Riders look to bye week as chance to rest after tough loss

A frustrating night against Montreal sent the Saskatchewan Roughriders into their final bye week with more questions than answers, but quarterback Trevor Harris says the timing of the break couldn’t be better.

“We’re just not starting well, and it’s got to stop,” Harris said. “It’s not a big issue, but I do think it’s something that we need to address in the bye week, because it’s becoming too much of a habit for us.”

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The Riders fell behind early against the Alouettes and never recovered, undone by turnovers and penalties. Harris said the team can’t afford to keep digging first-quarter holes.

“Being the quarterback here, I need to make sure offensively we are able to come away with points early in games. Two-and-outs are something that we can’t do because it keeps our defence on the field,” Harris said.

The veteran pivot added that the bye week offers both a chance to heal and a chance to sharpen.

“We’re 10-3, sitting on top of the West, and we control our own destiny,” Harris said. “We’ll lick our wounds and come back hungry for these last five.”

Receiver Ajou Ajou, who had his best game since returning to the lineup, said personal success meant little without the win.

“Man, it felt great, but we didn’t get the win. So yeah, it sucks,” he said. “Any loss is tough. So you just gotta be resilient. Bounce back. That’s it,” he said.

Ajou said the focus for the bye will be on details, film work and finding a sharper edge.

“We’re not externally motivated, we’re intrinsically motivated,” he said. “We know what we’ve got in this locker room. We just gotta keep working.”

Head coach Corey Mace echoed the urgency, saying the team’s standard doesn’t change no matter who’s in the lineup.

“The timing for us is good for the bye, but to just remind those guys, you got to prove this every week,” Mace said. “That room’s pissed off. I’m pissed off, because we didn’t do things the way we wanted to do.”

Mace credited Montreal for their game plan but admitted missed tackles and defensive breakdowns cost the Riders. Receiver Tyson Philpot torched the defense for more than 200 yards.

“We didn’t tackle for nothing tonight,” Mace said. “Ultimately, there were plays out there for us. We just have to make them, and we didn’t. That sucks, because that’s not us.”

Still, the coach pointed to positives; fight to the end and belief in the locker room, and said the bye week will only sharpen that hunger.

“You go out into a bye week with something like this, and I’m telling you, that sucks for that. That’s a crappy week,” he said. “So it’ll be a point of emphasis. Guys are going to be eager to come back.”

The Riders remain first in the West Division, with five games left. They take on the Elks in Edmonton when they get back on Sept. 27.

— with file from 980 CJME’s Britton Gray