Darrell Davis, Regina Leader-Post
It’s a bye week for the CFL’s top team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
That means no football games, practices or meetings for the players until they’re tentatively slated to resume workouts Aug. 12 in preparation for an Aug. 16 visit from the red-hot Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who have won their last six games.
That leads to The Big Question: Is a bye good or bad for the Roughriders?
On a three-game winning streak with a CFL-best 7-1 record, coming off a near-perfect, 34-6 on-the-road pummelling of the normally stout Montreal Alouettes, the Roughriders likely don’t want a break right now. Riders quarterback Trevor Harris said as much following the victory in Montreal, that he didn’t want to possibly divert a team that was starting to look like a true Grey Cup contender.
Harris will most likely continue his nose-to-the-grindstone routine with workouts, video studies, throwing footballs and informal meetings with coaches and teammates during his midseason vacay. So will numerous teammates, while others will take advantage of the midseason break to visit family, heal injuries, refocus and get away from the daily physical and mental grind required for professional football players.
Although the coaching staff technically has time off, it’s certain that head coach Corey Mace and his assistants will be studying video, game-prepping and unofficially visiting with players in the upcoming days.
The CFL’s collective bargaining agreement with its players’ association mandates that each team gets three bye weeks during their 18-game regular seasons. There used to be heated discussions among football aficionados whether it was better to have the players practise occasionally during the break just to stay sharp, but in the interest of player safety the CBA has made that argument moot.
Since Mace became their head coach, the Roughriders are 2-2 following bye weeks.
They were 2-1 in 2024 and lost after their first hiatus in 2025. Saskatchewan’s third and final bye comes between an Alouettes visit Sept. 13 and a trip to meet the lowly Edmonton Elks on Sept. 27.
Saskatchewan’s earlier bye resulted in disaster.
The Roughriders were undefeated when they were scheduled to play host to the 3-1 Calgary Stampeders on July 11.
Smoky air conditions eventually convinced the CFL to postpone the contest until the following afternoon, when the Roughriders evidently extended their bye week, turned in a forgettable performance and dropped their record to 4-1 after a 24-10 loss to the visitors.
However the Roughriders spent that earlier bye week, they may want to make some changes this time to prevent themselves from getting waylaid again.
