Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have a chance to clinch a playoff berth this week.
To secure their spot in the post-season in Week 17 of the CFL season, the Roughriders (8-5) need to beat the B.C. Lions (7-6) on Friday (8:30 p.m.) in Vancouver and have the Toronto Argonauts (8-6) beat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (7-6) earlier in the evening. If those two things happen, the Ottawa Redblacks (0-13) then need to beat the Calgary Stampeders (6-8) on Saturday for the Roughriders to officially get in.
And that playoff spot isn’t necessarily a Western spot as a crossover spot could be clinched this week with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (4-10) in jeopardy of missing the playoffs, which would mean the fourth-place team in the West will head East for the post-season.
If Calgary beats Ottawa and Hamilton loses to the Edmonton Elks (10-4), then the crossover will be confirmed. Additionally, if the Bombers and Lions win their respective games, and the Tiger-Cats lose, a crossover spot will also be locked up.
With five games left in the season and plenty of playoff seeding to be determined down the stretch, the Roughriders — who are coming off a bye week — are trying not to focus on all the potential scenarios.
“Regardless of the situation, you can only control what you can, and it is what it is,” said Roughriders head coach Corey Mace, whose club is coming off a 19-6 loss to Winnipeg before the bye week. “Whether it’s finishing first in the West or finishing anywhere to make the playoffs, whatever it is for each individual team, if you look too far ahead, you ain’t getting there.
“I think everybody understands the totality of the situation. We’ve got a good string of games here to finish up the season, but I mean, case in point, if we overlook this one, it wouldn’t be very wise.”
After Friday’s game against the Lions, who have won six of their last seven games after a 1-5 start to the season, the Roughriders will host Calgary before a home-and-home series with the Montreal Alouettes (11-3). Saskatchewan will then host Edmonton, who has already clinched a playoff spot, to wrap up the season.
“With the standings the way they are, you don’t know who’s going to be two, three, or four,” said Roughriders veteran defensive back Marcus Sayles, whose club will also be playing for the season series and potential standings tiebreaker against B.C. “I mean, hopefully we can win out and maybe even get one.
“We’ve just got to stay locked in, keep practising well, and just take it game by game.”
While the Roughriders will be focusing on their own game this week, it will also be hard for them not to pull for the three Eastern teams facing Western opponents.
In fact, with Saskatchewan on a bye last week, the Argonauts did the Green and White a favour as they upended the Elks 24-19, with Toronto securing a home playoff game in the process.
“You don’t think we weren’t rooting for Toronto?” quipped Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris. “We prefer the East teams to beat the West, right? That’s kind of how it goes.
“But it’s neither here nor there. It’s out of our control, and so like it’s not something we fret over, we you know expound upon, or we say in any meeting rooms. It’s about us.
“I really do feel that our best is better than everybody else’s. And to me, that’s what matters is us bringing our hard hat every single day.”
As they play out the final five, the Roughriders are taking it one game at a time with the ultimate goal of simply getting into the playoffs — whatever seed that might be — in the hopes of defending their Grey Cup title.
“This is what you want,” said Sayles. “You want to be playing your best football at this time of the year as well. Everybody’s getting ready for that playoff push. Everybody’s putting their best foot forward and we’re going to do the same thing.
“We’re going to continue to come out here, continue to work, and just let the chips fall where they fall.
“You can only control what you can control. If the other teams do lose, I mean, it’ll help us. But at the same time, if we’ve got to be second, we’ve got to be second; if we’ve got to be third, we’ve got to be third. If we’ve got to be fourth and make the crossover, it is what it is.
“We’ve got to make sure by the time that game does happen, playoff time, we’ll be ready.”
