Dealing with a nightmarish defeat isn’t easy, but Cody Fajardo believes the Saskatchewan Roughriders are up to the task.
The Riders, coming out a short week, were beaten 37-13 by the Montreal Alouettes on June 23. It was a bad start for the Riders. Montreal’s Chandler Worthy takes the opening kick 88 yards for a touchdown.
Fajardo admits the Riders, who will host Als on Saturday in Regina, were a bit overwhelmed at the start and couldn’t figure out how to turn the tide.
“They went back to the opening match and self-doubt started creeping in,” Fajardo said. “You have dropped seven points. Then on our first playthrough of the game, we had some miscommunication and an exercise missed by almost a six. And then there was a throw for Shaq (Evans) and he was probably half an inch over the line so we went two and went outside. Then they get a goal on the pitch and you’re looking at an early 10-0 deficit and we’ve only got two innings. As an offense, it’s hard to get over that.”
Montreal’s defense had an impressive performance, scoring 8 clearances and 3 interceptions.
This was the Riders’ first game without starting center Dan Clark, who fractured his fibula on June 18 in a 26-16 win over Edmonton Elks. With Clark sidelined, rookie Logan Bandy entered the lineup against the Alouettes with just one practice session in preparation for his first CFL debut.
Bandy’s inexperience, combined with the lack of practice time and the strength of the Montreal defence, kept the Riders through a long evening.
Riders head coach Craig Dickenson feels the offensive line should not be responsible for eight sacks.
Dickenson said: “I think our attack line played better than what eight sacks showed. “I think they played hard and mostly in front of the defence, but it was a good defensive front.
“They did a great job of disguising some of the stuff and forcing us to hang on to the ball a little longer than we would have liked. And yes, Bandy made a few mistakes to make it a perfect storm but all was not well. Not all in midfield. And all is not in the back, they share the responsibility.
“Now we’ve had the right time to prepare things, clean things up and we expect to be a much better team and play a lot better than we did.”
After disallowing a sack in Week 1, the Riders dropped 11 sacks in the final two matches. That’s the biggest two-game total for the Riders since October 2016, when they gave up 12 sacks for BC and Montreal.
The Riders will likely be a little easier on Saturday as Montreal will be without defensive midfielder Almondo Sewell, who is unavailable due to personal issues. The 35-year-old is one of the top defensive players in the league and scored twice in last week’s win.
In addition to Clark’s injury, the Riders also face the absence of Evans, who fractured his ankle in the first quarter of last week’s loss. This is the second season in a row Evans has been sidelined because of a serious injury. He has missed seven games in 2021 because of a broken leg.
Evans is expected to miss six to eight weeks with an ankle injury and will be replaced this week by Regina’s Mitch Picton.
MONTREAL ALOUETTES (1-2) AT SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (2-1)
Saturday, Mosaic . Stadium
FOLLOW THE NUMBERS: Entering Week 4, Montreal has a top runner, scorer and scorer. Jeshrun Antwi has 172 dashes, Eugene Lewis has 307 points and striker David Cote has 40 points.
SACK ATTACK: Last defensive rider Pete Robertson leads the CFL with 5 covers and has scored once in all 3 games this season. In 11 games last season as a rookie, Robertson collected 5 sacks as a substitute.
MOST SAVE FOR FINAL: The Riders have scored 69 points in 3 games this season with 39 of them in Q4. They have scored 30 points in the remaining three quarters combined.
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