Trevor Harris said Saskatchewan's play is not good enough after the Roughriders' 37-31 loss to the Calgary Stampeders at Mosaic Stadium on Friday, the team's third straight loss. "The product we're putting on the field right now is just not good enough," Harris said. Saskatchewan is 8-7 and sits third in the West Division with three games left.
Harris walked through how the game slipped away, pointing to drives that stalled around the 35 and ended in field goals, an issue that was raised before kickoff. "First half we scored a touchdown on the first drive and then we get down toward 35-ish and unfortunately couldn't convert and score touchdowns. We relegated to a few field goals and can't happen," Harris said.
How It Got Away
Harris said the game turned in the second half, when a drive ended in a field goal. Dawson Hodge's 44-yard field goal at 10:03 of the third quarter cut Calgary's lead to 20-13. Calgary answered with a 45-yard René Paredes field goal at 4:58 of the third and did not score a touchdown until 9:19 of the fourth.
"We had the pass interference that was overturned, and then they had a pretty lengthy drive for it being a short field, kind of burned some time off. And then, three scores down, still playing similar, semi-regular defense-ish. We went down and scored and tried for an onside kick," Harris said.
The pass interference call Harris referenced came midway through the fourth quarter: Ashton Miller-Melancon intercepted Harris, Calgary's Zy Alexander was flagged for pass interference, and the flag was overturned on a Dave Dickenson challenge, with the interception standing. Calgary took over at the Saskatchewan 21 and Jalen Philpot caught a four-yard touchdown five plays later.
Harris said Saskatchewan tried an onside kick after Daniel Wiebe's 13-yard touchdown catch at 2:42 of the fourth, which made it 34-19. Paredes's 43-yard field goal at 2:05 made it 37-19. "It just felt like we were chasing from there," Harris said.
Two-Point Tries Fall Short
Saskatchewan scored three touchdowns in the final three minutes and failed a two-point convert after each one. On the first, Harris said, "Threw a corner route to Johnny and guy made a play."
On the second, he said the coverage forced him away from his first read. "They had a low defender to the field, high corner. So I'd reset to the boundary and tried to fit it in on a dig route. And I think Damon Webb kind of just played over the top and made a play."
On the last attempt, Harris said he tried to flip the ball back to the field side and a Calgary defender got into the backfield.
'There Won't Be Anybody That's Working Harder'
Saskatchewan has lost three in a row. Harris pointed to small margins.
"It's a matter of finding whatever that 1% is. And once you turn the corner and make something happen and win a game, things turn," Harris said. "I've been on teams where we've been 9-9, got hot late, and won it all. And those teams were similar-ish in terms of talent-wise. I've been on a team 8-9-1 that won a Grey Cup. It's about getting hot late, finding some momentum and doing that."
Harris separated that from the immediate task. "For us to do that, we can't be talking about that right now. We've got to talk about what we need to do to fix what is going on right now," he said. "And I can tell you this, there won't be anybody that's working harder to do exactly that in the quarterback position around the league than I will."
Asked whether the fix falls on individuals or on the team, Harris said, "That's what you gotta find out."
Taking a Hard Look in the Mirror
Harris said the team would not make excuses, and listed penalties and a special teams mix-up among the issues. "We had some penalties. We were about to get off the field on defense and had penalties. And we had a mix up in special teams, it's all phases, right?" he said.
"It's all of us taking a look in the mirror and finding out how we can be better and finding out how we can be dominant because this team has that capability, but we're not doing it. And it's frustrating. It's frustrating," Harris said.
Asked whether he preferred a longer week after a loss like this one or getting right back on the field, Harris said it made no difference, and that the time allowed for reflection. "I'd be pretty pissed off for a few days and figure this out because like I said, there's not gonna be anybody that works harder to try and figure this out," he said.
Harris closed on where he stands in his career. "You don't know how many of these you have left. So I'm gonna grind. I'm gonna continue to fight. I'm gonna continue to put one foot in front of the other, do everything I can to make sure that we get this right because this province deserves a great product on the field and we're not delivering that currently."