REGINA — 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, things actually went fairly well in two of Luc’s metrics, but the miss in the other one was a key factor in Edmonton’s early success and their 36-24 victory that dropped Saskatchewan to 4-2 on the season.
1 – Gotta be able to tackle the checkdown – Force Cody Fajardo to throw the ball deep, and the way you do that is by not letting Justin Rankin hurt the team on checkdown throws. Make sure you’re making solid tackles on the checkdown, even if they’re one-on-one.
How did the Riders do? – Ooof.
Right off the hop, Fajardo was forced to repeatedly find Rankin and Javon Leake on his final option in the passing game, and they were able to gain yards and hurt Saskatchewan repeatedly early.
Things went especially bad on the Elks’ second touchdown of the game, as Fajardo found Leake with a checkdown at the Riders 10 and he proceeded to break and evade three tackles on his way to the endzone. It was one of more than a few plays that the Riders should have had a stop on but didn’t, and led to key points in the narrow win.
Now, as the game progressed the checkdown was used less and less, in no small part due to Elks receivers getting open for big plays. But that early inability to stop it was painful.
2 – Win the turnover battle – Plain and simple, keep the ball when you have it and take it away when it's in the Elks hands. Riders have done a good job protecting the ball all season, and they have to do it again.
How did the Riders do? – A win is a win, unless…
Edmonton gave up a fumble and a turnover on downs, Saskatchewan a lone interception, so the Riders did win the turnover battle.
But what did they do with the chances those turnovers created? A mere three points, same as the Elks. The Riders had a glorious opportunity to put what would have been the winning points on the board with less than five minutes to play in the game when Antoine Brooks Jr. recovered a fumbled snap and went to the Elks 24. Two plays later, one of the most controversial plays thus far this season occurred when Sam Emilus was hit with as marginal an offensive pass interference penalty as possible on a touchdown catch. Alex Hale missed the ensuing field goal, giving the Riders no points on what looked like a sure-fire chance to take a substantial lead.
Then came a turnover on downs at the Edmonton 30 with 2:20 left, and a few plays later Riders QB Trevor Harris had Johnny Johnson III wide open in the endzone for what would have been the game-winning major, but the pass fell short to the turf. A field goal later and it was 34-33… and as we all know, that just wasn’t enough.
Two late turnovers, two absolutely glorious opportunities to go ahead for good and neither resulted in the necessary outcome.
3- Test Edmonton’s defensive communication – Use different formations, use bunches, change the tempo as often as possible. The more they have to move around, the more the communication is forced, the better chance of mistakes.
How did the Riders do? – The results speak for themselves: pretty darn well.
If your quarterback passes for 386 yards and four touchdowns and you have a trio of receivers with more than 80 yards — including one with 185 — then you’re doing something right when it comes to confusing the defence.
Kian Schaffer-Baker had one of the best games of his career against the Elks’ secondary, coming up with the aforementioned 185 yards and also scoring a major. It looked like there was little Edmonton could do to stop him, KeeSean Johnson and Sam Emilus, but they’d find a way and get a few breaks when they most needed to.
As confused as the Elks might have been on defence, the Riders were just as baffled with what Fajardo and Edmonton were doing at the same time, and in the end, they’d be the ones to figure it out late and come out on top.
Saskatchewan now has a long week off before heading to Edmonton for the rematch, with that contest set for 5 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 1.
