There are a lot of ways to dissect Saturday’s 46-20 Roughrider loss to the B.C. Lions in Vancouver. Unfortunately none of them are good, but they are definitely interesting, and certainly worth noting.
Going into the game — a virtual must-win for both clubs considering their playoff aspirations — I was confident in the quarterbacking match-up. The Riders were starting 36-year-old veteran Kevin Glenn against 23-year-old Lions rookie Jonathan Jennings. Glenn was coming off his 90th career win the week before in Saskatchewan’s 33-21 home victory over Montreal while Jennings had a grand total of zero wins to his credit.
This should be a walk in the park!
Errrr, not really.
It was Glenn who looked like the rookie under the lights at B.C Place, fumbling the ball away on the Riders’ opening possession and throwing two interceptions over the course of the opening three quarters. He was eventually given the hook in favour of rookie pivot Brett Smith who put nine points on the board in the fourth quarter to make the score respectable.
And don’t get me started on B.C.’s Jon Jennings.
You’ll hear lots about the Saginaw Valley State product this week because the Riders are getting flamed for having him in their grasp, but letting him go.
In football’s version of catch ‘n release, the Riders now famously invited Jennings to their 2014 Florida mini camp. However, apparently unsatisfied with his performance, the brain trust declined to offer him a contract and went with Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege instead.
And then Jennings, making his first professional home start and his second overall Saturday night for B.C., proceeded to tear the Roughriders apart before a season-high crowd of 24,554.
His stats line was sparkling: 19/25 for 364 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. And for good measure he even caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Lions’ receiver Austin Collie on a razzle dazzle play late in the third quarter to make it 40-5 and further rub salt in the Riders’ wounds.
So the question quickly became: How could the Riders have let this guy get away? Well, it’s really not worth examining now since that Riders’ regime is no longer here and then-Riders offensive co-ordinator George Cortez is now calling plays for the B.C. Lions. Ironically, Cortez told reporters prior to Saturday’s game he doesn’t even remember Jennings from that Florida camp. He swears that to be true.
So now the Vancouver media is hailing Jennings as the future of the franchise due to the uncertain health of incumbent starter Travis Lulay and the Riders are red-faced, again.
Not so much because of the Jennings deal, but because they came out flat in a game they could ill-afford to lose. The CFL mathematics are clear: one more loss and Saskatchewan is officially eliminated from 2015 postseason contention.
But there’s so much more at play here. Interim GM Jeremy O’Day has made several moves since taking over Sept. 1 in an effort to salvage this season while interim head coach Bob Dyce is coaching for wins, but also must have in the back of his mind the need to show well to keep his position into next year.
If the Riders felt they needed to play well Saturday night and win to improve Dyce’s stead, or even their own individually, they failed miserably.
And this season, which has been on life support since mid-summer, is now just one game away from having the plug pulled all together. It could come as early as Friday night when they visit Kent Austin’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats, a ferocious team on its own two-game losing streak. But Dyce’s Riders refuse to throw in the towel.
“The door's still open. Just a little crack,” Dyce told 620 CKRM after Saturday’s game. “It's a difficult balance whether you see that or not. We know we have to be locked in on what we need to accomplish and not worry what's going on around us. I guess we didn't do a good enough job of that (tonight).
“Until that crack is closed, we have a lot of belief in ourselves. I have a lot of belief in the men in that room. We're still fighting.”
You have to admire the Riders’ fight.
