VANCOUVER — Legendary college football coach Paul (Bear) Bryant would have been proud.
Bryant has long been credited with saying, “Offense sells tickets. Defense wins championships.” On Saturday, a Canadianized version of his sentiment was uttered after the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 24-21 CFL victory over the B.C. Lions at BC Place.
“We’ve been taught this our whole life: Defence wins championships,” Roughriders defensive end Willie Jefferson said after a late-game stand preserved the visitors’ win.
“At the end of the day, the offence has to produce and special teams have to produce, but if you want to win championships, your defence has to step up and make big plays. This was us showing that we can make big plays in tough situations.”
The defence turned in the biggest play of Saturday’s game with less than one minute left in regulation time.
With his Lions facing a third-and-one from the Saskatchewan 46-yard line and 35 seconds left, head coach Wally Buono opted to go for the first down instead of attempting a potential game-tying 53-yard field goal by Ty Long.
The Roughriders’ interior defenders stacked up the line of scrimmage, allowing others to hit Lions quarterback Cody Fajardo short of the first down. Defensive back Ed Gainey was credited with making the tackle, but he had lots of help.
The turnover on downs was followed by Saskatchewan quarterback Zach Collaros taking a knee three times to drain the remaining seconds.
“You see the third-and-one (made successfully) pretty much every week,” Jefferson said. “When it comes down to situational ball, you’ve got to know when and where to shoot the gap and make the play.
“It was the end of the game and coming down to it. If they get the first down, they kick a field goal and it’s overtime. Before that play started, we came together as a defence and said, ‘It’s now or never,’ and we did it.”
And it’s not the first time the defenders have done it this season.
Saskatchewan’s offence produced two touchdowns against the Lions, giving the unit 11 TDs (six passing, five rushing) this season. That’s the lowest such total in the league. The Roughriders’ defence, meanwhile, has chipped in with five majors itself (four on interception returns and one on a fumble return).
Saskatchewan also went into the week ranked in the top three in many of the CFL’s key defensive statistical categories, including opponents’ offensive touchdowns, net offence, first downs, two-and-outs forced and sacks.
In short, it appears the defence has been leading the way.
“I don’t look at it like that,” defensive tackle Mic’hael Brooks said. “I just look at it that we’re here to play defence; that’s what we’re supposed to do. We make plays and the offence comes along when they do. When they’re going kind of slow, we step in and help them out. It’s a team thing.”
But the defence has been consistent since the start of the season, while the offence continues to try to gain traction halfway through the Roughriders’ regular-season schedule.
For linebacker Cameron Judge, the defence’s showing has created a sense of pride among its members.
“It gives us something to uphold; we feel we have to do that every week,” Judge said. “It’s definitely a good feeling knowing that we can stop anybody. We’ve just got to believe it and live up to it. It gives us a challenge every week to try to top our last performance.”
On Saturday, Saskatchewan surrendered 16 first downs (roughly two below its per-game average entering Week 11), 74 yards rushing (approximately five below its average) and 304 yards of net offence (about seven below its average). A group that was allowing an average of 2.2 offensive touchdowns per game gave up just one to the Lions.
B.C.’s offence succeeded in moving the ball on its final possession, chewing up 39 yards in 31 seconds to reach the Roughriders’ 46-yard line. But that’s the spot at which the defence made its final stand, stuffing Fajardo on his third-and-one sneak.
“When you’ve got me and Zack (Evans) in the middle, it’s tough,” Brooks said. “We wanted to show B.C. that they couldn’t come up the middle. We did that on that last play.”
“Usually on third-and-one, some teams would think, ‘We’ve got three more downs coming that we’ve got to stop,’ ” Judge offered. “But we truly believe we have the ability to stop teams, especially in a clutch moment. (On Saturday) we came through and did it.”
The Roughriders’ offence also deserved some credit for the way things played out.
After taking possession at its 13-yard line with 4:10 left in the fourth quarter, Saskatchewan was able to convert three second-down situations, cover 40 yards and kill nearly three minutes before punting the ball to the Lions for their final possession.
“It’s an important thing, being able to play complementary football and helping the defence out at the end and making B.C. drive a bit,” Collaros said. “It was just an unbelievable job by the defence getting the third-and-one stop.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been on the side of a game where we actually get that stop, so it’s pretty cool.”
