Here’s the thing about controversy in any position in football: all it takes is one good game and all of it can go away.
Just ask Saskatchewan Roughriders kicker Alex Hale.
The Green and White rookie had been facing calls for his ouster after a handful of difficult outings to start the season, and it had reached the point that Saskatchewan brought in Dawson Hodge this week as a potential replacement.
But head coach Corey Mace stuck by his beleaguered bootman, and it paid off against Hamilton on Saturday night.
Hale turned in a four-for-four outing on field goals that included three from 40 yards-plus and a long of 52. His efforts gave Saskatchewan the lead into halftime and extended that edge heading into the fourth quarter when the Tre Ford-induced collapse came.
Vindication, to say the least.
“These things don't shock us,” Mace said in his postgame remarks to Luc Mullinder on the Rider Broadcast Network. “We brought him in for a reason. We've seen the things that he can do. We saw him in training camp. He won that competition. He went through a couple of balls here, but he's been good for us the last two games.”
Even when Hale had some tough misses in his first few outings, the team still did everything they could to support him and not press the panic button.
“Like I told you guys, we've got faith in the kid,” Mace said. “He's got to go out there and he knows he's got to make his kicks and he's been making his kicks. So we've got that part down, we've got to figure out some other stuff now.”
Hale himself didn’t waver in his belief he could get things figured out. That involved sticking with his process, repairing errors he picked up on, and letting everything come together with long snapper Mike Benson and holder Oscar Chapman.
The arrival of Hodge may have added a bit of extra pressure, but it wasn’t too much of a concern for Hale.
“I mean, for me it didn't change much,” he said. “Either way I had to fix what I was doing. I wasn't kicking well, so either way I had to fix and commit to my process. Competition is always good, it always brings out the best in people, but either way I had to fix what was going wrong.”
So what was it that changed?
“Just little things, just my technique and just really committing to those areas that I try to focus on,” Hale explained. “It's always good to make a few kicks (to help the confidence). The main goal is always to win, but it helps to kick a few.”
It also certainly doesn’t hurt that the synchronicity between the kicking teams' moving parts is also growing as Hale, Benson and Chapman gel more as a unit.
“We spend a lot of time together,” Hale said. “Mike's been with us since week two. Oscar's been holding for a long time now, so we've got a good group together.”
The Roughriders are now off until next Sunday, when they travel to B.C. to take on the Lions at B.C. Place
