Jamie Nye: Grey Cup leaves even more doubt about O’Day

Column

The 2023 nightmare has finally ended for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Unfortunately for the CFL team, it ended with the worst-case scenario.

Two men who were sent packing — while the team put its faith in head coach Craig Dickenson — led the Montreal Alouettes to the 2023 Grey Cup championship.

Quarterback Cody Fajardo — whom many in Saskatchewan didn’t believe in, including me — made one of the best throws of his life.

The man who sent in the gutsy play that called for Tyson Philpot to make a double move in a crucial situation was Jason Maas.

A year earlier, Maas was told by Dickenson that Maas wouldn’t work the final year of his two-year extension with the Riders after the 2022 season.

Both Maas and Fajardo were left on the trash heap, pondering what their next opportunity would be.

Meanwhile in Saskatchewan, when the team announced Maas’ dismissal, general manager Jeremy O’Day was quoted in a news release that said: “Craig (Dickenson) is an excellent coach, a strong leader and truly represents the values of the Saskatchewan Roughrider Football Club.”

After talking to Maas, Fajardo, former Riders linebacker Darnell Sankey and Alouettes general manager Danny Maciocia this week during Grey Cup week, it became clear that Dickenson was in charge of a locker room that had considerable disfunction.

Maas was isolated for disagreeing with the head coach on Fajardo’s benching, Fajardo was contemplating retirement and Sankey didn’t return to Saskatchewan. Sankey’s belief in Maas and Fajardo in Montreal rather than returning to Saskatchewan when the two teams had identical records is rather telling, isn’t it?

But now the nightmare is over. The story has been told.

Now O’Day has to prove the doubters wrong like the 2023 Grey Cup champions who once worked for him in Saskatchewan.

And there should be doubters — even more so today after watching Maas and Fajardo pop champagne in a cloud of cigar smoke inside a Grey Cup championship locker room.

The doubt is all about evaluation and understanding of what is happening in the organization.

Allowing Fajardo and Maas to wear the 2022 season and allowing Dickenson to continue on into 2023 goes down as one of the biggest managerial blown calls in O’Day’s tenure.

So does not keeping Willie Jefferson, Nic Demski and Cameron Judge, let alone Fajardo.

Why did Maciocia watch every snap of Fajardo’s three years in Saskatchewan and believe enough in him to sign him to a two-year deal and the Roughriders organization lost faith?

It’s one thing for fans and media to pile on in a losing streak but Maciocia bet on Fajardo and will have his name inscribed on the trophy, while O’Day is looking for a new head coach. You also have to ponder the future of the franchise quarterback who replaced Fajardo, Trevor Harris.

So, yes, the doubt is rising that Jeremy O’Day will be the right guy to turn the ship around after watching it sink.

But I also doubted Fajardo could be a Grey Cup-champion quarterback, and now he’s the Grey Cup’s most outstanding player.

I told him to his face this week I was wrong. I’ll do the same to Jeremy O’Day if he ever leads the Roughriders to a Grey Cup championship of his own.