Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
Considering how easily the Saskatchewan Roughriders handled the Montreal Alouettes the last time around, not many thought Saturday’s game would play out as it did.
Back on Aug. 2 in Week 9, the Roughriders beat the Alouettes 34-6 on the road in Montreal, as the home side generated just 169 yards of net offence.
On Saturday in Week 15 of the CFL season, it was a much different story as the Alouettes snapped a five-game losing streak with a 48-31 win over the Roughriders in front of their rain-soaked fans at Mosaic Stadium as Montreal generated 530 yards of net offence this time around.
From Saskatchewan’s slow start offensively to a couple of injured defenders who were clearly missed by the Green and White, here are the top 10 takeaways from the game:
1. A rainy day in Regina made for sparse attendance (26,951) and wet conditions at Mosaic Stadium. And considering how hyped up the last two home games were — against Hamilton on Aug. 16 and the Labour Day Classic versus Winnipeg — there was considerably less buzz around Saturday’s game against Montreal. Now professional teams don’t look past opponents on any given week, at least they say they don’t, but the Alouettes came in with a great game plan to beat the Roughriders and Saskatchewan didn’t have much of an answer.
2. Before the game even got underway, the Roughriders secured a playoff berth after Winnipeg’s loss to Hamilton on Friday paired with Edmonton’s loss to Toronto on Saturday. Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, a postseason spot is secured and as I wrote last week, a home playoff game is almost a sure thing at this point unless an implosion happens. Despite the loss, Saskatchewan (10-3), with five games remaining, has a four-point lead on second-place Calgary (8-4), who has a game in hand, and an eight-point lead on third-place Winnipeg and B.C., who are tied at 6-7. Edmonton is still in the mix for a playoff spot at 5-8.
3. The saying “trap game” has been used routinely in sports and Saturday’s game was basically the definition of one. The Roughriders were coming off back-to-back thrilling victories over the Blue Bombers with a bye week looming while the Alouettes had lost five straight and looked no match for the Riders in a 34-6 loss the last time these two teams met. Saturday was a good reminder of how you need to “bring it” each and every week, as Roughriders head coach Corey Mace alluded to in his postgame comments.
4. Mace didn’t place any blame on his players during his media scrum following the game but the biggest thing that affected the game, in my opinion, were the injuries in Saskatchewan’s secondary. Both cornerbacks Tevaughn Campbell and Marcus Sayles were ruled out of the game one hour before kickoff after being game-time decisions leaving rookie Benny Sapp III and special teamer Kerfalla Exume to make their first starts. And Montreal picked on Exume early as he was beaten three times for big gains including two touchdowns in the first half and another in the second half while Sapp was beaten once on a 31-yard pass. Exume is a great special teams player and maybe not so much in coverage but the entire loss is not solely on the play of the inexperienced defensive backs though, as there were many other holes in the Riders game. Didn’t help though.
5. Has any quarterback ever had a bounce-back performance in the second meeting of the season between two teams like McLeod Bethel-Thompson just had? In Week 9, he threw for 126 yards and an interception before being replaced by backup Caleb Evans. On Saturday night, he had 379 yards and two touchdowns, or three if you want to count the pass that was fumbled by the receiver into the end zone. He looked like a completely different quarterback against a defence that has been among the league’s best. Without starting quarterback Davis Alexander, Montreal hasn’t looked like a contender this season but Bethel-Thompson proved otherwise on Saturday.
6. Of course you also have to credit Alouettes receiver Tyson Philpot, who had a career-high 238 receiving yards and two touchdowns while matching up against Exume. Of his nine catches (on nine targets), a few were easy gains while he also had to earn a few. His performance was reminiscent of what Justin McInnis did to the Roughriders when he had a 243-yard performance on 14 catches for the B.C. Lions in Week 6 last year.
7. Saskatchewan’s inability to tackle was also exploited by Als’ running back Stevie Scott III, who was thrust into action after starter Travis Theis got injured on the first play of the game. Seeing his first game action, Scott ran for 125 yards on 19 carries, with a long of 19 yards, as he became the first Alouette to rush for over 100 yards this season. And he did so against a Roughriders defensive front that didn’t look their usual selves considering they entered the game with the fewest rushing yards allowed and most sacks through 14 weeks. They had no sacks on Saturday and didn’t register a turnover.
8. After a slow start for Saskatchewan’s offence, with just three points and two turnovers on their first four drives of the game, Trevor Harris and company put together a much more efficient drive in the second quarter capped off by brilliant throw-and-catch to KeeSean Johnson for a 38-yard touchdown to make it 18-10. However, there wasn’t much else to like from the Roughriders offence, who clearly had a plan to run the ball in the first half. Saskatchewan hasn’t had a first-quarter touchdown since the last time they played Montreal on Aug. 2 and slow starts are becoming more of an issue for this team down the stretch.
9. Harris had a great postgame comment as he referenced something Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts said in 2021 after a loss to the Dallas Cowboys: “When you take your deuce, you don’t sit there and look at it. You flush it. And move on.” On Saturday, Harris quoted the Super Bowl champion after a disappointing loss of his own: “We’ll flush it and move on because that’s what you’re supposed to do. And that’s what the great teams do is, you don’t take a dump and look at it. I heard Jalen Hurts say you don’t take a dump and look at it. You flush that thing and learn from it and go on.”
10. The Riders now head into their third and final bye week of the season. And it could come at a great time as they desperately need Campbell and Sayles to heal up before their next game on Sept. 27 in Edmonton. The extra week will also give Canadian receivers Samuel Emilus and Kian Schaffer-Baker another week to heal up as both are nearing their return to the lineup. If those guys return following the bye, especially Emilus and KSB, Saskatchewan will be flush with Canadian talent for the final five games of the season heading into the playoffs.
