Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
The Saskatchewan Roughriders winless streak has reached seven games.
On Saturday, the Roughriders lost 26-21 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Week 14 of the CFL season, just six days after Winnipeg beat Saskatchewan 35-33 in the Labour Day Classic.
In front of a sold-out crowd at Princess Auto Stadium, the Bombers won their fifth straight to improve to 7-6 while the Riders dropped to 5-7-1.
“It’s a bad taste in our mouth right now,” said Riders’ quarterback Trevor Harris, who completed 21-of-33 for 287 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. “Winnable game today but you just get tired of saying that.
“I get tired of saying that to you guys every week that ‘It’s a winnable game; we’re there; we’re close.’
“I’m just sick of saying it and we just need to win games.”
Winnipeg had all the early momentum on Saturday as the Bombers took a 10-0 lead before Harris connected with KeeSean Johnson on a nine-yard touchdown to make it 10-7. For Johnson, it was his fourth straight game with a touchdown grab.
The teams traded field goals in the second quarter before Saskatchewan took the lead 17-13 in the third quarter as Harris found Samuel Emilus in the end zone after an 81-yard completion to Kian Schaffer-Baker.
Winnipeg cut the lead to 17-16 before Saskatchewan scored a single point on a punt.
Moments later, the game heated up as Riders’ defensive lineman Miles Brown was called for roughing the passer as he tackled Bombers’ short-yardage quarterback Chris Streveler on what officials deemed a low hit.
It was the second time in two games Brown was called for the infraction after hitting Zach Collaros high in the Labour Day Classic.
After the game, Riders head coach Corey Mace was careful with his words.
“I’ve been around long enough to know after what happened last week and (Brown) being around the quarterback, things are a little bit heightened,” said Mace. “I don’t want to comment and say anything crazy, but I can only speak for Miles Brown as a person and he’s an A1 guy.”
After the penalty gave the Bombers a first down, Winnipeg marched down to score as Collaros found Kenny Lawler in the end zone to put the Bombers up 23-18.
Saskatchewan responded with a 35-yard field goal by Brett Lauther with eight minutes left to make it 23-21.
With three minutes to go, the Bombers converted a third-down gamble to keep possession and eat up the clock before the Bombers kicked a field goal to go up five with 1:05 remaining.
After connecting with Schaffer-Baker for a first down, Harris was intercepted by Bombers cornerback Tyrell Ford for a second time with 37 seconds left to seal the victory for Winnipeg.
“I felt the back drift off and felt I had enough room to plug it to (Emilus) and the ball was just in the air for a long time and he made a play on it and drove on it,” said Harris. “Just unfortunate.
“Guys are frustrated. I know fans are probably frustrated. I think the feeling is probably the exact same of how they feel and how we feel.
“We’ve got guys that are hungry that want to try to find ways to win.
“And it’s just a matter of time. When we find that first win, it’ll start pouring over and the good things will start happening.
“It’s just a matter of when.”
Defensively, Saskatchewan held Collaros to 231 passing yards, with no gains over 25 yards, while limiting running back Brady Oliveira to 43 rushing yards.
“We just wanted to limit the explosive plays,” said Riders defensive back Marcus Sayles. “They have guys all over the field that can make plays, make big catches and we felt like we did a decent job of doing that.
“But we’ve still got to find a way how to win those late games.”
Saskatchewan will now enter its second bye week of the season before the Green and White have a chance to get out of their tailspin on Sept. 20 in Calgary against the Stampeders.
“I think some self-scout; some self-reflection,” said Harris. “Guys will not be around one another so it will be a good time to look in the mirror to maybe look back on the last four or five games of our own and just see some things we could be doing better.
“Maybe give us a little bit of a refresh button.”
Including the matchup in Calgary, after the bye week the Riders have five games left with four of them being against West Division opponents.
“Boy, do we got a lot of important games coming up ahead of us,” said Mace. “So not only come back dialled and focused but a little bit of accountability of what can we do individually better to help this team push forward.
“I want them to take a little break and get away from the game for a second and spend some time with their loved ones (because) that’s important to us, but when they’re back they’re ready to rock because it’s going to be quite a dang Western run here coming up.”
Despite the seven-game winless skid, the third-place Riders still sit in a playoff spot as they are three points back of the first-place Bombers and second-place B.C. Lions (7-6). After the Edmonton Elks beat Calgary on Saturday, Saskatchewan sits just one point ahead of Edmonton (5-8) for the final playoff spot while the Stampeders (4-8) are three points back.
“At the end of the day, we’re still in it,” said Sayles. “We’ve got a good stretch of games that we can win and we’ve just got to find a way to get into that dance no matter what seed we are.
“We’ve just got to get in.”
