For the first time since 2019, the Saskatchewan Roughriders will be hosting the West Final after beating the Toronto Argonauts 27-19 in front of 27,500 at Mosaic Stadium on Friday night.
This is not only a sigh of relief for the Riders, but perhaps some other teams in the West who’ve grown tired of trying to get to the Grey Cup through Winnipeg.
Much like the previous three games, this one wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch. The offence, while a little sharper overall, didn’t light it up. There were a few too many penalties, and the defence had their moments too, but in the end, they don’t ask how — especially in October and November.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ 12th win of the season.
The Good
On a night when receiver Samuel Emilus put up 143 yards through the air, and Joe Robustelli provided a much-needed security blanket for quarterback Trevor Harris in his return to the lineup, the biggest and best story for the Riders was their kicker.
I’m not breaking any news here in suggesting it’s been a difficult season for Brett Lauther. It’s safe to say it’s been his worst season in the CFL. We’ve seen the Nova Scotia native have rough starts before, but generally, he’s found a way to come up big down the stretch when his team needed him.
Up until this week, Lauther hadn’t really had his get-right game. Perhaps this game against the Argos could be the one to get him going again.
After sitting out last week’s affair in Ottawa with a back injury, Lauther returned to the lineup this week and went a perfect five-for-five on his field goals. It provided his team with 15 points they badly needed in a game where touchdowns were hard to come by.
That week off not only did good things for Lauther physically, but perhaps mentally as well.
I don’t think we can declare Lauther back just yet, as he wasn’t asked to kick into a difficult wind on Friday evening — something he very well could have to do come the West Final on November 8 — but it’s a good first step.
The Bad
The flip side of a team’s kicker having a big night is that the offence ended up stalling out far more than they would have liked.
The Riders’ offence did move the ball better than they did last week against the Redblacks, as even field goal attempts weren’t in the cards in the nation’s capital. In all, the team put up 431 yards of net offence.
However, when you’re able to get beyond your opponents’ 40-yard line seven times — including six times beyond the 30 — you’d like to come away with more than two touchdowns. They were able to get away with field goals against a team that will miss the playoffs and was playing their third-string quarterback. Against Nathan Rourke or Zach Collaros, that might not work.
Some of it was execution, but some of it was decisions by the head coach as well. Lauther’s first attempt came on a long third-and-one at the Toronto 29-yard line. Another came on a third-and-two at the Toronto 36. Both of those are situations where the argument could be made to go for it and keep the drive going. You could even make the case for going for it on a third-and-four at the plus-29.
That’s not the say that any of the decisions were necessarily wrong, but come playoff time, this team will need more touchdowns than field goals. They’ll need a mixture of the right play calling, execution, and decision making to get there.
The Dumb
The history books will show that Corey Mace played defensive line in the CFL, but it appears the team’s head coach has some running back in him as well.
Once the game was over, defensive lineman Micah Johnson was poised to lead the way and complete the traditional Gatorade bath for his coach following an important win. We’ve seen coaches get drenched following their first career win, division clinchers, conference championships and, of course, championships.
However, Mace caught the attempted shower that was coming out of the corner of his eye and quickly shut it down with a near-perfect stiff arm to the big cooler. He looked like A.J. Ouellette tossing a defensive back to the side.
Johnson, knowing he had been thwarted, put the jug down with a big grin on his face and laughed.
One has to wonder how much Mace’s children are able to get away with, as his awareness is still as sharp as ever.
Joel Gasson is a Regina-based sports writer, broadcaster and football fanatic. He is also a beer aficionado.
