The Mason Fine era got off to a rough start in Vancouver as the Saskatchewan Roughriders dropped their second straight game, this time to the B.C. Lions by a score of 19-9.
While there will be plenty of debates regarding whether or not the new starting pivot has what it takes to get the job done, I simply don’t think he does. I think Mason is exactly as his name suggests: Fine.
The third-year passer can come off the bench and make some stuff happen, as we saw last week and in the preseason, but I don’t think he has the “it” factor required to be a starting quarterback.
Despite that, far more important things happened in this game that led to a loss for the Green and White.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ third loss of the season.
The Good
Coming into this game, I was low-key more worried about the defence than I was about the offence.
That has obviously changed, thanks to the performance of both units in the game.
We’ll get into what we saw from the offence in a bit, but the defence has put any concerns I had about the unit to bed, at least for now.
Considering that coordinator Jason Shivers is a disciple of Chris Jones, it was shocking to see his defence at the bottom of the league in sacks coming into this game. There’s no doubt that last week’s game could have gone much differently had the Riders gotten more pressure on Stampeders’ quarterback Jake Maier, especially early on.
We saw far more pressure this week against a much better Lions team. Saskatchewan managed to sack Vernon Adams Jr. and Dane Evans four times, which is just over half as many as they had coming into the game. Both quarterbacks faced a ton of pressure and it clearly made a difference as the Lions didn’t manage even 300 yards of net offence.
The effort from the defence was more than enough for them to win against just about any team in the league if, of course, they’d got more than three field goals from the offence.
The Bad
There’s no way to sugarcoat it: this was a disastrous game from the coaching staff — well, most of them at least.
As noted, Shivers was good but head coach Craig Dickenson and offensive coordinator Kelly Jefferey left a lot to be desired.
We’ll start with Jefferey, whose offence was gifted with three turnovers from the defence and special teams unit but turned them into just six points. That’s just not going to win you many football games, especially when you’re a pretty heavy underdog.
The game plan was bland and uninspired. If that’s the offence you need to build for your quarterback, then he probably shouldn’t be your quarterback. If that’s the offence you want to build, then good luck.
When you’re the inferior team in a game, you need to take some chances. You need to push the ball down the field. We saw very little of that from the Riders throughout the game with Fine taking only one deep shot through the first three quarters.
Nothing summed up the game more than on a second-and-five from their own 19-yard line with the game basically on the line, Jeffery dialled up a run play to Jamal Morrow — who had been averaging a whopping one yard per rush — that resulted in a two-yard loss followed by a punt.
The Riders got lucky when the Lions fumbled on the return, but you can’t count on a miscue like that.
That play call was even worse when you consider Morrow was stuffed on a similar play on third-and-two when head coach Craig Dickenson (rightly) went for it on his team’s side of the field.
While I liked his decision to gamble on that third down, Dickenson didn’t put his team in the best position to win at the end of the game.
Down 10 points in the final couple minutes of the game, Dickenson was right to go for it on third-and-two. The ball was handed off to Morrow again, only this time he was able to scratch and claw for four yards.
Three plays later, Dickenson elected not to gamble on third-and-goal from the five-yard-line, instead opting for a 14-yard field goal to make it 16-9.
Sigh. If you’re that close to the end zone, you go for six. And if you’re going to settle for three, then at least save the time and kick the field goal earlier.
Making matters worse, Dickenson then opted for the low percentage onside kick, which the Lions recovered, putting them instantly in field goal range.
That ball should have been sent deep to at least give Saskatchewan’s defence a chance.
At the end of the day, execution is what matters most and a lack of execution is why the Riders lost, but the coaches did the team no favours.
The Dumb
Let it be known that this contributor believes CFL special teams coordinators do not take advantage of some of the league’s more unique rules.
We finally got a taste of it this weekend with the Ticats’ successful onside punt, a play that perhaps inspired the Riders to attempt one of their own.
CHAOS 🤯#Riders #BCLions #CFLpic.twitter.com/8CvzeOfhn8
— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) July 22, 2023
They ultimately didn’t recover the kick but did get the ball back thanks to a forced fumble by offensive lineman Evan Johnson. Was it good karma for doing something fun? Maybe.
Would it have been easier and more advisable for the Riders to just go for it on third and relatively short? Yeah. Would it have been as fun? No, and for that we cannot argue against this call.
Long live the onside punt.
