It wasn’t hard to tell how frustrated Trevor Harris was after his Saskatchewan Roughriders lost to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Even through a grainy video stream via the team’s postgame virtual media availability, Harris’ look was of someone doing a slow burn.
The Riders were minutes removed from falling to a hated rival in a pivotal game where they failed to score a touchdown in a 19-6 defeat. Harris not only vowed such a performance won’t be repeated the rest of the way, but he took it a step further.
“The best version of this team you’ll see in the last five games of the season,” he said. “We’ll have relentless work ethic because that’s who we have in the locker room – champions.”
He’d better be right.
Because if the Riders want any chance of repeating as Grey Cup winners in two months, they’ll have to be at their best for much of the stretch drive.
That’s imperative considering what happened in the Manitoba capital and when taking into account the difficulty of their remaining schedule.
Harris is no dummy. He’s aware of how much of a swing game Saturday was – and how much a loss hurt when a win could have been monumental to their cause.
The Riders would have been six points clear of the Bombers had they beaten them and won the two-game season series. They would have kept pressure on the Edmonton Elks in the race for the top seed in the West and the right to earn a bye to the divisional final with home-field advantage.
Instead, the Riders slid to 8-5, and the Bombers improved to 7-6. The gap closed to just two points and the Riders don’t have the tiebreaker because they lost the overall head-to-head matchup on point differential.
Meanwhile, the Elks clobbered the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday to move to 10-3, which pushed the Riders four points behind.
And then there’s the B.C. Lions, who defeated the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday to win their sixth game in their last seven outings and move to 7-6.
Now, the Riders must be as concerned with the teams behind them as much they are with the Elks.
“We’re in a position where hopefully we can control our own destiny,” Harris said. “Everything that we want to accomplish is right in front of us.”
Still, it won’t be easy for the Riders. Just one their last five games is against a sub-.500 team, the Stampeders.
The Riders face the B.C. Lions in Vancouver on Sept. 25 after their bye week. The Lions are playing much better than their middling record suggests.
After the Calgary contest, the Riders close out the campaign with a home-and-home set against the Alouettes before hosting the Elks. Those are the two best teams in the league.
“It’s a crucial stretch for us,” Riders coach Corey Mace said. “We have western opponents, all teams that are fighting for a second seed. We’ve got a back-to-back with Montreal. All those games are going to have playoff implications or a playoff environment.
“What else do you want? We’re excited about the opportunity to get that done. It’s a much-needed bye week for us this week. It allows us to rest up and come back and ready to attack.”
This has the potential to go sideways. A couple losses in their next two or three games and the Riders can kiss goodbye that first-round bye. Heck, getting home-field advantage for the West semifinal might even be in jeopardy.
It sure will be if they continue to replicate Saturday’s offensive output – or lack thereof – of no touchdowns.
But the final stretch also has the potential for the Riders to prove their mettle before the playoffs. They could even get some key bodies back on offence like running back A.J. Ouellette and receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker, which would certainly provide a boost.
That season finale against Edmonton could have massive consequences if the Riders display the type of excellence Harris believes they will.
It’s not like the Riders don’t have it in them. Even with the poor showing in Winnipeg and losing three of their last five games, they still boast the CFL’s third-best record.
“We’re in a good spot,” defensive lineman Caleb Sanders said. “Obviously, there are some games we want back. For the most part, we’re right where we want to be. We know that every game from here on out is winnable.
“Every week we’ve got to bring our best game if we want to win.”
And that’s just it.
They haven’t done that enough of late if you look back to losses they had in Hamilton and in Vancouver. They certainly didn’t do that in Winnipeg, which left their veteran quarterback annoyed – especially given the magnitude of the contest.
Harris won’t stay that way for long, though. He plans on turning the page and working towards improvement as quickly as he can.
“For us to sulk over this or let this be a cloud or linger over us longer than it should would be a detriment and not what we should do,” he said. “We need to watch the film, learn, get better from this, and get ready to come back and get ready to play B.C. after the bye.”
There’s really no other choice.
