Saskatchewan Roughriders’ head coach Corey Mace isn’t concerned about veteran kicker Brett Lauther’s slew of misses during Saturday’s victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
“We’ve been through this, you know what I mean. You guys are gonna know my stance on it,” Mace said. “That’s Brett Lauther. If it looks like it did last year, then we should expect probably he’s gonna be banging these through here for the remainder of the season.”
Lauther cost his team nine points in Week 2, missing on three field goals and an extra point with only one rouge to show for it. While he connected on kicks from 40 and 25 yards out, the 34-year-old hooked attempts of 51, 50, and 29 yards. That proved to be impactful in a five-point game that was decided on the final series, though the Riders escaped unscathed.
Fortunately, there is precedent for what happens when the native of Truro, N.S. gets the yips. Lauther famously missed four field goals in a Week 11 loss to the Montreal Alouettes last year, calling himself the “biggest liability on the team.” That game closed out the worst start to a season in his career but Saskatchewan stuck with him and he missed only one field goal for the remainder of the season.
Mace will take an identical approach this year in the hopes of a similar result, absolving his specialist of blame after the game.
“We had his back, those guys had his back tonight. He’s his own biggest critic, but we just got to make sure we stay positive,” he said. “I know he’s gonna get out there and hopefully get outside to kick footballs this week. Hopefully the smoke will help.”
Lauther has connected on 259-of-312 field goals (83 percent) in 100 games since taking over the Riders’ job in 2018. His opportunity for redemption will come on Friday, June 20 when they visit the Toronto Argonauts.
