‘We have to play better:’ Riders enduring three-game slide

The Saskatchewan Roughriders know they need to get back into the win column quickly.

Saskatchewan has dropped its past three games but continues to maintain hold of third place in the CFL’s West Division.

Head coach Craig Dickenson said the team is feeling some pressure to get a win over the B.C. Lions on Friday.

“The guys know where we are at and we have to play better,” Dickenson said Monday. “That’s been the message all along: Prepare hard, work hard in the weight room, put time in the film room and hopefully it translates to wins.

“I think we are doing all of that but we have to do a little bit more and we have to be a little bit better at everything we do and we hope it translates into some wins.”

The skid started in the Banjo Bowl on Sept. 9, when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers humbled the Roughriders 51-6. A week later, the Edmonton Elks downed Saskatchewan 36-27.

Quarterback Jake Dolegala, who threw two interceptions and lost two fumbles in a 36-28 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks on Friday, said the team just needs to get back to work.

“I think we did a good job of that (Monday) – take it one day at a time and one rep at a time,” Dolegala said. “Just focus on getting one per cent better and improving.”

The Riders changed how they approach practices for the week, electing to shorten the on-field work and have the players get into meetings earlier.

“We feel like our legs are a little tired right now,” Dickenson said. “I felt like let’s try to get off of them a little bit — we are in Week 15 — and make Day 1 more of a mental-walk-through-introduce-the-scheme sort of day and then we will pick it up again tomorrow.”

“We talked about the definition of insanity,” Dolegala said. “Switching it up a little bit might help but I think we got really good work in today – more of a mental day – but it was really solid.”

Not only are the Riders facing one of the CFL’s top teams this week, but they are doing so on the road which has proven to be disastrous for the team in 2023.

The Riders have lost their past five games as the away team and have been outscored 178-68.

Kickoff for the game at B.C. Place is set for 8:30 p.m.

While the road has been unkind to the Green and White, running back Frankie Hickson said players don’t treat any opponent or situation differently.

“You just go in to every week trying to prepare as best as you possibly can mentally with watching film and getting with your coaches on the game plan,” Hickson said. “We’re switching some things up this week and definitely giving us some new blood.”

Hickson could be in line for his second start of the season with running back Jamal Morrow (knee) missing another day of practice Monday. In the loss to Ottawa, Hickson had nine carries for 77 yards.

Hickson believes the team can build off that rushing performance this week against a stout Lions defence that has only given up 93.4 yards per game, the third-lowest average in the CFL this season.