Let the soul-searching begin for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
“We’ve got to take a hard look in the mirror because the product that we’re putting on the field is just not good enough,” quarterback Trevor Harris told reporters after Friday’s 37-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders.
“It’s all of us taking a look in the mirror and finding out how we can be better and finding out how we can be dominant. This team has that capability, but we’re not doing it – and it’s frustrating.”
The Riders don’t play again until Oct. 12 when they visit the Montreal Alouettes, an unusually long 10-day span that doesn’t include a bye.
Given that the CFL season is in its fifth month, this could be the perfect time of year for a complete physical and mental break. But that won’t be the case for Harris and the Riders because of this present slide.
The loss to Calgary marked their third in a row and fifth in the last seven games. The playoffs are no longer guaranteed. They’re likely going to need to win at least once in their last three contests – which pits them twice against No. 1 Montreal and once versus No. 2 Edmonton – to ensure their ticket is punched.
They can’t wait any longer to pull their season out of the tailspin its in.
“There’s not going to be anybody that works harder to try and figure this out,” the 40-year-old pivot said. “Me at my age, you don’t know how many of these you have left, so I’m going to grind. I’m going to continue to fight. I’m going to continue to put own foot in front of the other and do everything I can to make sure that we get this right.
“This province deserves a great product on the field and we’re not delivering that currently.”
The Riders never lost more than two games in a row last season en route to a Grey Cup title. They did drop four of their last six matchups to close out the campaign, though.
That’s something to draw on.
“We’ve got experience being in down times in the past and climbing out of them,” centre Logan Ferland said.
“This is the first time we’ve gone on a three-game slide,” coach Corey Mace said. “We’ve had two before and come back. You’re just looking for that vote of confidence and just reassuring that we are who we are. We’ve got to find that.”
As Mace suggests, this skid is a little different. There seems to be more urgency – as there should be.
The Riders were 10-2 when they stumbled down the stretch a year ago. Not ideal, but not a huge problem considering they won the West Division and got a bye right to the league semifinal.
This time around, the Riders (8-7) are battling with the B.C. Lions (9-6), Stampeders (8-8), and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-8) for three playoff spots and don’t own the head-to-head tiebreaker against any of them.
“We’ve just got to get it together,” defensive back Damarcus Field said. “We’re just trying to find our way to get back to us. We haven’t been playing to our standard.”
It might not seem like it right now, but Ferland believes the Riders have what it takes to replicate last season’s playoff success.
“I see the same work ethic. I think we do have that same spark,” he said. “We’ve just got to hit a run, and it starts with getting a win. It really comes down to all the details we need to fix, the small details.”
The Riders are running out of time to find their stride, but all is not lost.
Harris addressed the group after Friday’s game and told them he’s been on teams with middling records that have won the CFL championship – the 2012 Toronto Argonauts (9-9) and the 2016 Ottawa Redblacks (8-9-1).
The Riders’ record won’t be too far off from those Ontario-based squads now. The thing is eight wins almost certainly won’t be good enough to get them in the playoffs this year. There’s a chance nine victories won’t, either.
So, they’d better get it together – and quick.
“It’s a matter of finding whatever that one percent is. Once you turn the corner and make something happen and win a game, things turn,” Harris said. “It’s about getting hot late, finding some momentum, and doing that.
“For us to do that, we can’t be talking about that right now. We’ve got to talk about what we need to do to fix what is going on right now.”
