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Corey Chamblin promised the Roughriders would find out who they are on Friday night. And he was right.
They did find out a lot about the teams character, play, heart, and determination.
But maybe more importantly, the Riders Head Coach found out a little bit more about himself.
After the game he was clear that he made a mistake.
Yes, Chamblin wasn’t disappointed in a player or play or call from the officials. He was disappointed in himself.
The play in question taught Corey Chamblin to be yourself and stay true to yourself. He’s said he’s an aggressive coach who doesn’t mind living by the sword or dying by the sword. And he’s proven it with calls that have fans questioning his aggression.
That attitude helped win his Riders a Grey Cup and had this team at 8-2 before quarterback Darian Durant’s injury.
The team has changed without Durant and not only at the quarterback position. A lack of aggression is one of those changes.
Friday night against Calgary, for whatever reason, Chamblin decided to deviate from that aggressive attitude.
It was 3rd and just over a yard, maybe close to two, with four minutes left in a tie game. The ball was at the Stampeders 51-yard line and he punted.
The previous three drives the Riders scored touchdowns. Chamblin’s aggressive nature had him go for two-point convert in the third quarter, twice and again in the fourth quarter.
That aggressive play-calling had his team tied 24-24.
But there they were on the Stampeders side of the field, controlling the game, only to kick it away.
“I’m still kicking myself right now about that,” Chamblin admitted after the game.
“We should have went for it on third-and-one. We got to have confidence that we can get one yard, if we can’t get one yard, we need to move forward. We got to have confidence that we can get that one yard. Out of everything out of that whole game, that’s my biggest regret.”
Not who he started at quarterback.
Not any personnel change he made that week.
| CFL Standings |
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders are sitting in third place in the West heading into an important stretch where they play the Edmonton Eskimos twice and Roughriders once to determine the Western standings. |
Corey Chamblin regretted making a decision many professional coaches would have made.
It was a logical choice. Punt the ball. Pin the Stampeders deep and have the defence, who have shut the opposition down for the last quarter of football, get the ball back for your offence.
Of course, we know that didn’t happen. The Stampeders got the ball and scored, eating up three and a half minutes, leaving the Riders with under 30 seconds to try to answer back. Lesson learned.
The Riders have not been themselves as of late. Their stout defence has given up 28, 32, 24, and now 31 points in the last month. Their run game is not dominating like it was. The special teams, that has been some of the best in the league, is now making a critical mistake all too often.
Chamblin seemed to fall in line with those changes. Making a decision that wasn’t one he’d usually make.
“I’d rather be dammed by doing, instead of not doing,” he said. “That’s the way I live, and that’s the way we’ll live from here on out.”
Has the team been too cautious, safe, without Darian Durant?
It appears as though it has. They do look like a team that gets put on their heels a lot more than they did when Durant was the man behind centre and that’s not only on offence but in all three phases of the game.
They need to get back to Rider football and that’s dictating the play and from what Chamblin told the media Friday night, we should expect a much more aggressive team down the stretch.
