Credit to the Lauther, the Roughriders kicker who waited for media after missing four field goals in a loss to the Alouettes on Friday night
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It would have been easy to leave or hide.
Maybe crawl into a hole.
But instead, Brett Lauther owned up to his performance on Friday night after a 27-24 loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
In fact, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ kicker — who missed four of seven field goal attempts, including one as time expired which would have tied the game — made sure he could.
After having to wait for quarterback Trevor Harris and head coach Corey Mace conduct their post-game media availabilities following the loss, Lauther was waiting in his stall 20 minutes later, willing to face reporters after one of the toughest performances of his career.
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“Obviously a tough one,” Lauther said. “Single-handedly losing that one for the guys was tough.
“Just feel like the biggest liability on the team right now so never a good feeling. All I can do is come in, go back to work tomorrow and move on.
“When you lose like that, you’ve got a responsibility to the fans in the entertainment business to be here and face the music. For me, it was a tough night and like I said, just don’t want to beat myself up too much.”
Lauther, who has been in the CFL since 2013, gets it. Fans want to hear from the players that affect the outcome of a game — positively or negatively.
The 33-year-old, who has a career success rate of 81.5 per cent, has been on the positive end several times in his career with numerous walk-off wins for the Riders, including one earlier this year in Hamilton.
On Friday night, he took the blame for the loss.
“No excuses at all,” said Lauther, who has a 71.4 success rate this season. “Great snaps and holds the whole night.
“Guys will try to eat this one for me, but this is just solely on me. There’s no excuses for going out and doing that in a football game.
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“Didn’t hit many balls how I wanted the whole night … I don’t really know what else to say, it was just a rough one out there for sure.”
During Lauther’s exchange with media, players could be heard in the background saying, “Even Michael Jordan missed shots” and “You’re the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time), Lauther.”
That support was noticed and appreciated but not necessarily expected after experiencing a gut-punch defeat.
“The guys have been great; so supportive,” said Lauther. “No one was pointing fingers even though they had all the right to.”
While Lauther will hope for a chance to redeem himself on Thursday when the Riders (5-4-1) visit the Toronto Argonauts (5-4) in Week 12, the veteran kicker said mentally flushing the bad performance will be an important step.
In fact, that mental toughness is something he speaks about to youth across the province through the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation’s “Win with Wellness” program.
“I can’t preach to the kids about mental health and wellness and go to the schools and do those things and then not take care of yourself,” said Lauther, who won the CFL’s Tom Pate Memorial Award in 2023, which is awarded to the player who shows outstanding sportsmanship while also making a significant contribution to his team, community and CFL Players’ Association.
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“Right now, what’s done is done so try to put that behind me and just move on because I think that’s what’s going to give the fans and my teammates and the coaches and everyone the best chance to score some points.”
As for Mace and Harris, both made it clear in their post-game availabilities that they still support Lauther and have full confidence in the kicker — saying a loss can’t fall on one player.
While some fans are saying another kicker should be brought in, it’s not time to get rid of Lauther, one of the team captains and longest-serving members of the team.
Everyone has bad days at the office and unless Lauther has a few games in a row like Friday night, then there’s no need to bring in a new kicker and disrupt the locker room on a team that is still in contention for top spot in the West Division.
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