Roughriders may need help from above to salvage 2022

The Saskatchewan Roughriders were all but a lock to secure a playoff spot — albeit an eastern tour — less than two weeks ago.

That is until they went and lost to the Edmonton Elks in front of a restless home crowd on Sept. 16.

Cody Fajardo didn't appreciate the booing, but the fans who paid to watch that display were entitled to some sort of outlet.

Despite losses in seven of the last nine games, the odds of advancing past the regular season are still in Saskatchewan's favour, but this year's Riders seem to have a knack of mucking it up. Or at least stirring up the drama.

The organization has been through the Marino saga, Duke Williams's helmet tossing, COVID and Norwalk, plus several major injuries. 

The latest episode is an impaired driving charge for the third-string quarterback. 

A quick glance at what's left of the schedule shows that making the playoffs is not so cut and dry.

Most championship teams go through some kind of adversity during a journey to the cup. The Riders have most definitely checked that box, but does that make them a championship-calibre team?

Apparently we don't even know the half of the troubles surrounding the Riders, according to Fajardo.

He suggests we will have to wait for the book to find out about the rest. As if anyone would buy it right now.

The locker room rally cry this week is to eliminate the outside noise.

"Everybody knows social media, the devil," said Duke Williams, who addressed the team after the Edmonton loss.

Williams says fans and media can only talk, but it's up to the individual player whether they accept it or not.

"If we were 15 and 0 they would want to come over to our house and have drinks with us," Williams said.

"The mental toughness — I've never seen anything like it in the locker room from the guys and what they've dealt with," said Fajardo after practice this week.

"If we find ourselves in the Grey Cup and win a Grey Cup, it's going to be one of the greatest stories ever in the history of the franchise."

If not, Grey Cup week in Regina will be dominated by talk of what changes lie in store for the franchise.

General manager Jeremy O'Day will be under fire for assembling a leaky offensive line instrumental in allowing Fajardo to be sacked 54 times. I'm still waiting for a call back on what the CFL record is. I'm thinking it has to be close, and Fajardo's body has to be in a constant state of pain.

I said before Craig Dickenson was even hired that he was too nice to be a head coach. He's great to work with from a media perspective, and I'm sure the players love him. Unfortunately discipline has been the Riders' top problem this year.

Coach Dicky was as critical as he has ever been after the loss to the Elks.

"We're not very good and that's an obvious statement. We weren't that good even at 4-1. We just got a little bit of a jump on people I felt. We haven't played up to our abilities."

This week he walked back some of his comments, saying "we're not very good at this moment, but we certainly feel we can be a good team moving forward."

As for the quarterback, Fajardo will be out of contract at the end of season. Not good timing.

He has new baby Luca to feed, he's coming off his worst season as a starter and there will be other options out there.

The Stampeders' will try to peddle Bo Levi-Mitchell out of Calgary, and Vernon Adams may not like playing second fiddle to Nathan Rourke in Vancouver.

But before the Riders sell the farm, there are still four games to be played, beginning Friday night in Winnipeg.

The Bombers are coming off a loss to Hamilton and are not likely to lose another.

Fast forward to the last two games of the season, a home and home against the Stampeders. I'm not liking Saskatchewan's chance then either.

That leaves us with one game in Hamilton, a week from Friday.

The Tiger-Cats are the team the Riders will need to hold off to clinch a crossover spot, making the game in the Tim Horton's capital a big one.

If the Riders fail to win a single game in their last four, Hamilton needs to win only two to claim third place in the east.

If that happens, the Riders' organization would be left with a whole bunch of questions and finger-pointing in the off-season.