It took just about as long as it possibly could, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders have their second win of the season, beating the Calgary Stampeders 29-26 in double overtime at McMahon Stadium.
Much like their first win of the year, it wasn’t the prettiest but it was enough to get the job done and that’s all that will matter to the players in the room.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ wild win over Calgary.
The Good
When the Roughriders made a change at offensive coordinator this offseason, the new man in charge, Kelly Jeffrey, suggested that running the football would be an emphasis for the team in 2023.
Through the first two games of the regular season, we had only seen that in spurts, mostly the final drive of their season-opening win over the Edmonton Elks. Since they spent much of the game trailing against the Bombers, we didn’t see Jamal Morrow used as much as the team would have liked.
On Saturday night in Calgary, we got our first glimpse at what the Riders hope will be a good running attack.
Morrow was busy carrying the ball 22 times for 133 yards — if the league’s stats are to be trusted– easily a season-high for the second-year starter. Most impressive was the way that Morrow could have once again closed out the game. He ultimately didn’t but that wasn’t his fault.
On the Riders’ final offensive drive before overtime, Morrow rushed for 31 yards including a couple of absolutely incredible second efforts to secure first downs and keep the drive alive. Morrow probably should have gotten the ball one more time on that drive, but that’s another issue.
The Riders’ offence is still growing into itself, but you can already see their killer instinct to close out tight games. That could prove to be crucial down the road.
The Bad
It’s pretty safe to say that head coach Craig Dickenson’s decisions in this game will put the bench boss front and centre once again.
Players have to execute and a 10-point lead should be safe at that point of the game, but Dickenson didn’t do them any favours late — though probably not for the decision you’re thinking of.
Much will be made of Dickenson’s decision to go for it on third-and-one with about 90 seconds left in the game. I actually think that was the correct call. You play to win, and you should trust your offence to pick up that yard. I would have preferred the ball be given to Morrow at that moment, given the drive he had, but the thought process was still strong. The offence will appreciate the trust.
What I didn’t like was the decision to go for two following quarterback Shea Patterson’s second rushing touchdown of the game. That touchdown made it a 10-point game pending the convert. I think the difference between a 10-point lead and an 11-point lead is far bigger than between an 11-point lead and a 12-point lead. Both an 11 and 12-point game would have required a touchdown from Calgary on their final drive instead of a field goal. Getting two wasn’t worth the risk of keeping it a touchdown and field goal game.
The Dumb
While we all appreciate well-executed football, chaos is always fun.
This game featured all kinds of weird stuff that you don’t see every day and proves that sometimes you need to be lucky to get some wins.
It’s been a while since we’d seen a good fumblerooski in the CFL but the Riders and Stamps gave us one on Saturday.
Cue the Benny Hill theme music… 🤦🏻♂️#CFL #Stampeders #Riders
pic.twitter.com/JZpFVLIvV4— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 24, 2023
If that wasn’t enough, the Riders appeared to have knocked a Stamps fumbled kick-off return to take possession, but it was ruled that Amari Henderson landed out of bounds so Calgary kept the ball.
Then we had a Rolan Milligan interception where the defensive back showed off his basketball skills, throwing in a dribble before taking the ball deep into Calgary territory.
He’s one in a Milligan (@rmilliganjr)!#CFL #Riders #RiderNation
pic.twitter.com/N3MVjwXGz2— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 25, 2023
Finally, Larry Dean saved a likely scoring drive from the Stampeders when he picked off Jake Maier in the endzone on a deflection. The ball was kicked up in the air by C.J. Reavis, who accidentally did an impression of a soccer bicycle kick while breaking up the pass.
Football or fútbol?
C.J. Reavis kicks it up to Larry Dean for the touchdown-saving interception.#CFL #Riders #RiderNation
pic.twitter.com/wiL8BkiKky— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 25, 2023
Are you not entertained?
The Best
I would be remiss if I finished this piece without plugging the true all-stars I watched over the last week.
First off, thanks to Brendan McGuire for filling in for me last week as I took the time off for the birth of my daughter, Kadence.
She was born on Sunday morning after a struggle and a herculean effort from my stronger-than-hell wife, Jenni. Things didn’t go smoothly after that either, thankfully nothing serious, but she had to spend some time in the NICU before coming home.
I will never be able to say thanks enough to every single nurse, doctor and staff member that worked with us in labour and delivery, mother-baby, special care nursery and NICU. You are the true all-stars and deserve far more support than you’re currently getting.
Simply the best humans.
