Their last loss emphasized something to the Saskatchewan Roughriders: They have lots to focus on as they prepare for their next game against the B.C. Lions on Sunday.
That’s particularly apparent because they’ll be trying to contain a quarterback in Nathan Rourke who scrambles outside the pocket much like Hamilton Tiger-Cats’ Tre Ford does.
“I hope that we learned from that tape,” Riders linebacker Josh Woods told reporters in Regina this week.
Indeed.
Ford picked apart the Riders defence last Saturday after entering the game in the second half as an injury replacement for Harrison Frost. He threw for 151 yards and orchestrated a fourth-quarter comeback that saw the Ticats score 16 points over the final 15 minutes and win 26-19.
For the most part, the mentality of the players has been to identify what they could have done better rather than praise their opponent for beating them.
Riders coach Corey Mace likes that thought process as they aim to turn the page for the Lions.
“You’re always going to look inward of how we can be better. In the same breath, they did do some good things as well,” Mace said. “We can’t control what they do. We can only control what we can do. And we missed the mark.”
The one misstep in the Riders’ preparation for the Ticats might have been being a little too inflexible with their quarterback approach. That’s a mistake they’re vowing to not replicate.
“We were imitating Frost in practice. That’s what I feel like kind of beat us up at the end of the game,” linebacker Antoine Brooks Jr. said. “We’re a great team. We need to learn how to adjust.
“With all the great teams, stuff happens. We’ve just got to learn how to bounce back.”
They get that chance against the Lions, a team that’s won three straight games – including two in a row since Rourke returned to the lineup from injury. The 4-5 record is misleading.
“Dynamic players,” linebacker Ryder Varga told Voice of the Riders Dave Thomas when asked what Saskatchewan is up against in Vancouver. “They’re a threat. We’re just trying to do our best to do what we can and limit them and try to keep it a low-scoring game for (Riders quarterback) Trevor (Harris).”
The Riders defence has been mostly excellent this season.
There have been some exceptions like the hiccup late in the Hamilton game or getting torched by Edmonton Elks’ Cody Fajardo in the first game of a home-and-home set a month ago. Still, they’ve given up the fewest points in the CFL while on defence at 25.4 per game and allowed just 22 touchdowns from opponents’ offences, also a league best.
That doesn’t mean the players are resting on those laurels and expecting to be great after a down performance.
Take Brooks, who is tied with Jameer Thurman for the league co-lead with 53 defensive tackles. He has much higher standards of himself.
“I can be 20 or 30 percent better, honestly,” he said. “It’s just the little things that I missed that I could have had. I could have had more tackles. I’ve honestly missed a lot of tackles this year within the first nine games. I’ve missed a lot of tackles.”
The Riders have also lacked big plays on defence.
Saskatchewan has 18 quarterback sacks (fourth in the CFL entering this week’s games), 25 pass knockdowns (last), 16 tackles for loss (fifth), three interceptions (tied for last), five forced fumbles (seventh), and five recovered fumbles (sixth).
Their turnover ratio is only plus-2, good for fourth.
They want to change momentum more often. That starts against a Lions offence that includes Keon Hatcher Sr., Zander Horvath, and Justin McInnis as weapons for Rourke.
“We can dial it up and be more aggressive as far as takeaways,” Woods said. “They’re going to come. It’s just little things that I feel like we give away. As we continue to grow and morph into (coordinator Joshua) Bell’s defence, we’re just going to be more dangerous.”
