Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have plenty of excuses for allowing a 32-17 comeback loss against the BC Lions in Week 8 at Mosaic Stadium to happen.
A short week with only four days off for the Riders and a long week for BC. A broken offensive line that has very little continuity and a decimated defensive line still missing sack artists Pete Robertson, AC Leonard and bad boy Garrett Marino.
They are valid crutches for which the green and white can be forgiven.
What is unforgivable, however, is his caller’s utter failure to get arguably his most dangerous weapon, Jamal Morrow, the football.
A total of eight carries was the sum total of the Roughriders’ commitment to the ground game, not including situations where quarterbacks Cody Fajardo and Mason Fine were scrambling for their lives.
Offensive coordinator Jason Maas certainly had valid reasons for ditching not just the ground game but Morrow in general. Maybe the ground attack was hitting a brick wall, like in the Riders’ Week 7 loss to Toronto late last week?
No. Morrow averaged 5.9 yards per carry. Andrew Harris may still be the best running back in the league, but he doesn’t even come close to that most nights.
Maybe Maas was afraid Morrow would get hurt since he didn’t have Frankie Hickson on the roster this week to share the load?
No. Shaq Cooper filled in for Hickson and has years of experience carrying the rock under his belt. He’s shown that he, too, can muster more than a respectable five yards per carry. It can’t be that.
Maybe Maas wants to limit Morrow’s workload and put him on a pitch count?
Hmm. Morrow doesn’t return kicks anymore, or at least for three weeks, and it’s not like he’s being used at receiver either. They only threw to Morrow four times Friday night, and he predictably caught them all.
Again, Morrow made something productive happen every time he touched the football.
So what gives? Why are the Riders, specifically Maas, ignoring Morrow and the ground game?
I asked head coach Craig Dickenson about this one after the game and he admitted it was a fair question.
“You’re right. Even if you’re good up front, it makes a lot of things easier,” Dickenson said.
“We’re going to take a good look at our team from top to bottom, every position and figure out how we can improve. How we can coach better.”
“We’re going to do a self-explorer. That’s something I have on my plate this weekend. We’re going to look at everything we’ve called and what’s working, what’s not.”
Criticism of Maas for a lack of ground play doesn’t just come from the fans either.
Wes Cates hit the rock, blocked and caught for a living in this league and he growled about it too on the Rider Radio Roundtable postgame show.
“Andrew Harris seems to be the only back in this league who gets a significant amount of touches already,” Cates said.
Logan Ferland is usually at defensive end, but made his first start of the season at center in the loss. He’s the second guy trying to replace the clearly irreplaceable Dan Clark, who has been out with an injury since Week 2.
Ferland has been thrown into the fire as much as anyone on this much-maligned offensive line that coughed up another four quarterback sacks. While he didn’t question the play calls, he agreed that running plays help an o-line that needs it.
“100 percent,” Ferland said. “I mean we never want to see Cody have to come out of the pocket and catch and rip. We’d rather see the run game as a line or, it’s a lot more fun. Just imposing your will.”
During this three-game losing streak, the Riders haven’t been imposing their will on anyone. And the worst part is that they didn’t try on Friday night.