter.
1996: Six starts by Warren Jones preceded the promotion Heath Rylance, who suffered a concussion in the Roughriders’ seventh game. Jones started the eighth game, struggled, and was subsequently released. Kevin Mason took over for game No. 9. Jimmy Kemp eventually became the Roughriders’ fourth starter of 1996.
Worth noting: The Roughriders did not deal with any such instability during the 15 full seasons (1964 to 1978) in which Lancaster was the uncontested starting quarterback.
Ronnie, you spoiled us.
ALOUETTES AFTERMATH
A lopsided loss in Montreal, as much as it stings at this moment, is generally survivable.
Since the CFL’s return to Montreal in 1996, the Roughriders have lost to the host Alouettes by scores of 43-7 (Oct. 11, 1997), 62-7 (Aug. 3, 2000), 42-13 (Aug. 4, 2005), 35-8 (Oct. 9, 2006), 37-12 (Sept. 8, 2008), 40-9 (Oct. 13, 2014), 41-3 (July 29, 2016), 37-13 (June 23, 2022) and, as referenced earlier, 41-12 (Friday).
In two of those years, the Roughriders rebounded by defeating the visiting Alouettes the very next week.
Four days after the 2006 loss in Montreal, the Roughriders edged the Alouettes 27-26.
Last year, the Roughriders turned the tables nine days after being blown out, winning 41-20. From one game to the next, it was a 45-point swing (minus-24 to plus-21).
The 1997 disaster in Montreal did not prevent the Roughriders from reaching the Grey Cup.
Overall, Saskatchewan reached the playoffs in six of the first eight seasons in which it lost convincingly to the Alouettes.
Also of note is the 2008 season, in which Saskatchewan downed the visiting Calgary Stampeders 37-34 only five days after losing by 25 in Montreal. Calgary went on to win the Grey Cup in 2008.
I am also reminded of a non-blowout from 2013 — a 17-12 setback in Montreal that swelled the Roughriders’ losing streak to four games.
Before the game was even over, my Regina Leader-Post e-mail account had been flooded with messages from angry Roughriders fans, many of whom excoriated quarterback Darian Durant.
With Durant behind centre, the Roughriders won six of their next seven meaningful games, culminating in a 45-23 Grey Cup victory over Hamilton at historic Mosaic Stadium.
That was yet another case of a Cup-winning Roughriders team spinning out of a skid.
The championship team of 1966 overcame a four-game winless streak (three losses, one tie).
The 1989 and 2013 Roughriders both lost four in a row at one point.
In 2007, Saskatchewan rebounded from a three-game losing skein in fine style.
11 STRAIGHT FOR #12
The Roughriders’ Brett Lauther has made his last 11 field-goal attempts.
He is now 21-for-25 this season after starting out at 10-for-14.
Lauther has a double-digit accuracy streak for the seventh time as a Roughrider.
In 2018, he made 27 in a row, missed one, and then nailed the next 17 three-point attempts en route to being named a West Division All-Star.
He followed up in 2019 with a run of 13 in a row.
In 2021, Lauther enjoyed streaks of 13, 11 and 10 before making 16 consecutive kicks last year.
SAD NEWS
Former CFL kicker/punter Zenon Andrusyshyn died on Aug. 7 in Land O’ Lakes, Fla. He was 76.
The Big Z played for the Argonauts (1971-77, 1980-82) and Tiger-Cats (1979) before joining Edmonton (1982) and Montreal (1986).
As well, he was on the Roughriders’ practice roster in August of 1986, when the team was looking for a punter.
On Sept. 14, 1977 in Calgary, Andrusyshyn launched the longest punt in CFL history (108 yards). That record was matched by Saskatchewan’s Chris Milo on Oct. 29, 2011 against the visiting Tiger-Cats.
