The Roughriders seem to be having a tough start to the season.
The Saskatchewan team, who were Grey Cup champions in 2013, are currently sitting in fifth place in the Canadian Football League’s (CFL) western conference with six losses and no wins. They are the only team with no wins this season so far.
The Edmonton Eskimos are sitting in first place in the western conference with the Hamilton Tiger Cats sitting in first in the east. Even the new Ottawa RedBlacks have three wins and two losses, putting them into second place.
Some local experts told inSide Drumheller their thoughts on what they feel has caused this, and if they feel the team has any hope of turning around for the remainder of the season.
“You cannot have a league unless you have someone in last place,” longtime fan Jim Fisher said.
Fisher remarked that he feels the team needs defensive coaching.
“The first five games they were the highest scoring team in Canada and never won a game because the defense let them down,” he said.
He thinks the rest of the season is, “too far gone now,” he said.
Fisher said when watching the games he has gone from “pouting to laughing. I keep saying it is only a game.”
Swift Current native Jason Blanke agrees with Fisher about the team’s defense.
“Right now it is a defensive problem. We’ve got the players, but I honestly think they need to hire themselves a defensive coordinator,” Blanke said, continuing by saying that the head coach has been looking after that role. Blanke feels he should, “worry about being the head coach and let someone else worry about controlling and working with the defense.”
Still, there is hope for the rest of the season, he said.
“The Riders have had a lead going into the fourth quarter four out of six of the games. Yeah, there is hope,” Blanke said.
“I think Gainer (the mascot) needs to be cheering louder,” die hard fan Cody Glydon said with a chuckle.
“The best way to put it is, the team needs to be playing more like a team. They are just not playing cohesively as well as they have in the past so I think if they could play better as a team, the coaching is there, it is just that the team is not playing as a team,” he said.
He remarked that every team has tough years.
“Just talk to the Edmonton Eskimos fans, it is due time that they start picking up their socks, and they are doing that.”
“Miracles can happen,” Glydon said. “I am not totally writing off the season yet. It is definitely a bad start, but I still think there is some hope of at least getting a couple of wins yet.”
“As far as winning the Grey Cup, (that is) probably not going to happen,” Glydon said with a laugh.
Shawn Solberg said the team needs a quarterback.
“I think the Stampeders are putting something in the beer,” he said with a laugh.
“They need a quarterback to get things going and then defense that’s going to stop the run for sure,” Solberg said.
The Roughriders and their fans will hope for a win on Saturday night (August 8) in Toronto against the Argonauts.
Their next home game will be Saturday, August 22 when they host the second place (as of press time) 2014 Grey Cup champions Calgary Stampeders.
