Mitchell Blair
“We let it slip through our fingers.”
That comment by Riders linebacker Brian Peters perhaps not only sums up the Western Semi-Final, but the 2014 season as a whole as the dreams of repeating as Grey Cup champions fizzled out on the frozen Commonwealth Stadium turf as the Edmonton Eskimos outlasted the Riders 18-10.
It was a game that looking at the stat-sheet showed the Riders had no right to win this football game, but you don’t win games on paper and while the defence did what it could, they could not do enough to get this team a win.
“It was a close game, but it’s one of those I think we could have won.” Peters said. “Give their defence a lot of credit because they forced a lot of turnovers and maybe that was the difference. I thought we were fantastic, but that turnover battle was a huge component. They created turnovers and we didn’t and while we stopped them, we didn’t give our offence a chance to start drives in good field position and while we fought right to the end, it wasn’t enough.”
It was a nightmarish contest for Kerry Joseph as he threw 5 interceptions in just over a half of work, but Edmonton could not turn those interceptions into points as the Riders kept making play-after-play-after play to stay in the football game. Joseph told reporters after that the finger of blame had to be pointed directly at him.
“I just sucked,” a despondent Joseph said. That was horrible on my part, I let these guys down, I let this organization down, I let the province of Saskatchewan down. It was horrible. Plain and simple it was horrible. I’m glad that I came back. I embraced the opportunity, but to give these guys that had worked so hard this? They don’t deserve it and this coaching staff doesn’t deserve it. It just hurts.’’
While Joseph was blaming himself for what had taken place, defensive lineman John Chick said one player alone does not lose a football game and everyone in the room had to take responsibility.
“You win as a team and you lose as a team,” defensive lineman John Chick said. “At the end of a game, we had a shot, but we didn’t make enough plays. We have to find a way to mature as a group and we have a lot of maturing to do in the off-season to come back and be a better team.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin was not happy to see the season come to an end, but he was happy with the fact his team stayed in the football game despite all the turnovers and actually had a chance to pull off a victory.
“We definitely had a chance, we had a hard-fought football game against a very good football team. Chamblin said. “Eighteen to 10, that’s the way the playoffs are supposed to be. It’s supposed to be a tough game, it’s supposed to go down to the end and that’s what it did.”
The team will now come home and clean out their stalls before saying good-bye to one another and a promising 2014 season that seemingly did a complete 180 after a September game versus the Bombers where Darian Durant suffered a torn elbow tendon. The team could not recover from that knock-out punch, but they go into 2015 knowing the nucleus is still strong and that their leader will be back with them when training camp begins. As they head off for the year, Chamblin feels the future is still extremely bright.
“This was a season where I thought we over-achieved, I thought we were a very average football team coming out of camp, but we fought hard as hell to get back to the Grey Cup and we fell eight points short and I’m proud of that.” Chamblin stated. ”This team will leave here with a very sour taste in their mouth and we won’t have a Grey Cup victory to leave with, but a tough loss in the semi-final. We had that tough loss in the semi-final in 2012 and it propelled us to a win the next year so hopefully we can get back to a Grey Cup next year.
GAME NOTES:
- Kerry Joseph’s 5 interceptions tied a CFL playoff record. Former Riders QB Ron Lancaster did it twice during his hall-of-fame career.
- Kendial Lawrence had Edmonton’s only touchdown on an 84 yard punt return in the 2nd quarter. It was the 6th return for a touchdown the team gave up this season
- Both teams were unable to crack the 300 yard mark offensively with Saskatchewan actually gaining more yards than the Eskimos (267-262)
Tyron Brackenridge ended an all-star season by having 11
