The way things are going for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the athletic therapist might require an athletic therapist.
It must have been an exhausting Thursday night for the great Greg Mayer and his sterling staff. They tended to four players who were forced to leave the CFL’s 2025 regular-season opener on account of injuries.
“It’s not like we had small pieces go down, either,” Trevor Harris noted at Mosaic Stadium after quarterbacking the Roughriders to a 31-26 victory over the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
Three key starters — defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr., running back A.J. Ouellette and receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker — were sidelined during Thursday’s first half.
Saskatchewan’s left offensive tackle, rookie Payton Collins, walked slowly off the field in the third quarter and did not return.
Collins had been elevated to a front-line role after three starting-calibre offensive linemen — Sean McEwen, Philippe Gagnon and Jacob Brammer — were hurt leading up to the regular season.
The adversity, it seems, never stops.
Neither does the winning.
This year, as in 2024, the Roughriders have demonstrated an uncanny ability to overcome a string of injuries.
The offensive line, on which 12 different players started last season, is again being decimated. Yet, the Roughriders did not surrender a sack while facing a carnivorous REDBLACKS front four.
Milligan Jr., who was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Defensive Player last season, missed most of Thursday’s contest.
So did Ouellette, who has 1,000-yard credentials, and the phenomenally popular Schaffer-Baker.
The adversity encountered by the Roughriders on Thursday extended beyond injuries.
“Self-inflicted wounds,” Harris said.
Those wounds, however, were not fatal.
The Roughriders overcame a shaky start and turned a 7-0 deficit into leads of 24-7 and 31-14.
Ottawa scored the final 12 points — all in the fourth quarter — but could not manufacture a game-winning touchdown drive when the opportunity arose.
On a night when REDBLACKS quarterback Dru Brown threw for 413 yards, the biggest play of the game was a monstrous minus-16.
On second-and-10, Malik Carney sacked Brown to put the visitors in a third-and-26 predicament. The resulting longshot of a third-down gamble, attempted in the final minute, was unsuccessful.
“Resilient,” middle linebacker Jameer Thurman said after registering 10 defensive tackles and one sack in his 100th CFL game.
“We found a way to finish. It wasn’t pretty, but we got the win. That’s all that matters.”
No, it wasn’t pretty. Neither was it an accident or a fluke.
How many times did a comparable scenario unfold last season?
The Roughriders of 2024 were ravaged by injuries but nonetheless finished in second place — they were an untimely, improbable gust of wind shy of earning top spot — and won a home playoff game to advance to the Western Final.
On many an occasion, Harris praised his teammates while pointing out that they didn’t flinch.
So what happened to begin a new season?
“We didn’t have a single person flinch,” Harris said.
As much as the Roughriders brand this young season with messages such as “we’re on the clock” and “it’s our time,” last season’s motto — and modus operandi — is still applicable.
“Certainly, that has been our experience in the past, but the expectation is, ‘You’ve got to get the job done,’ ” Head Coach Corey Mace said.
“You’re on this team. You’re a professional athlete. We’re not going to change too much stuff up because somebody else is in there. If you’re on the active roster, things keep rolling.
“I’m extremely proud of the guys who had to step up and do double duty, because a lot of those guys are also on special teams, sucking wind in Week 1.”
The wind was ultimately taken from the REDBLACKS’ sails, even though some of their numbers were superior.
Dru Brown, for example, went 34-for-41 and completed 82.9 per cent of his passes. His completions total was tied for eighth-best by an opposing quarterback in Roughriders history.
It mattered not, in the final analysis.
The nature of the proceedings prompted Mace to echo the words of a late, great CFL defensive guru, Rich Stubler.
“Rest in peace, Coach Stubes,” the Roughriders’ field boss said. “He always said, ‘I don’t care how many yards. Just tell me if it’s a W or an L.’ ”
Make it a W.
“We’re obviously happy, but it was weird,” Mace said. “It wasn’t like jubilation, which kind of made me happy, to be honest.
“I feel like the room knows that we didn’t really meet the expectations — as crazy as that sounds, coming out with a win. We didn’t do it the way that we wanted to.
“Everybody’s happy, don’t get me wrong, but we know we have work to do and I know how they’ll respond.”
The Roughriders responded when a defensive stop was of the essence on Thursday night.
After Ottawa’s turnover on downs with 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Saskatchewan ran the ball twice before summoning Joe Couch on third down.
Couch lofted a punt toward DeVonte Dedmon. One of the CFL’s most dangerous return specialists was hemmed in from the moment he caught the ball, as the final seconds on the clock ticked away.
“I thought it was a hell of a punt and a hell of a cover,” Mace said. “Game over.”
