For the second time this season the Riders managed to lose a game where they scored 34 points. It was a night of big offensive plays with Cody Fajardo passing for 510 yards and Trevor Harris for 386 yards. Adding in rushing plays and deducting lost yards there were almost 1,000 yards of offence in the game.
Sam Emilus told me the Riders were able to go deep more often because the Elks played a lot of man-to-man coverage. He said they just had to beat the man and hope the ball comes your way.
Receivers believe they can always beat man coverage and the Rider receivers proved they could consistently beat the Elks man coverage.
On the other side of the ball, the Riders gave up far too many long completions. Often there was barely a defender in sight.
When I asked Coach Mace what happened to the defence he sighed and said he would have to look at the film but there were some busts in the Rider secondary.
In my law office I say every week that I have a hard time explaining what does not make sense. Now I apply the comment to writing a sports column. I cannot understand all the busts from the experienced Rider defensive backfield. Last year the Alouettes lit up the Rider defence when the Riders had to start three inexperienced defensive backs. Against the Elks, the Riders had all their starting defensive backs playing except for safety Nelson Lokombo. He was replaced by Jaxon Ford who is in his fourth season as a Rider.
Despite the defensive woes it was the Rider offence which faltered at the end of the game. The Rider defence, by forcing turnovers, set up the offence to start their last two drives deep in Elks territory. The offence could muster but 3 points from the two possessions.
On their second last possession I do believe there was a cheap offensive pass interference on Emilus that meant a touchdown was called back. On the play there was a bit of jostling as Emilus went by defensive back Kordell Jackson.
Emilus said he made a double move to break behind Jackson. From his point of view there was no push. He said there was some hand fighting like usual. He was not expecting a pass interference call either way.
It would have been a good play to have challenged but the Riders had used their challenge in the second quarter when they made an unsuccessful challenge claiming a fumble by Javon Leake on a punt return. It rarely works out well to challenge in the first half.
On the next play, the Elks sacked Trevor Harris with a three-man rush. Logan Ferland said there was miscommunication on the line. A running back did not make a chip block on the end, and a lineman was late to slide over.
On third down, Riders kicker Alex Hale, mishit the attempted field goal and there were no points. While Mace was not going to criticize Hale after the game there is now a sense of dread in Riderville when Hale comes in to kick for the Riders.
On their last possession the Riders were at the Elks three-yard line on second down. Trevor Harris looked to the left where four Edmonton defenders covered the two Riders receivers. When he looked to the middle no one covered Johnny Johnson III. To the shock of everyone, Harris bounced the pass to Johnson.
It is not often Harris is personally distraught after a game. On Friday night, he was haunted by missing Johnson. He told Postmedia's Taylor Shire he would probably be waking up all night thinking about the last play. He said he saw Johnson’s eyes and thought Johnson would stop as he was so wide open, so Harris put some touch on the ball. Johnson did not stop and the ball was short. Harris said he should have just thrown it to him.
It will be interesting to see if the respective defences can regroup for the rematch on Saturday night. I think there will continue to be lots of scoring. Harris and Fajardo are carving up every defence they have faced in 2026.
Bill Selnes, who’s based in Melfort, has written about the Saskatchewan Roughriders since the late 1970s. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Football Reporters of Canada wing on Nov. 24, 2013.
