Corey Mace had a very open discussion with his players behind closed doors.
Late in Tuesday’s practice at Mosaic Stadium, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach pulled the players off the field and addressed them privately in the locker room.
Earlier, he had stopped practice and voiced his displeasure on the field.
“We’ve just got to approach each day like we’re trying to accomplish something,” Mace told the media following a rare two-part workout. “I thought it wasn’t our best day today.”
Why not?
“We talk about the standard that we want in this facility and I felt we just didn’t meet it, really, since the beginning of the day — and it kind of trickled into practice,” Mace lamented after the Roughriders’ second workout in advance of Friday’s CFL road game against the host Calgary Stampeders.
“I thought we had a great day yesterday. We’re always looking to be better each day. I thought we failed at that today, so it was just a message that we’ve got to come to work.
“We’ve got a lot to play for. We’ve got to prove it each day, though.”
First and foremost, it is about adhering to a standard after falling short on Tuesday.
“It’s about coming to work every day and looking for ways to get better,” Mace said. “It’s a matter of really fighting complacency, regardless of the circumstances, because there’s no perfect. There’s always something to work on.
“So you want to make sure that the guys in the room — the staff and everybody in this building, truthfully — is finding ways to improve each day.
“And that’s the standard, so when you see it and it’s not (adhered to), that’s the disappointing part.
“The plus is it’s Day 2 of the week. We’ve still got another day tomorrow. We’ve got walk-through (on Thursday). I’m excited to see how the guys respond.”
So is Trevor Harris.
“Hopefully it’s a wake-up message for us to make sure that we’re on our P’s and Q’s and our details every day,” the Roughriders’ starting quarterback said.
“There’s no such thing as a walk-through practice on Day 2 or a lacklustre practice. We need to bring the energy and effort every single day. Today wasn’t good enough.
“I’m glad it happened today instead of on Friday.”
Mace’s messages were delivered at a time when the Roughriders (5-7-1) are striving to snap a seven-game winless streak (0-6-1).
“The good coaches have a good pulse for when the lock-in isn’t right and when the energy’s not right,” Harris said.
“You can feel the urgency from the guys. Just a couple of lacklustre plays here and there are what has cost us games. Today was just a great message, I thought, from Mace that it wasn’t acceptable and we can’t have it.
“It starts with me. I’m going to always make mistakes as well, playing this position, but I’m going to go out there and give my best effort every single day. That’s what we all need to be doing.
“Today wasn’t good enough in terms of us meeting that standard.”
Mace emphasized that his emphatic words and gestures on Tuesday were not a byproduct of accumulated frustration.
“I think it’s isolated,” he said. “We’ve had some really good weeks and the game doesn’t turn out for us, unfortunately.
“Truthfully, it doesn’t have anything to do with the last however many weeks. You guys (in the media) are going to be tired of me saying it, but we didn’t meet the standard of who we want to be today.”
Mace is confident that will change … and soon.
“If we look at it as we took a step back, then we’ve got to take two steps forward tomorrow to be back on track,” he said.
“Honestly, this team has shown nothing but to be resilient and claw and scratch for everything. So, to be honest with you, I’m not worried about how they’re going to respond. I’ve got a good idea of how that’s going to look.”
EXTRA POINTS
• Defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr. was absent from practice on Tuesday for what Mace cheerfully termed a personal matter. Later in the day, Milligan Jr. took to social media to announce the birth of Suni Rebecca Milligan.
• The DNP (Did Not Practise) designation also applied to defensive linemen Malik Carney (ankle) and Micah Johnson (illness) and linebacker Justin Herdman-Reed (elbow). Offensive lineman Jacob Brammer, defensive lineman Anthony Lanier II and linebacker Nick Wiebe were all limited participants due to knee injuries.
