Photo courtesy: Calgary Stampeders.
For only the fifth time in their history, the Saskatchewan Roughriders have taken to the field as defending Grey Cup champions.
The Riders opened their preseason in Calgary on Monday afternoon. In a strange twist, this game marked the first time since the second week of the 2024 preseason that Saskatchewan had played anyone but the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a season tune-up game.
As always in the preseason, the results are completely meaningless but what happens still matters — especially for the players who are trying to play their way onto the roster or move their way up the depth chart.
Here’s the good, the bad, and the dumb of the Riders’ 20-15 preseason loss in Calgary.
The Good
When a team has as many free agents as the Riders had this winter, something always has to give. General manager Jeremy O’Day did what he could to retain as much talent as possible from the Grey Cup championship roster but even with another increase in the salary cap, he was never going to be able to retain everyone.
The defensive line was probably the area where the team suffered the most losses and would therefore be a position to watch this preseason.
Head coach Corey Mace should probably be pretty happy with how the unit performed in their first outing the year, especially with a number of the presumed starters not dressed for the game. The defensive line managed to create decent amount of pressure on the various Calgary quarterbacks throughout the game, leading to three sacks and two knockdowns.
The unit also did a good enough job through much of the game keeping Calgary’s ground attack under control. The Stamps finished the game with 112 yards rushing, but a number of those yards came late in the game when teams are generally just trying to get out unscathed in the preseason.
The Bad
Another spot that fans, media, and the team will be watching closely is quarterback, specifically the guys on the depth chart behind Trevor Harris. Last season’s backup, Jake Maier, is now a member of the Ottawa Redblacks, leaving the Riders without a proven quarterback behind their undisputed starter.
Coming into this game everyone was curious how the front-runner for the number two job, Jack Coan, would fare. He’s been with the organization for a few years now and it feels like a now-or-never moment for the Notre Dame product.
While there are a number of factors to consider when it comes to the quarterback position — for example, who Coan was playing with and against — early signs don’t suggest that Coan is poised to take a big step forward this season.
Coan went nine-for-15 for 98 yards and an interception in his half of football. Beyond the numbers, two big mistakes stand out: an interception and fumble (which was recovered by a teammate). He needed to play smarter.
It’s one thing for a quarterback to be intercepted being aggressive downfield, it’s another to be intercepted missing high on a simple check-down to the running back.
Often a backup quarterback isn’t tasked with going out and winning games on their own like a veteran starter, but it can be difficult to not lose the game either when avoidable mistakes are being made.
I’ve yet to see a spark from Coan that suggests he’s ready to step up in this league. Could the Riders survive a few games without Harris with Coan? Perhaps, but I’m not that confident in anything more than that.
Coan will get another chance to prove himself next week in Saskatoon when he should have more weapons at his disposal.
The Dumb
As they say, it’s preseason for the officials, too.
Late in the first half following a Calgary touchdown, we got to experience not one but two kickoffs and it was a little confusing at first.
The Riders were already in the offensive huddle following the first kick when the officials announced that there had been a timing issue and the kickoff would have to be re-done.
On the following kick, returner Shemar McBean had the ball bounce off his face as he attempted to catch it in the end zone. It all felt very preseason.
In the end, neither team suffered any consequences from the re-kick, which is probably a good thing since it wasn’t any of the players’ fault it happened.
