A question for Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Mace:<\/p>\n
How long can his CFL team endure having a kicker who is struggling from beyond 40 yards?<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know, man,\u201d said Mace, coach of the reigning Grey Cup champions, during his post-practice media scrum Tuesday at Mosaic Stadium. \u201cPeople would say our kicking was a struggle last year and it ended up OK for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see, man. You know, obviously with (Riders rookie kicker Alex Hale), we\u2019ve got faith in the kid. He\u2019s done some really good things for us in his totality of stuff. But he\u2019s gotta make his kicks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just everybody doing their job and he knows that. It\u2019s no secret. But I know he\u2019s working his tail off at it, so we\u2019ll keep rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no new kickers at Tuesday\u2019s workout, when the Roughriders resumed practising following a 28-26 road victory three days earlier against the first-place Edmonton Elks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Hale missed a 42-yard field goal in Edmonton. Twice after touchdowns the Roughriders attempted two-point conversions rather than letting Hale kick 32 yards for singles.<\/p>\n The decisions were strategically sound based on the scoreboard in each situation, but it led to another question:<\/p>\n \t\tEditor\u2019s Picks\t<\/p>\n Has Hale\u2019s performance made Mace change his in-game strategies?<\/p>\n \u201cI know what it looks like, but some of these games have been a little bit crazy,\u201d said Mace, before referring specifically to an into-the-wind, 42-yarder Hale missed that was returned 120 yards for a touchdown.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I learned. That one in Calgary that burned us before the half, that was my fault. I shouldn\u2019t send him. The conditions were terrible.<\/p>\n \u201cThat alone has made me think about certain things, just kind of what\u2019s happening as far as the conditions in the game on top of a bunch of other things like, we\u2019ve got a really good punter. We\u2019ve been able too keep guys down there. Our cover teams are good. Sometimes we\u2019ve gone for it. Our offence looks good.<\/p>\n \u201cSo yeah, there\u2019s a lot of factors that go into it. It\u2019s not strictly just sending the kicker out there. It\u2019s more the decisions I\u2019ve made in the past that weren\u2019t very smart, that hurt the team on my behalf.\u201d<\/p>\n Hale has made only one of five attempts beyond 40 yards. A 20 per cent success rate.<\/p>\n Every other CFL kicker has made at least five field goals from beyond 40 yards and none are below 60 per cent accurate from that distance.<\/p>\n Hale\u2019s 70.6 per cent overall accuracy rate is the lowest among the CFL\u2019s current kickers. He has made 11 of his 17 field-goal attempts heading into Friday\u2019s game against the winless Ottawa Redblacks.<\/p>\n Ottawa recently re-signed Lewis Ward, who has a career accuracy rate of 86.5 per cent.<\/p>\n Ward is replacing injured kicker Brett Lauther, a longtime Rider who was waived by Saskatchewan in the off-season after making 72.2 per cent of his field goals in 2025.<\/p>\n