Roughriders offence still growing, so it’s a little green

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Marc Mueller, the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ first-year offensive co-ordinator, knows there are times when everything doesn’t go as planned.

If it did, the Roughriders would have beaten the Toronto Argonauts last week and they would defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 52-0 in Sunday’s Labour Day Classic. That happened once, you know? The Riders thumped the Bombers 52-0 in the 2012 #LDC.

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Don’t expect that to happen again because Sunday’s sold-out game at Mosaic Stadium has somehow turned into a CFL showdown for first place in the West between 5-6 Winnipeg, which started this season with four straight losses, and 5-5-1 Saskatchewan, winless in its last five games.

“I’m excited because every time you get to play in front of a sold-out crowd at Labour Day, it’s fun,” Mueller said following a recent practice. “Once the game starts, it’s just another game, but the excitement level is high. You can feel it.

“I think it’s the most important game because it’s the next one, but when you’re heading down the stretch you gotta win. You gotta win each game, especially versus the West.”

Saskatchewan’s offence hasn’t been too exciting lately. It’s been extremely frustrating for anyone wondering why it repeatedly faces long, second-down situations and throws short, failing to convert. The Roughriders are working on the problem, moving receivers around and hoping they don’t drop catchable balls, trying to find a stalwart offensive line, throwing quicker passes and maybe using their running game a little more.

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“You’re always trying to get the first down,” said Mueller. “In a perfect world you’d always throw the ball beyond the sticks. But sometimes they drop so many guys (into deep defensive coverages) you gotta take it under, so that what’s left in the (quarterback’s) read.

“We have a progression (through potential receivers) on every play, whether it’s first down or second down. There’s layers to each route, so we try to manipulate that, manipulate the pocket, things like that.”

That desire to get a first down undid the Roughriders in the dying seconds of their last loss, a 20-19 defeat in Toronto. Rather than drain the clock while facing second-and-17 from Toronto’s one-yard line, the Roughriders foolishly tried a deep pass before punting, leaving the Argonauts enough time and field position to kick a game-winning rouge.

“You assess yourself every week,” said Mueller. “Every week you go through what you did right, what you did wrong, what you liked, what you didn’t.

“There’s certain scenarios in each game that you write down and you try to think of not only this week, but in the future and weeks ahead. Some situations at the end of halves or ends of games, those are the difference in games.”

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The Roughriders offence also faced 15 second-and-long situations in Toronto. (That means they gained less than four yards on their first-down play.) The Roughriders converted only one of those situations and it came — unbelievably — on an 11-yard scramble by non-scrambling quarterback Trevor Harris.

That’s been the only time Harris, who missed six games with a knee injury, has been credited with carrying the football this season. His 11-yard average is almost twice as high as any of the CFL’s top 25 rushers this season.

“He should have more carries then,” said Mueller, chuckling as he spoke.

Earlier this season the Roughriders were virtually unstoppable in late-game situations. That was before Harris, slotback Kian Schaffer-Baker, tailback A.J. Ouellette, receiver Mitch Picton and five offensive linemen were sidelined with injuries. Only four starters — one receiver and three offensive linemen — have played every game, which is part of the problem. There’s also growing pains as new players learn a new offence.

“The core of what we’re doing is similar to what we tried to start the year with,” said Mueller. “Whoever’s in there and whoever you’re playing, you have to try to mould to what the defence tries to take away and what you do best. That changes ever week. The plays and the names are the same, but you try to morph what you do each week.”

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Of course there’s been public criticism. That’s what happens in Saskatchewan, where the Roughriders are never more important than they are during Labour Day weekend.

“I like working in a place like this,” said Mueller, who grew up in Regina and returned home after 10 seasons coaching with the Calgary Stampeders. “The passion is high and that’s a good thing. Whatever comes with that is good, too.”

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