‘I should have looked at the clock’: Riders’ almost-miracle Hail Mary soured by Tevin Jones’ failure to slide

The Saskatchewan Roughriders came within 36 seconds of pulling off a miraculous victory against the Calgary Stampeders on Saturday night, but a hail mary touchdown from Tevin Jones was just a hair too early.

Mosaic Stadium erupted in pandemonium after backup quarterback Mason Fine, who had stepped in for the injured Trevor Harris earlier in the quarter, heaved up a desperate throw on third-and-24. The pass looked to be short and easily intercepted by defensive back Jonathan Moxey but the Stampeders’ halfback instead deflected the ball skyward while colliding with teammate Tre Roberson. Jones was there waiting to catch it, juking out safety Branden Dozier before outracing linebacker Cameron Judge to the endzone.

The unlikely 69-yard score gave the Riders a one-point lead following a Brett Lauther conversion, but the man who threw the pass knew better than to get comfortable.

“I’ve never been a part of something like that. At first, I was shocked, went down there and celebrated with my team, and then I quickly brought it down. I knew that there were a lot of seconds left on the clock and I always say it goes both ways, offensively or defensively,” Fine told the Regina media.

“As long as there’s timed downs on the clock, you have a chance. Same goes for us, same goes for the opposing team. They get paid to play too and they had a lot of time left. We made a big play but then also you’ve got to credit Calgary, the offence and Jake Maier, going out there, making plays and putting themselves in position to win.”

Maier used the precious remaining seconds to lead a five-play, 30-yard drive and set up Rene Paredes for a 50-yard game-winning field goal. The 38-year-old professional firefighter nailed the walk-off kick to give Calgary a 33-31 victory.

Given the difficult situation the Riders were placed in after their face of the franchise left the game, the narrow defeat was a testament to the team’s resiliency. However, head coach Craig Dickenson offered one critique of the play that got them to the edge.

“Mason gave us a chance. Tevin Jones makes a lot of plays on the ball when it’s up in the air, so we’ve got a good balance there, there’s no doubt. I told Tevin, ‘Why didn’t you just slide down at the one and give us a chance to run the clock out?'” the coach shared post-game, before giving his receiver some grace.

“But he’s got to try to score on that. We’re disappointed that we didn’t finish the game but proud of the effort.”

Speaking to reporters in the locker room, Jones took no satisfaction in his big play, citing the same miscalculation.

“We should have won the game, basically,” he insisted. “At the time, I thought we won but I should have looked at the clock and at least gone down at the one or something like that, so we can get a little more time.”

The six-foot-two, 225-pound target finished the game with three receptions for 84 yards and has become a physical mismatch on the outside for a team missing several key receivers. Even so, Fine, who completed six-of-eight passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns, wasn’t specifically looking for him on the critical throw.

“Everyone can make plays. I wasn’t necessarily looking for Tevin, I kind of just looked at the defence,” he explained. “We’re on the left hash, if I got flushed out to the right, I probably throw it up the right side. I just happened to flush out to my left, with the easiest throw that can go the farthest being on the left side of the field, so I knew it could make it down there. The football just happened to work out that way.”

The quarterback who now controls the Riders’ fate had no qualms about Jones’ failure to go down. He was simply trying to make a game-changing play and his receiver delivered on his end of the bargain — albeit just a little too soon.

“The play was something where we kind of read off of four verts and I just said, ‘Everyone go!’ Really it’s just trying to avoid that initial rush to where maybe you can get outside the pocket, because you can’t just go three and hitch and throw it because they’re not far enough down,” Fine said.

“My idea was just kind of drop three, three and a hitch, step up, get to the outside and just ask for prayer and throw it up to Tevin. He makes plays and made a heck of a one there at the end of the game.”