Riders look to earn win over Chris Jones, Elks at Commonwealth

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will try to earn a win over their former bench boss for the first time since Chris Jones returned to the CFL.

“You always want to go against his defence because he tries to throw you different looks and you see how much you know as a quarterback because there’s a lot of things you’ll see against a Chris Jones defence that you normally don’t see on a week-to-week basis,” Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo said.

Jones, who was the Riders’ head coach from 2016 through ’18, left in January 2019 to join the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. Jones returned to the CFL in 2021 as a defensive consultant with the Toronto Argonauts but the Argos didn’t play Saskatchewan during his tenure.

Jones became the head coach of the Edmonton Elks in the off-season and the Riders are heading to Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday to try and earn a win. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at 5:30 p.m.

When the teams look across the field to the other sideline, there will be a lot of familiar faces looking back at them.

A number of Jones’ former assistants are still members of the Riders’ staff, including defensive co-ordinator Jason Shivers, current head coach Craig Dickenson, special-teams co-ordinator Kent Maugeri, receivers coach Travis Moore, and offensive line coach Stephen Sorrells.

Meanwhile, Jones has a lot of the staff he had in Saskatchewan in Edmonton, including offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo, passing game co-ordinator Jarious Jackson, running game co-ordinator Markus Howell, linebackers coach Cam Robinson, special-teams coach Merritt Bowden, and special-teams assistant Mike Scheper.

“It’s fun. This will be the first time we get to go against each other in a game,” said Shivers, who took on his current role when Jones left for Cleveland. “He had a big impact as far as allowing me to grow as a coach and give me the ability to take my players and groom them under his watch. But he taught me a lot.”

Some extra intrigue to the matchup was added during the off-season when Jones made comments about Fajardo, indicating he didn’t think the QB was a top-five passer in the league and was more of a runner.

“I know a lot of it is mind games too. As a quarterback, you have to be that even-keeled guy — you can’t get too high and you can’t get too low,” Fajardo said. “There’s always added motivation when someone doesn’t think you’re as good as you think you are. I’m excited about the opportunity and hopefully I can go out there and play my best.”

Fajardo and the Riders’ offence, which struggled in 2021, appeared to have similar struggles throughout the first half of their home opener against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats last Saturday.

Saskatchewan mustered only 67 passing yards in the opening 30 minutes.

But the offence found a groove in the second half and Fajardo finished the game with 311 passing yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing TD in the 30-13 win. Fajardo had only one game where he eclipsed the 300-yard mark in 2021.

The deep ball also made a return to the Riders’ arsenal in the opening game of 2022. After completing just 13 passes 20 or more yards downfield last season, Fajardo opened the new season connecting on six of 10 attempts. All other CFL quarterbacks combined for just nine such completions.

“It feels great and I feel like I didn’t even play to my potential, which is encouraging to me. I feel like I missed some easy throws and that’s something I’m going to work on,” Fajardo said.

The road has been a kind place for the Riders in recent seasons. Saskatchewan has had a road winning percentage above .500 in each of the past four seasons. That’s the longest consecutive streak for the team since it rattled off six straight seasons with a winning record on the road (1965-70).

Commonwealth Stadium wasn’t kind to the Elks last season, losing every game there in 2021. It was the first time the Elks went winless at home since 1938.

The Riders’ defence will also look for another repeat performance.

Saskatchewan had eight sacks against the Ti-Cats, which was the fourth-most ever by a Riders defence in a single game. The Riders also forced five turnovers – two interceptions and three fumble recoveries.

“We want to dominate on the first play. We want to come out and be physical and play fast and impose our will on them from the start of the game,” said defensive end A.C. Leonard, who was last year’s CFL sacks leader.

Leonard was also one of the seven Riders who had a sack in Week 1.

While the Riders are looking to move to 2-0 in the 2022 season, the Elks are trying to get things back on track after a 59-15 Week 1 loss to the B.C. Lions.

In that game, the Elks’ offence gave up four sacks and threw four interceptions – three by Nick Arbuckle and one by rookie Tre Ford.

But despite the two sides having very different outcomes to their games, linebacker Derrick Moncrief said they can’t come into the game expecting the same sort of effort from the Elks.

“It’s going to be a different team come Saturday night. We can’t look at last week and how they played. They’re going to come out physical and they’re going to come out ready so we’ve got to be ready to take the punch,” Moncrief said.

“Every game has a life of its own and we just have to prepare for kickoff.”