O’Day believes Riders can turn things around to end season

Jeremy O’Day believes the 2023 CFL season has been up and down, but he still believes in the players and coaches in the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ locker room.

“We’ve beaten some good teams that are up there in the standings and we’ve shown we can play with those and there are also some games we haven’t played well,” the Riders’ general manager said during a media conference Wednesday. “The challenge is to be consistent and play better.

“When you lose a couple in a row, you just do everything you can to get out of that rut and that’s what the players and coaches are doing now – working really hard to try to get back on a positive note and make this push.”

The Riders (6-8-0) find themselves in third place in the CFL’s West Division, but they’re mired in a three-game losing streak as well as a five-game skid on the road during which the team has been outscored 178-68.

“I’m just concerned when we don’t win games, regardless of if it is on the road or at home,” O’Day said. “I know everyone will have a theory on why a team doesn’t play good home or away.

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do differently as far as how we travel or how we treat the players.”

As the team currently deals with the recent stretch of adversity, O’Day said it’s not from a lack of trying by the people in the locker room.

“I do get a little upset when people talk about people’s effort because people don’t understand what the players put in for effort … The effort level from our players is there; sometimes things don’t go your way in football games,” O’Day said. “We’re just looking forward to making a push here. I know we’ve lost some games in a row here, but I think it’s important to understand we are in third place right now.

“We have to win some games to secure a playoff spot and then anything can happen. This team is not feeling like our season is over by any means.”

Coming into the season, a lot of attention was paid to O’Day and head coach Craig Dickenson as they both only have one year left on their respective contracts.

O’Day said with four games left in the season, it wasn’t the time to discuss if he has had contract talks with president-CEO Craig Reynolds.

“What we need to understand is I’m not just someone who is real comfortable talking about that,” O’Day said. “We have half of our players that are on one-year contracts and probably 90 per cent of our coaches are on one-year contracts.

“For me to sit up here and talk about my own situation, I don’t think that’s fair to anyone in the building.”

While the team finds itself in a similar spot to last season – the 2022 Riders also had a 6-8 record after 14 games and were on a losing skid – O’Day believes the 2023 edition has the right people to not allow things to snowball like in 2022.

“The biggest difference I can see from last year to this year is I feel like the players are a lot closer,” O’Day said. “I think they hold each other accountable but they don’t point fingers. There’s a difference between the two.

“You can tell when you don’t have the character in the locker room. (That’s) when you get guys pointing fingers and they start arguing and fighting. There’s always going to be frustration, but the frustration hasn’t been at each other and hasn’t been turned to the coaches.

“That’s different. Now, does that mean the outcome is going to be different? I don’t know but I certainly know the guys are working hard and they care about each other and it means a lot to them.”