The Saskatchewan Roughriders will try and put the lopsided loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers behind them as they begin preparations for a matchup with the Edmonton Elks on Friday night at Mosaic Stadium.
On Monday, head coach Craig Dickenson made his weekly appearance on the SportsCage and told 620 CKRM’s Michael Ball that the green and white reviewed Saturday’s loss before moving on to this week’s contest.
Dickenson said the Roughriders couldn’t slow down the high-powered Blue Bombers offence on Saturday.
“It was a bad beating and we couldn’t stop them, that’s what I saw.”
The Roughriders head coach noted the offence was close to scoring a touchdown on their opening possession. However, Saskatchewan had to settle for a field goal due to miscommunication between quarterback Jake Dolegala and wide receiver Kian Schaffer-Baker on a pass at the goal line.
“If we could put seven on the board right away, who knows, it could be a different game, but didn’t happen, it is, what it is.”
With the loss to the Blue Bombers, the Roughriders dropped back to the .500 mark (6-6). Saskatchewan has had its share of ups and downs this season. They have won three consecutive games at home but have lost their last five on the road. Dickenson suggests that injuries instead of the location of the games has played a bigger factor in the team’s record.
“You have to get healthy at the right time, and I think.” We’re starting to get healthy and hopefully, we can put the same group on the field for this game.”
New Week, New Challenge
After facing the division leader in Winnipeg, they will now host the Edmonton Elks. After dropping their first nine games of the season, Edmonton won three of their last four. The recent success for the Elks hasn’t surprised Dickenson.
“They have some good football players, they were playing hard, it was just one of those things, they weren’t getting the bounces, and really they were a little bit snake bitten.”
Saskatchewan clinched the season series against Edmonton with a pair of wins earlier this season. Dickenson says Friday’s night is an opportunity for the Roughriders to dash the Elks’s hopes of catching them in the playoff race, which he plans on emphasizing to the team this week.
“We got a chance now, to really, not necessarily cement our place in the playoffs, but make sure we’re ahead of Edmonton at the year and we could do that by beating them here this week.”
Saskatchewan is currently in third spot in the Western Division with 12 points (6-6). Edmonton is 5th with 6 points (3-10).
Odds & Ends
The Roughriders may soon have offensive lineman Philip Blake back in the lineup after he has missed the entire regular season due to a torn pectoral injury. Dickenson said Blake will practice with the team this week.
With defensive end Pete Robertson serving his one-game suspension on Saturday, Dickenson expects Robertson to be back on the field with the team for Tuesday’s practice. The 30-year-old was suspended for headbutting Blue Bombers QB Zach Collaros during their 32-30 OT win on September 3.