The Saskatchewan Roughriders believe they’re trending in the right direction through two-thirds of their CFL regular season.
Even so, Chris Jones remains concerned.
“We’re 6-and-6 and we’re fighting for our life,” the Roughriders’ head coach-GM said Sunday after a 15-9 loss to the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium.
The Roughriders finished their first six-game stretch of the season with a 2-4-0 record and sat at the bottom of the West Division standings. Saskatchewan went 4-2-0 in the second third of its schedule — with three of those victories coming against divisional rivals — and now holds down fourth place in the West.
The Roughriders are tied with the B.C. Lions (6-7-0), but Saskatchewan has the tiebreaking edge on the Lions based on point differential in their season series. Both of those teams also are just two points back of the Edmonton Eskimos (7-5-0) for third place in the West.
As well, Saskatchewan has a better record than all four teams in the East Division, so the possibility of a crossover berth in the playoffs remains in play for the Roughriders — should they require it.
“I think we’re on the right track,” quarterback Kevin Glenn said after Sunday’s game. “We’re on the right track to where we know that we still have control of where we want to go.
“If we take care of our business the last third of the season, then we’ll be all right. We’ll put ourselves in that position that we wanted to at the beginning of the year.”
The Roughriders begin their final third of the regular season with a two-game swing in Ontario, with games Friday in Ottawa against the Redblacks (5-8-1) and Oct. 7 in Toronto versus the Argonauts (6-7-0).
Saskatchewan then plays host to Ottawa on Oct. 13, visits Calgary on Oct. 20, entertains the Montreal Alouettes (3-10-0) on Oct. 27 and welcomes the Eskimos to Mosaic Stadium on Nov. 4.
“You want to have a winning record in each third and that’s going to be our goal going into it,” slotback Bakari Grant said. “If we do have a winning record, we have a good chance of making the playoffs.
“At the beginning of the season, the main goal is to get to the playoffs and to get to the Grey Cup. That’s what we’re still striving for.”
Statistically speaking, the Roughriders showed improvement from the first third of the season to the second — and not just in terms of two more wins.
Saskatchewan’s scoring average went from 26.0 points per game to 29.4 and its scoring defence went from 27.3 points per game to 25.8.
The Roughriders, who trailed at some point in each of their first six games, led from wire to wire in four of their next six.
The defence, which forced a league-low five turnovers through its first six games, forced 24 over its next six and now sits second in the CFL with 29 takeaways. A unit that had 31 quarterback pressures in the first third of the season had 44 in the second.
For the players, the progress isn’t just apparent in the stats.
“At the beginning of the season, we were kind of raw and still young,” said linebacker Sam Eguavoen. “We really didn’t know each other as a defence — or even as a team, period.
“Back then, we were hoping to win. Now, we expect to win and we expect to win big every game. Every time we step on the field, every man believes.”
Glenn agreed that the Roughriders have grown as a team since the start of the season, primarily due to the adversity they have faced.
“Guys have got hurt, but other guys have stepped up and played,” he said. “You don’t necessarily want that to happen, but the more you can do that and the more you can get guys reps and live playing time, it helps you down the stretch when something may happen.”
The game Sunday was an indication of the Roughriders’ progress.
When Saskatchewan visited Calgary on July 22, the Stampeders jumped out to a 17-0 lead in the first half and rolled to a 27-10 victory. In the rematch, the Roughriders held the visitors to five field goals and were in the game throughout.
But penalties cost the Roughriders a couple of big plays, an interception at the Calgary three-yard line snuffed out a potential scoring drive, and a fumble in the Stampeders’ zone ended Saskatchewan’s hopes of a last-minute rally.
The Roughriders’ offence had only 28 yards rushing, averaged just 1.9 yards on second down and gave up five sacks. On the other side of the ledger, the Stampeders controlled the ball for 36 minutes 10 seconds and rushed for 148 yards, with an average gain of 5.3 yards against Saskatchewan’s three-man front.
But despite the loss — and a 48-28 setback to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 9 — Jones saw the progress he wanted to see during the second third of the regular season.
“We’re a better football team than what we were,” he said. “The guys have bought into the team philosophy.
“It’s not an individual game. Everybody depends on everybody else to do their job. We had a couple of things (Sunday). There were a couple of guys who extended some drives by doing some ‘me’ stuff and we’ve got to eliminate that.”
