One of the areas that championship teams usually master is avoiding penalties and turnovers.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders failed that test last Sunday in a 30-16 road loss to the BC Lions, saddling themselves with seven penalties for 72 yards and four giveaways. The defending Grey Cup champions will try to clean things up on Saturday night when they face the visiting Toronto Argonauts in Regina.
Saskatchewan (6-4) was flagged for 107 yards of penalties two weeks ago in a 26-19 loss at Hamilton. Two touchdowns were nullified by penalties in the loss at BC.
“We’ve got to fix that and, to me, that’s the head coach’s job,” Roughriders coach Corey Mace said. “We were on such a damn good trajectory early in the season. Two weeks ago, we were No. 1 in the league in taking penalties. Now, we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot.”
Those mistakes have left the Roughriders 1 1/2 games behind idle Edmonton in the West. They are also just a game ahead of surging BC and Winnipeg for second place, which carries with it a home game in the first round of the playoffs.
Trevor Harris leads the Roughriders with 3,218 passing yards for 21 touchdowns with 11 interceptions. KeeSean Johnson is his top receiver with 67 receptions on 98 targets for 844 yards and six TDs.
While Saskatchewan tries to eliminate mistakes, Toronto (5-5) comes to town fresh off a 39-20 win on Aug. 22 against Hamilton. Quarterback Chad Kelly connected on 26 of 34 passes for 289 yards and three touchdowns in a steady downpour.
The biggest negative in Kelly’s season has been a league-leading 15 interceptions, but coach Mike Miller said the veteran gives his team a chance to compete.
“He’s just an unbelievably hard worker,” Miller said. “He’s just a fighter and he’s going to give you a chance every week. He’s capable of making any throw on the field and I’m very proud of him.”
The key to the Argos’ future success, though, might be rookie running back Isaiah Smith. He rushed for a career-high 99 yards on 15 carries against Hamilton, helping the team amass 145 yards on 27 rushing plays. Smith’s previous high was 26 yards on seven carries against Calgary on Aug. 6.
Toronto is 4-0 this season when compiling more than 100 yards on the ground.
The Argos are shooting for a season sweep of the Roughriders after outscoring them 40-34 on June 26.
–Field Level Media
