Dickenson challenges Riders to meet high expectations in West semifinal

Craig Dickenson knows the result of Sunday’s CFL playoff game at Mosaic Stadium could determine the overall story of the 2021 Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“If we don’t win this game, it’s going to be a disappointing year. They don’t ask you when you go home for Christmas what you finished in the regular season. They want to know who won the Grey Cup and were you in that game,” the Riders’ head coach said. “I said the pressure is on us to do well and win this game.

“You’re judged by how well you do in the playoffs as a coaching staff and as a team. This is a home game that we worked hard to get … Now it’s on us to play well and perform on Sunday.”

The Riders are hosting the Calgary Stampeders in the West Division semifinal on Sunday. Kickoff for the game is set for 3:30 p.m.

On Friday, Dickenson said he decided in the spur of the moment to take the time to let the team know how important the game is for the team.

“I felt our focus (Thursday) wasn’t great and I wanted to make sure they understood,” Dickenson said. “(Centre) Dan Clark said it best during one of our team periods. He said, ‘Hey listen guys. If we don’t win this game, we go home. It’s over,’ and I think that’s a slap and a splash of cold water in the face, so to speak.

“A lot of guys failed to realize that. They do in a subconscious way, but sometimes you have to make it clear and obvious.”

While the Riders are hosting the game and enter the playoffs with the second-best record in the CFL — only the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have more wins — Dickenson hasn’t been overly impressed with how his team has performed in recent weeks, despite winning four of its last five.

“I haven’t been happy with our discipline … I haven’t been happy with our scoring on offence — I think we’ve got to score more and I want to see more touchdowns. And defensively, while we’ve played, we’ve had a chance to put teams away and we haven’t done that,” Dickenson said.

“I do know if you look at our team and the talent we have and our record, which is pretty good, we should be beating teams by more than just a field goal here and a couple points there.

“I was hoping we could put a game together — all three phases — and really put it on somebody and see what we are capable of. But we just haven’t done that.”

Dickenson knows this adds pressure to the team but thinks that could be a good thing.

“When people have expectations of you, there’s pressure and we want expectations. If they didn’t have expectations, what fun would that be?” Dickenson said.

“This community has expectations for their football team and they are not to be just a regular-season team. They have expectations to make a run in the playoffs and move on.”

One player who isn’t a stranger to the pressure of the playoffs is slotback Duke Williams.

Williams was a member of the Edmonton Eskimos in 2017 when they lost 32-28 to the Stamps in the West final.

“It’s either you win or you go home. There’s no in between that,” said Williams, who declared he’s good to go for Sunday’s game after suffering a knee injury against Edmonton on Nov. 13.

“(The Stamps) don’t like us and we don’t like them. It’s going to be a physical game and if they think they are going to come in here and run over us, they may as well put that in the trash can. They are going to have to come in and take it from us.”

And while it remains to be seen if the Riders will rise to the occasion, Dickenson said there have been some early returns.

“I thought (Friday) was one of our best practices all year,” Dickenson said. “The guys came to work and really put in the time and put in the effort today so that was a good thing to see.”