During every Rider Broadcast Network pregame show, former Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive lineman and current live game analyst Luc Mullinder offers his Three Keys to the Game. In a recurring segment this season, we’ll take a look at how the Riders met or missed when it came to those metrics and how big of an effect they had on the outcome.
This time around against the Calgary Stampeders? Surprisingly not as bad as one would think given how rough things looked at times, but even a mild miss on Luc's points in a game as important as Friday night proved to be devastating.
1 – Sense of urgency. Have to come out playing hard right off the hop given the importance of the game, and whichever team does that will have a distinct advantage.
How did the Riders do? Not that great.
If urgency can be measured by what happens on the opening few drives, then it’s safe to say Calgary had all the urgency in the world and the Riders were just meh.
The Stamps took advantage of a fumbled punt return to score on their second series, and after the Riders answered back, hit a long bomb touchdown on their next possession gave the Stamps a lead they’d never relinquish.
And while the teams settled into a bit of back-and-forth from there for much of the game, it was obvious from the get-go that the Stampeders had more jump and more panache to their game than the Riders.
Both teams needed to maintain all the urgency in the world, only one team did, and the ugly 37-31 loss was the result.
2 – Keep Vernon Adams’ plays small. Don’t allow him to be mobile and gain extra yards, keep his passing game short and get lots of second-and-longs.
How did the Riders do? Not as bad as one would think, but not good either.
On the aforementioned third drive of the game, Adams threw for 12 yards, 11 yards and 48 yards for the touchdown to Damien Alford. At points in the game, it looked as if Adams could connect well downfield with his receivers any time he wanted.
But the Riders did correct, and those deep balls started to go away. So what did Adams do? Nickel and dime, nickel and dime. Especially on a nine-minute drive from the end of the third quarter to just before the midway part of the third that took 13 plays and resulted in an absolute dagger of a touchdown.
Through it all, Adams was able to extend plays with his mobility, and even when the Riders did create a second-and-long, Calgary often found the yards they needed to move drives along and get the points they needed.
3 – Second-half adjustments. That’s where things went awry last week, in addition to some missed big plays. Have to adjust properly at the break to whatever Calgary is doing and adjust their own game as necessary.
How did the Riders do? Fine, until it fell apart.
For as rough as things felt, the Riders kept it within a converted touchdown much of the night, and the two teams only put up three points apiece in the third quarter. But when things went south on Calgary’s megadrive, it looked as if one team made the adjustments needed to get the job done and one team most certainly didn’t.
As for missed big plays, the Riders were obviously going to need every point they could get, and a couple of missed field goals by Dawson Hodge loomed large as momentum killers. You most certainly can’t pin the loss on the youngster, though, not with how bad things went with the rest of the team in that fourth quarter.
But hey, three garbage time touchdowns after Calgary took their 35-13 lead and pretty much checked out are a positive adjustment, right?
Saskatchewan is now off until Monday, Oct. 12 when they travel to Montreal to face the East Division leading Alouettes. It’s an early start, with kickoff at 11 a.m. Saskatchewan time.
