Riders make it a wet and miserable afternoon for fans

Four steps forward, one step back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Momentum gained from a four-game win streak slammed into reverse on a wet track at Mosaic Stadium Saturday afternoon.

It was bad enough for fans to sit through a steady downpour in temperatures just above zero, but to shiver through a bad football game is kind of a turn off.

And this one was supposed to have all the makings of a Rider blowout, too.

It looked like they had turned the corner, reeling off four-straight victories, three of them on the road, even though the Riders knew their playoff chances were gone.

The green and white faced an Alouette team, which just found out their playoff fate the night before, lead by a quarterback making his first CFL start.

The 19-14 loss did not sit well with the coach.

"We didn't play very good. We're playing against a sub-par offensive football team with a rookie quarterback." said Chris Jones, who is usually not one to dis the opposition.

Vernon Adams Jr.  threw for 177 yards against the Riders' defence and ran for 26 more. It was closer to 100 yards if you count what the 23-year-old ran from sideline to sideline, ad libbing and agitating Chris Jones every step of the way. 

"Later on in the game, we know we got to keep this cat in the pocket; the only way he can make a play is outside the pocket. He can't make a play in the pocket, and we allow him to get outside."

Which allowed Adams to find Marcus Henry in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown, extending Montreal's lead to 19-5.

It was about that time that the bus carrying the Riders' offence finally showed up.

Two and out was common practice for Darian Durant and company, which mustered 208 passing yards, 130 of them in the last 12 minutes of the fourth quarter.

Their first six possessions concluded with punts.

Lack of execution doesn't bother the coach as much as what happens between the ears.

"We've got a lot of young guys. We average, like, 25 years old. It's just frustrating to take a step backward after playing well. We took more pre-snap penalties in the first half than we had three weeks prior." 

Durant also found himself in a constantly-collapsing pocket; he was sacked five times.

"We just got whipped. We just couldn't move the ball. I wouldn't say we took a step back, we just didn't have the type of production we would like to have." said Durant sporting an ice pak on his non-throwing arm thanks to the hit he took after his touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Durant has been sacked 14 times over the last three games, three games since they traded left tackle Xavier Fulton.

The man who took over the spot protecting Durant's back side offered no excuses for the offence. Thaddeus Coleman said there was nothing surprising about what the Alouettes were doing.

"Nope, nothing we didn't see before on film. We just didn't pick it up, plain and simple. No excuses. We got to do a better job."

And now the Riders are down to their last two games of the season, to make their final impressions on head coach and general manager Chris Jones before he heads off on a relentless talent search this winter.

One of the elder statesmen in the room feels the nucleus is there.

"All week in practice, I just love what I'm seeing from this team. I think we're headed in the right direction. [The] only way is up." said an always-optimistic cornerback Fred Bennett.

Next up are the B.C. Lions on Saturday night, the night we say goodbye to old Mosaic Stadium.

A victory would be a nice way to do it.