“It’s solely on me,” said Lauther, who offered no excuses after going 2-for-5 on his field goal attempts against the Tiger-Cats on Saturday.
Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
Brett Lauther isn’t about to make up any excuses.
After converting on just two of his five field goal attempts for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in a 28-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday, the 34-year-old kicker wanted to apologize more than anything for his performance.
“It’s baffling, it’s hard to explain, and just (want to offer) an apology to everyone, really,” Lauther said as the Roughriders returned to practice on Tuesday. “Because sometimes I don’t understand it either.”
While Lauther made field goals from 40 and 25 yards on Saturday, he missed from 51, 50 and 29 yards out while also missing a convert.
“It was just me,” said Lauther, who has made 265 of 322 field goals (82.3 per cent) in his career. “Everyone’s trying to cover up other things, and coaches and teammates are unreal, but yeah, that’s just on me.
“There’s nothing wrong with the hold, snaps, no wind or any issues. None of those were difficult kicks. You got to put those through.”
After making his lone field goal attempt in Week 1 against the Ottawa Redblacks, Lauther and the Roughriders were forced to practise indoors all week leading up to the game in Hamilton due to smoky conditions in Regina.
While head coach Corey Mace said that the lack of reps due to the low roof indoors could have been a factor, the veteran kicker didn’t want to use that as an excuse either.
“It’s just coach being a good coach, really,” said Lauther, who reached 1,000 career points while playing in his 100th game as a Roughrider on Saturday. “He kind of mentioned it to me right after, and that’s what I think any good team or any position they’re going to say.
“But I’ve been kicking long enough and for enough years that, I don’t think it has any effect and it’s not why … I don’t have any excuses for what happened. It’s solely on me. I don’t want anyone else trying to take the blame or anything in the media or publicly, because they’re just trying to be a good teammate and good person.
“Really just want to say a quick thanks to everyone here, because every guy came up to me after that game, and there wasn’t one negative thing said.”
When the Roughriders returned to practice Tuesday, outdoors at Mosaic Stadium, the Nova Scotia product was one of the first on the field ahead of Friday’s Week 3 road game against the Toronto Argonauts.
“Just back to work today,” said Lauther, who hadn’t missed a convert since Sept. 22, 2023. “Came in (Monday) on the off day, trying to figure some stuff out, working on a couple little things to try to get the swing back and just feeling better out there, more comfortable and really looking forward to going out Friday and trying to find a way to score points when the guys need it.”
Following Lauther’s media scrum on Tuesday, Mace said he wasn’t surprised to see Lauther apologize but also mentioned there’s no need for it.
“He’s just a good Canadian guy,” said Mace. “We’re going to say sorry for everything, even if you do something good.
“(But) there’s no need for that … People are going to make mistakes. Nobody plays a perfect game.”
While the nine points on the board didn’t cost the Riders a victory on Saturday, it was Lauther’s lowest point since Week 11 last year when he missed four field goals in a loss against the Montreal Alouettes.
He proceeded to make 28 of his next 29 kicks to end the season. In fact, entering Saturday’s game against the Ti-Cats, he had made 23 straight dating back to last year.
“You don’t want to do this to yourself or put yourself in these situations,” said Lauther. “It was great how last season ended, but I don’t want to go and ever do that.
“All I try to do is go one for one, and in Toronto, I’m going to get a chance to go one for one, and then maybe I’ll have another chance to go one for one.
“For some reason I keep doing this to myself, but I almost enjoy it in a weird way when you know all the doubt and everyone kind of wants you out of here, so I know I’m going to be able to respond and go one for one on Friday.”
Injury report
Receiver Samuel Emilus (foot) didn’t practise on Tuesday after leaving Saturday’s game as Joe Robustelli worked with the starting offence on Day 1.
The Riders are set to hold a closed practice on Wednesday before the team travels to Toronto on Thursday.
“He’s dealing with a little bit of a lower body injury from the game,” Mace said of Emilus. “I don’t want to promise anything, but I’m never going to say impossible.
“We’ll see. Tomorrow (will) probably a better idea of what it looks like for him.”
Emilus was the only player who played on Saturday that wasn’t on the field on Tuesday.
Receiver Shawn Bane Jr. (knee) and Tommy Nield (ankle) were non-participants for a third straight week along with defensive back Kosi Onyeka (knee). Fullback Albert Awachie (hip) was limited on Tuesday along with running back Thomas Bertrand-Hudon (groin).
Offensive lineman Payton Collins (knee) was also a non-participant while fellow offensive lineman Braydon Noll (head) logged his first full practice of the year.
