It was a cartoonishly good effort by the Saskatchewan Roughriders as they dropped the anvil on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 29-9 in front of a sold-out crowd of 33,350 for Family Day at Mosaic Stadium.
The animated performance improves the Riders’ record to 8-1 for the first time since 2013, which just so happens to be the last time the franchise won the Grey Cup. Right now, it’s hard to suggest that they aren’t the front-runners to take home the trophy in November after handling business against the best team in the East.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ eighth win of the season.
The Good
For the second straight game, it was the Riders’ defence that made sure life was real easy for Trevor Harris and the offence.
It wasn’t looking like things were going to go the Riders’ way at first. The Ticats easily marched down the field on their first two possessions as veteran quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell picked apart the Riders’ zone defence.
Ultimately, both drives ended up stalling, and head coach Scott Milanovic curiously opted for field goals from the four and 13, respectively. Perhaps a more aggressive mindset, especially with pretty hefty wind at their backs, could have set the Ticats up for success; instead, those decisions allowed the Riders’ offence to get off the mat.
From there, Corey Mace’s defence only allowed Hamilton to put together three drives of over 30 yards, and they kept their opponent out of the end zone for a second consecutive game.
The only time the Ticats really had a chance to get back into this game in the second half was after returner Drae McCray fumbled a punt return and set up Hamilton in the red zone. McCray was bailed out by defensive back Rolan Milligan Jr., who picked off Mitchell at the goal line.
Over their last three games, the Riders’ opposition has only managed to find the end zone twice, and both of those came in the fourth quarter against the Edmonton Elks two games ago.
When you have a defence that is making life difficult for the other team’s offence, your offence has time to figure it out after a slow start like they had against Hamilton. To their credit, Marc Mueller’s unit has been good enough on its own to win the previous two games, but thanks to their defence, they didn’t have to be. That’s always a good position to be in.
The Bad
Despite his struggles, I’ve avoided discussing kicker Brett Lauther as he’s always generally figured it out after some early-season issues.
At this point, it’s getting difficult to continue to think that way. Lauther was only two-for-five on Saturday afternoon, dropping his season percentage to a league-low 66.7 percent.
While the wind certainly played a factor in this game, as it was blowing in hard from the north end of the stadium, that should probably only account for one miss over the course of a game. If things aren’t weird enough for Lauther right now, he did nail a 59-yarder just before half-time that might have been good from nearly 70 yards thanks to the wind at his back.
I didn’t particularly agree with the decision to send Lauther out for his first attempt on a third-and-four at the Hamilton 20. Given the wind and the kind of season Lauther is having, it might have been a better idea to try and pick up the first down.
Regardless, Lauther needs to start making kicks for this team, as it’s more or less the only true flaw you can point to right now. It could cost this team dearly when it matters the most.
If he can’t, then it’s time to find someone who can.
The Dumb
You can file this one under, it’s just so crazy it might work.
On the Ticats’ second drive of the game, Mitchell was scrambling around looking for an open receiver on a first-and-10 at the Riders’ 19-yard line. The future Hall of Famer ended up getting sacked on the play, but not before he fumbled the ball into the arms of offensive lineman Brendan Bordner.
Live, it was difficult to figure out what had happened. Upon further review, Mitchell inadvertently passed the ball behind his back to Bordner. Unfortunately for the Ticats, the play ended up being a four-yard loss (and any gain would have been wiped out by a holding penalty, but let’s not worry about that), but it was still a chaotic, fun play.
Maybe one day we’ll see a quarterback attempt such a pass on purpose. Maybe it’ll work, or it’ll go horribly wrong. Either way, I’m here for it.
