One member of the Saskatchewan Roughriders wasn’t celebrating as much as his mates in the team’s locker room Monday evening.
Brett Lauther kicked four field goals and a convert in the Roughriders’ 19-12 CFL victory over the Edmonton Eskimos at Mosaic Stadium, but he also missed two field-goal tries — the first time all season that he has missed more than one attempt in a game.
“It was nice to hit that one at the end (a 38-yarder late in the fourth quarter), but I definitely let the guys down in such a tight game when we need those points and those kicks,” Lauther said after the contest. “Willie (Jefferson, whose 49-yard interception return for a touchdown changed the game) definitely had my back by saving me a lot of trouble with the media.
“I wasn’t feeling too hot when (the missed attempts) went out, but I know you’ve just got to move on to the next kick. I got a chance to put us up by a touchdown (with the final try), so I went out and tried my best to do it.”
Lauther was riding a streak of 14 successful field-goal attempts entering Monday’s game and he made his first three tries (from 23, 39 and 43 yards) to reach 17 straight.
But he missed from 46 yards out in the third quarter and then was short on a 50-yarder in the fourth quarter. Those were his first misses from outside 41 yards this season.
“It was just a tricky day,” he said of the conditions. “Probably since I’ve been in this stadium since the start of the year, we haven’t had the wind go that way. We actually tried to take the wind for the fourth (quarter), but we ended up being into the wind. I missed a kick with it and I missed one into it.
“You just have to really move on if you want to be a pro at this level and that’s all I was trying to do — because you can’t be missing three or two in a row like that.”
After missing his first field-goal try of the season, Lauther made his next 11 attempts before missing again. Then he hit 16 straight tries before his next miss, after which he hit 17 in a row.
The first of his two consecutive misses Monday snapped that streak, but he hit his final attempt of the game. He’ll try to take that momentum into Saturday’s contest against the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“I’m pretty lucky to go this far without having a really bad game — and I knew it was coming,” said Lauther, who earned kudos for offering words of encouragement to Zack Medeiros after the Toronto Argonauts’ kicker missed a potential game-winner on Sept. 22 in Saskatchewan’s 30-29 victory.
“Like what happened in Toronto with Zack, you can miss and you can be the guy who kind of cost (your team) the game or you can be the guy who wins the game. I’m just going to move on.”
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Lauther’s late field goal put the Roughriders up by seven, but the Eskimos had one more play to run after the kickoff in hopes of 
tying the game.
Their Hail Mary was nearly answered.
Quarterback Mike Reilly took the snap, stepped up into the pocket and heaved the ball 66 yards downfield to the Saskatchewan 14-yard line. The pass was tipped into the air and landed in the hands of receiver Bryant Mitchell, who immediately turned toward the goal line.
Fortunately for the Roughriders, defensive back Ed Gainey reacted in time and tackled Mitchell at the eight-yard line to end the game.
“I was thinking in my head, ‘Let me go get another interception,’ ” said Gainey, who recorded a pick in the second quarter. “But I saw the way (Reilly) threw the ball; he’s got a strong arm and he threw a rocket, so I kind of stood back and I was like, ‘Nah, I’m not going to try to get this one.’ Luckily I didn’t and I ended up making a tackle.
“We might have to practise that drill in practice.”
Ironically, Jefferson’s decision to run around with his interception before stepping into the end zone took enough seconds off the clock that the game ended on Gainey’s tackle.
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The Roughriders have won seven of their past eight games, giving them serious momentum in the stretch drive.
The reason for the run, Gainey said, is the players’ firm belief in each other. Veterans have seen rookies perform and vice versa, creating the proper vibe in the locker room.
“We might fight, we might argue, we might do all of that, but that’s what family does,” Gainey said. “At the end of the day, we all believe in one another, we all have each other’s back no matter what the game’s looking like — no matter if we’re losing really bad or if we’ve got a big lead.
“We’re always going to hold each other accountable and we’re always going to make sure we get our jobs done and make sure we’re doing it for each other.”
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The Roughriders have a short week, with just five days separating Monday’s game from Saturday’s clash in Winnipeg.
Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones shrugged that off.
“Everybody has got short weeks,” he said. “We’ve had two 
eight-day weeks in a row (between games in Toronto on Sept. 22 and Montreal on Sept. 30, and between the contest in Montreal and Monday’s outing).
“Eight-day weeks right now seem like two weeks in between games because you have pretty much everything installed. You’re not going to draw up a bunch of new stuff this late in the season. You’re going to have what you have and pick and choose what to use. The preparation time is a little less.
“Five days is really short, so we’ve got to make sure, No. 1, that we get them to the game as fresh as we can.”
