If you were wondering why some Rider fans had a weird feeling in the pit of their stomach this week, it’s because they’ve seen this script before.
No matter who the head coach is, who the players are, or what the year is, no one seems to know how to give a struggling team a big win like the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The worst fears of Rider Nation were realized on Saturday night as they helped the Edmonton Elks pick up their first win of the season 42-31 in front of 29,655 fans at Mosaic Stadium.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ third loss of the season.
The Good
There was one thing that clearly went right for the Green and White on Saturday and that was the re-emergence of kick returner Mario Alford.
The man known as Super Mario had a torrid start to the season with little to show for it thanks to penalties wiping out a few big returns, including some touchdowns. Since then, it had been tough sledding for the Riders’ all-time kick return touchdown leader.
That is until the opening kickoff of this football game.
Alford didn’t handle the kick cleanly but after picking the ball off the turf, he bolted upfield past all of the charging Elks for a 101-yard touchdown. The return was Alford’s eighth as a member of the Green and White.
That would be enough for a returner to have a good night, but Alford later added a 46-yard punt return that all but wiped out a 51-yard punt.
Normally, you’d expect an opening return to spark a team to victory, but as we know, that wasn’t the case.
The Bad
In a nutshell, everything else was bad for the home team. However, my bosses would probably prefer that I provide a little more insight than that.
While everyone expected the Elks to be better with Tre Ford at quarterback, his insertion into the lineup didn’t end up being the most impactful change as Edmonton was forced to play returner Jeavon Leake at running back due to an injury to Kevin Brown. The speedster went off for 169 yards and three touchdowns from Leake, including a 61-yarder to give his team a 10-point lead with 2:28 to go.
There’s no doubt that Ford’s presence opened up the run game for Edmonton, as he’s always a threat to make things happen with his legs. However, you’d expect one of the league’s best run defences to have an answer for that.
They didn’t. The pride of head coach and defensive coordinator Corey Mace’s defence was shredded to the tune of 267 yards rushing by the Elks, with newcomer Justin Rankin adding another 60 and his quarterback scrambling for the rest.
The result was a lead even the Elks couldn’t blow.
It’s one thing to lose because Ford did things that leave you shaking your head, it’s another altogether to lose being unable to do the one thing your defence was supposed to be great at.
The offence has some questions to answer as well, as they didn’t move the ball effectively most of the game, but the defence was beaten to its core. Something has to change for a unit that’s had a rough few weeks.
The Dumb
It wasn’t a very fun day for Rider fans at Mosaic Stadium but there was some fun to be had before the game.
With the Queen City Ex underway for another year just outside the stadium, the world’s best competitive eater Joey Chestnut was challenged to a mini-donut eating contest before kick-off.
His challengers? Injured Riders A.J. Ouellette, Jermarcus Hardrick and Anthony Lanier.
Unfortunately for members of the Green and White, their attempt to take down the champ didn’t go any better than the game on the field did. Chestnut devoured 343 mini-donuts in eight minutes. The Riders didn’t even get through 100 combined.
JOEY CHESTNUT BREAKING RECORDS IN SASKATCHEWAN 🍩@joeyjaws set a new world record for mini donuts at 343 mini donuts, while Ouellette, Lanier II & Hardrick accumulated a total of 98!#CFL | @sskroughriders pic.twitter.com/bj9kmSTXLw
— CFL (@CFL) August 3, 2024
Maybe the players will have better luck on and off the field if they stick to corn dogs. We know that has worked before.
