Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders
If the blueprint for beating Saskatchewan’s vaunted Corey Mace defence wasn’t clear before Saturday’s Week 12 loss in Calgary, it is now.
This Roughrider squad was hot off what was arguably the finest first half to a season in franchise history. They are now hit with the reality that they will have to solve the jigsaw puzzle that is not only a Calgary defence that dominated Saskatchewan’s usually dependable offensive line in the second half, but also an offence, led by Vernon Adams Jr, that is run by a mobile quarterback and assisted by a strong running attack.
The Stampeders aren’t just good at running the football; it’s part of their DNA, and Saturday proved it. No fewer than six players were used to weaponize a Stampeder ground game that whipped a league-leading Roughrider defence to the tune of 141 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries.
Mace agrees that nobody across the league is more physical along the line of scrimmage than these Stampeders.
“Without a doubt! They have got a physical running back. The boys up front do enough for them to get it going,” Mace said. “Their (defensive) front, their linebackers, their DBs. They play physical!”
“I would say they’re the most physical team we’ve faced.”
That’s something other teams have been saying regularly about the Riders after losing to Saskatchewan. It appears the Stamps have been out-Maceing the Green and White to beat them at their own game.
And the whipping in the trenches clearly wasn’t limited to Calgary’s offence. Rider quarterback Trevor Harris, who gets the ball out faster than just about any other passer in pro football and normally enjoys great protection from a mostly American offensive line, admitted Calgary’s ferocious pass rush disrupted his second-half rhythm with a season-high four quarterback sacks
“Their pass-rush did a good job,” Harris said.
“I’ve got to do a better job of getting the ball out quick for the guys, and I’m sure we’ll take a look at the film and see some of the things that we can clean up, and we will. We’ll see them down the line, and that’s not the end of this. It’s going to be fun. We’ll be fine.”
The TSN replay cameras showed a hasty exchange between Rider right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick and right guard Jacob Brammer on one blown assignment that led to a sack. The commentators also made mention of the tough night had by the left tackle Payton Collins, who had proven to be very reliable in his short stay so far in Riderville.
It’s not very often that Saskatchewan gets outrun by anybody. But it’s now happened in both of their meetings with Calgary this year. Each occasion has ended in a Riders’ loss, the only two blemishes so far in what has been an otherwise flawless campaign.
In the Riders’ eight victories so far this season, they have outrushed the opposition each and every time, usually by more than doubling the other side’s rushing yardage. In fact, over Saskatchewan’s wins, they’ve only surrendered more than 59 yards rushing twice. Opponents, other than Calgary, have averaged less than 14 carries per game against the Riders.
In the Roughriders’ two losses to Calgary, the tables were turned. In fact, the Stamps have now battered Saskatchewan’s run defence to the tune of 275 yards on 49 carries in both games combined. The 5.6 yards per carry is impressive but not overwhelming. The commitment to the run, however, has suffocated the Riders.
It’s easy to nitpick other teams for not running the ball well against Saskatchewan. After all, Rider head coach/defensive coordinator Corey Mace has developed a reputation for being arguably the soundest defensive mind in Canadian football. In the same breath, it is also worth noting how easy it would have been for the Stamps to copy others by abandoning the run at halftime after rushing for just 42 yards in the first half on eight carries while trailing 15-14.
Instead, Calgary offensive coordinator Pal DelMonaco dialled up 16 more carries in the second half, punishing Saskatchewan’s linebacking crew with over 100 yards along the ground over the final 30 minutes and tiring out the green defence along the way. In out-scoring the Roughriders 18-0 in the second half, many were left wondering how this game went from being so close to such a blowout so fast.
The end result is the Stamps sweep the Roughriders, own the tiebreaker, and are already within striking distance of running down the Riders for first place in the CFL standings.
The other casualty for Saskatchewan fans is that a blueprint for beating a Corey Mace defence, which has been so elusive for the rest of the CFL since he helped mastermind a Grey Cup win for Toronto that derailed a Blue Bomber dynasty three years ago, is now on full display.
Commit to running the football and don’t give up on it, even if at first you don’t succeed or fall behind early. Don’t worry about trying to beat these Riders through the air or turning things into a track meet because their star-studded secondary and veteran pass-rush will embarrass and twist you into knots every time.
In the 18 Saskatchewan wins racked up during the regular season and playoffs combined throughout the Corey Mace era, 12 of those losses were incurred by teams that failed to run the football with as much as 15 carries.
The Riders have faced the CFL’s three most prolific passing offences four times and have wiped the floor with them every time.
While this inability to beat Calgary in two tries is a setback to be sure, it could actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise for a few reasons.
The only other Roughrider squad in franchise history to go 8-1 also lost in game number 10 and proceeded to win the Grey Cup in 2013. It also serves as a wake-up call to give the Riders more than two months to try and solve this conundrum of how on earth to beat those pesky Stampeders. Something not lost on Saskatchewan’s head coach.
“If it comes down to one play, that we’ve got to play them again, we’ve got to find an answer to that,” said Mace.
A reversal of the score in Calgary would have lined the Roughriders up to clinch first place as early as September, leaving an entire month of meaningless football in front of them, which is rarely ever a good thing.
Now that first place is officially a dog-fight with just one game separating the Stamps and Riders, plus the rest of the league standings tightening in ways we have rarely ever seen before, this fall will be packed with games that are anything but meaningless.