The loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats exposed the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ injury issues at key positions.
That starts on offence where the Riders went into last Saturday’s game without running backs A.J. Ouellette and Quali Conley, and sans receivers Kian Schaffer-Baker and Sam Emilus.
The Riders fizzled out and moved the ball once on seven offensive plays in the fourth quarter. They failed to score over the final 15 minutes in a 26-19 defeat.
“It was the lack of a run game,” Riders legendary quarterback Darian Durant said on the SportsCage on Monday. “The Riders were consistently in second and long. Hamilton was able to sit back defensively, come up and make tackles (and) force the Riders to punt. Only 12 carries for 45 yards. That’s not going to get it done.
“The Riders are the No. 1 second-down conversion team in the league and a lot of that has to do with success on first down, making sure you’re in second-and-medium, second-and-short situations. Late in the third quarter and pretty much the entire fourth quarter, the Riders were in second and long.”
Durant said the Riders didn’t trust Star’Corius Thomas enough in his CFL debut, which hurt quarterback Trevor Harris.
“When you have a guy like Trevor who’s so accurate and he’s such a vet in his league, sometimes you can depend on him a little bit too much to get it done when all great quarterbacks need a run game and need a consistent run game to put them in better second-down situations,” Durant said.
The Riders didn’t miss a beat in the pass game minus Schaffer-Baker and Emilus against in the previous outing against the Ottawa Redblacks. But the Ticats, who had the second-ranked pass defence in the CFL entering last week, aren’t the winless Redblacks.
The Hamilton outing showed how “it’s going to be tough” for the Riders until those two players return to the lineup from knee and ankle injuries, Durant said.
“You have, basically, two top-10 guys that are out right now,” Durant said. “In my opinion, (they’re) two of the best Canadian receivers behind (Montreal’s Tyson) Philpot. That’s a lot of production that you’re giving up with those guys out of the lineup.
“It’s not easy to replace these guys. Not only are they the better Canadian receivers, but they’re some of the better receivers – period – in the league. With two top-10 guys out of the lineup, it’s a lot on KeeSean Johnson’s shoulders to carry the load. Defences can just focus on him. I don’t think any of the other guys out there pose a real threat to some of these secondaries.”
It appears Hamilton has found the ideal schemes to slow down Harris as well.
Though the Riders crushed the Ticats 38-7 in their first meeting on July 12, Harris threw for just 211 yards and had two touchdowns and two interceptions. The Riders pulled away late by scoring 27 points off turnovers.
Harris’ numbers were even worse last Saturday: 207 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. He connected on 23 of 35 passes as the Tiger-Cats defence gave him little.
“They just kept everything in front of them,” Durant said. “They wouldn’t come up and be aggressive in order for Trevor to go over the top and have that big play. They make you take those tough throws.”
The Riders secondary, which is missing Tevaughn Campbell and Rolan Milligan Jr., struggled late as Tre Ford completed 13 of 17 passes for 151 yards after entering the game in the second half. Included in that onslaught was a 41-yard touchdown pass to Keric Wheatfall, a play where defensive back Jonathan Edouard was burned.
The zone approach did the Riders no favours against a mobile quarterback like Ford.
“Like I’ve always said, it’s the type of quarterbacks that can move around that gives this defence problems.,” Durant said. “Tre Ford has shown that over the years and he can have success against this defence, and he did it again.
Overall, Durant is more optimistic about the defensive backfield than some facets of the offence based on last Saturday.
“I don’t think the secondary is really an issue,” he said. “I feel like the Riders played a really good football game. They should have won this game, probably. Some costly mistakes here and there, and not being able to move the ball is, in my opinion, more of an issue than secondary.”
Watch the full interview with Durant below.
