Don\u2019t try to tell Trevor Harris that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are trending the wrong way when it comes to finishing offensive drives.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think we have like a red-zone issue at this point,\u201d the veteran quarterback told reporters Tuesday. \u201cWe get down there quite a bit.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a game where possessions are at a premium, we\u2019ve got to capitalize for sure. To say that we don\u2019t focus on it would be a lie. But to say we\u2019re sitting here going like, \u2018What are we doing? We\u2019re terrible.\u2019 No, it\u2019s not that.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Riders rank tied for third in the CFL with 53 opportunities in the red zone. They\u2019ve cashed in 37 of those chances from inside opponents\u2019 20-yard line, also tied for third. Their 128 total plays are most in the league.<\/p>\n
So, Harris is right. The Riders have gotten to that area of the field a lot and have done a good job putting six points on the board.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what makes the last two games stick out like a sore thumb.<\/p>\n
The Riders failed to score a touchdown in the Labour Day rematch in Winnipeg, a 19-6 loss. They were 0-for-1 in the red zone. In their last game, a 31-24 defeat against the B.C. Lions, the Riders were 2-for-5 in that section of the field. The Lions, meanwhile, were 4-for-5.<\/p>\n
Harris stated the obvious, that the red-zone disparity was the \u201cdifference in the game\u201d in Vancouver. That\u2019s as far as he\u2019d go\u00a0in his analysis, though.<\/p>\n
\u201cPretty skewed because we didn’t get one in the end zone in Winnipeg,\u201d Harris said. \u201cSo, two last week. I thought we moved the ball excellent. It\u2019s about us just capitalizing on those opportunities. We have the personnel. We\u2019ve got the scheme. We\u2019ve got the people to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we win that game or if we hit one more explosive (play) down the field and we win the game 34-31, we\u2019re like, \u2018Wow, what a great offensive performance.\u2019 It\u2019s a very, very fine line.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that we are pressing on the pedal but not saying like we\u2019ve got to overhaul. There\u2019s no panic here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Riders head into their 15th game of the season having lost their last two contests and four of the last six.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re still looking to clinch a playoff berth, something they can do with a win over the Calgary Stampeders on Friday. A loss, however, moves the Stamps, currently the last-place team in the West Division, into a tie with the Riders \u2013 albeit with an extra game played.<\/p>\n
The Riders are also mathematically in contention for the West Division crown, even though it\u2019s a long shot, and are trying to secure a home playoff game.<\/p>\n
This stretch will prove who the Riders are \u2013 offensively and otherwise.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe put ourselves in this position to accomplish what we want to accomplish and, to me, it\u2019s on us,\u201d Harris said. \u201cHow are we going to respond to this little mini adversity that we have? I know who we are, who the guys in this locker room are.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know our backs are against the wall to some degree and it\u2019s on us to come out and come out swinging. That\u2019s exactly this team is going to be. With four games left, if you\u2019re not coming out swinging, then who are you? Do you even want to contend? Do you want to win a championship? Do you want to be the teams that are there in the end?<\/p>\n
\u201cI know what this team\u2019s made of. We\u2019re going to come out with a great ferocity and intensity, regardless of where we\u2019re at in the standings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Don\u2019t try to tell Trevor Harris that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are trending the wrong way when it comes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":914627,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[224145,224143,49,48,521,522,520,224144,4398,224142,1893,4397,4402,4401,4400,4399,82,4403],"class_list":["post-914626","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-100-year-celebration","tag-620-ckrm","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-ckrm","tag-country-music","tag-countrys-greatest-hits","tag-radio","tag-regina-news","tag-reigna-pats","tag-rider-radio","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan-sports","tag-sports","tag-sportscage"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914626","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914626"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914626\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914626"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914626"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914626"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}