Moral victories have no value for Corey Mace and the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Roughriders were handed their first defeat of the CFL season on July 13, dropping a 35-20 decision to the B.C. Lions in Vancouver. Saskatchewan allowed B.C. to rack up 457 yards of total offence but kept the game close thanks to a defence that had four sacks and two interceptions.
Although the Lions scored two touchdowns, the Riders defence played well in the red zone, forcing B.C. to kick seven field goals.
For Mace, Saskatchewan’s head coach and defensive co-ordinator, that just wasn’t enough. He said there are defensive adjustments to be made before the Roughriders play host to the rival Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday.
“I’m not a huge believer in moral victories because those are standards that we hold for ourselves,” he said. “A moral victory doesn’t get you a victory and that’s what we’re here for. We did see certain things that we have to clean up to give ourselves the best opportunity to win and that’s what we’ll take from that game.
“Seven field goals is still points. We can’t even let them get down there. The goal is always to hold every team to a goose egg. With everything after that, we’re banking it as a negative.”
Saskatchewan linebacker Jameer Thurman agreed the defence can be better.
“We’ve got to be able to come away with a win in that situation,” said Thurman, who joined the Riders in the off-season as a free agent.
“We have to be better in that situation and come away with a win, it doesn’t matter that we held the offence to that amount of points or limited them in any type of way. We still gave up too much and we came away with a loss.”
The loss ended Saskatchewan’s four-game winning streak, and Thurman believes it’s important for the Riders to have a bounce-back game against the Bombers
“It’s huge. We’ve got to get back on track and there’s no better time than at home, in our home stadium with our fans and our city,” he said.
“Plus, it’s against a rival as well. We’ve got three meetings with them [this season], so we need to set the tone early in the first one and let them know how it’s going to be the rest of the year.”
The Bombers are on a two-game winning streak after opening the season with four losses.
Running back Brady Oliveira, who eclipsed the 100-yard rushing mark in both victories, feels the streak has got the Bombers in the right place.
“It’s built a whole lot of momentum along with a lot of good energy and good vibes around here,” he said. “We started slow this season but we have faith to stick with the guys that we have in this locker room to carry us every single week.
“It just took a little bit of time and we’re starting to get this thing together and things are rolling right now.”
Oliveira rushed 23 times for 129 yards in a 25-16 victory over Ottawa on July 5 and followed up with 109 yards rushing on 15 carries in a 41-37 win over Calgary last Friday.
Mace knows exactly what the Riders are facing in Oliveira.
“Brady is similar to [Riders running back] AJ Ouellette, he’s a bell cow,” Mace said. “He’s not afraid to fight for the extra yards. He’s down for the aggressive game, he kind of wants that.
“So defensively, you have to match that intensity and understand that it’s not only going to be one guy, it’s going to be 12 guys. We’ve got to be ready for the physical game and I’m sure that they will be as well.”
When asked what the difference has been in the past two games for the Bombers, head coach Mike O’Shea had a simple answer.
“Focus, which equates to a cleaner game in terms of your assignments and execution,” O’Shea said. “Also, in the last few games we’ve had better ball security. But over all, I would say that focus is the overarching theme.”