This was the football game that never ends. It just goes on and on my friends.
Not once, but twice it appeared we were going to get a victory for someone. On both occasions, the command centre ripped away the “W”. Both teams have their reasons for being furious with the video review crew after a contest that made rollercoasters look like a walk in the park.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ first tie of the season.
The Good
If there’s one thing you can say about the 2024 Saskatchewan Roughriders it’s that they won’t go down without a fight.
We were going to learn a lot about this team after getting embarrassed by the Edmonton Elks last week. They came into this matchup with the Redblacks missing several starters on both offence and defence, it was a short week, and Ottawa was coming off a bye. When you add in a downpour from a leftover tropical storm, you have the recipe for a blowout.
Previous versions of this team would have folded.
Instead, led mostly by their defence, the Green and White were able to hang around long enough to allow the offence to make a few plays at the end and give themselves a chance to win.
A week after the Riders got gashed for over 250 yards along the ground, they held the Redblacks mostly in check by only allowing 107 yards — most of which came from quarterback Dustin Crum making something out of nothing.
Ottawa wasn’t able to score a touchdown until the first overtime period. You couldn’t ask for much more.
Add in a couple of blocked field goals and the Riders just about did enough to win the game. Some may argue they should have, but both teams can probably say that. So, maybe this game was meant to be a tie.
The Bad
There was plenty of bad from the Riders in this game, namely an offence that couldn’t move the ball until there were only a few minutes left on the clock. However, we have something worse to talk about.
The CFL’s Command Centre overturned two critical calls in the overtime which played a huge role in ensuring this game would end in a tie.
The first came in the first overtime period when Riders’ head coach Corey Mace challenged a potential pass interference call on a third-and-five play to Shawn Bane Jr. that fell incomplete as the Redblacks celebrated on the field.
In my mind, the call was close enough based on the angles we saw on TSN that I didn’t think it could be overturned, even though Redblacks defensive back Alijah McGhee did appear to get there a little early. The command centre disagreed with me and called pass interference, giving the Riders a first down.
One play later, Patterson connected with Sam Emilus in the end zone and the game was tied. We were off to a second overtime after a failed two-point convert.
The Riders would settle for a field goal on the first series of the second overtime, giving the defence a chance to win the game. Two sacks, a failed challenge, and a fumble recovery later, we thought the Riders had done it. Players were shaking hands, fans were taking the field for post-game activities. Redblacks’ quarterback Dustin Crum was in the locker room.
It was not to be.
As they always do at the most random times, the command centre decided to review the play. Apparently, there was roughing the passer when Riders’ linebacker Zakoby McClain was cut-blocked into Crum’s legs. The Redblacks were granted a first down, leading to a field goal and an awkward tie.
A similar call was made earlier in the game on defensive lineman Miles Brown when he hit Redblacks’ quarterback Dru Brown low. However, Dru had already thrown the ball on that occasion and Miles, while not intending to injure his opponent, jumped over an offensive lineman and rolled into him. Intent doesn’t matter when it comes to roughing the passer.
In this case, McClain was forced into Crum by Crum’s own teammate and he still had the ball. I have no clue what McCLain is supposed to do to avoid the call.
A week after the command centre didn’t overturn one of the most egregious fumbles we’ve ever seen, they made a spectacle of themselves again. In this case, ruining the end of the game — twice!
Someone has to answer for what’s going on in that room, whether that’s commissioner Randy Ambrosie or someone else.
The Dumb
If you take away the absurdity of the command centre in overtime, this game was filled with lovely chaos despite what was a pretty bad football for most of the night. It had all of the dumb someone could hope for.
As mentioned, the Riders blocked a couple of field goals and we saw both teams get stuffed in short-yardage situations causing turnovers on downs. Interceptions were thrown and fumbles were lost.
It was a beautiful mess at times. Not that we’ll remember much of that now.
We should be talking about it, but this game will only be remembered for one thing now: the command centre.
I need a beer.
