Davis: Riders undeserving winners, but who really cares how they win?

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The Saskatchewan Roughriders won a CFL game they really had no business winning. But they won.

Maybe it’s a turning point.

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Outplayed by the Edmonton Elks on offence and defence while being grateful recipients of five turnovers from the home team, the visiting Roughriders won a second straight pre-season game, downing their hosts 28-27 on Saturday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium.

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Things like that haven’t happened much around here lately. Usually the Schleprock Roughriders would lose games they deserved to lose. And they frequently lost games they deserved to win.

With apologies for deploying an outdated — but wholly appropriate — reference for anyone who doesn’t remember “The Flintstones” cartoon and its spinoff, “The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show,” Schleprock was a sad-sack character whose presence always caused bad luck.

Just like the old Roughriders, who three years ago lost four players to torn Achilles tendons in the same preseason workout.

Who last season saw most of their celebrated free-agent signings get injured or waived. And in each of the past two campaigns the Roughriders won six of their first 11 games before falling out of playoff contention with seven-game losing skids.

Just like last season, the Roughriders won both pre-season contests and are again deciding who should back up starting quarterback Trevor Harris. It’s illogical to keep their three journeymen QBs — Mason Fine, Shea Patterson and Antonio Pipkin — so at least one needs to be dispatched before the June 1 roster deadline.

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Even though the Roughriders are the only team to complete its pre-season and don’t play again until their regular-season opener June 8 in Edmonton, Riders head coach Corey Mace said his coaches won’t likely make early roster decisions. After two weeks of daily practices in Saskatoon, the Roughriders resumed practising Monday in Regina.

Mace and offensive co-ordinator Marc Mueller, upon their off-season hirings, declared Fine was a good fit for their re-designed offence, so he was re-signed as the incumbent backup. If the strategy is to throw short, check-down, low-risk passes in a boring offence, Fine is indeed their guy.

Patterson played parts of both pre-season games, generating some excitement while showing a strong, accurate arm and decent scrambling ability. Pipkin’s contributions seem limited to being the short-yardage quarterback.

There’s an outside consensus to make Patterson the backup and waive Fine, but coaches rarely listen to fans.

The other roster debates concern left tackle — Trevor Reid or Jacob Brammer? — and wide receiver — Dohnte Meyers or KeeSean Johnson? All four are newcomers. Reid is the odds-on favourite to start on the offensive line while Meyers and Johnson seem to be in a dead heat after taking turns making impressive catches.

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There’s also some concern after veteran kicker Brett Lauther, who was unchallenged throughout training camp in Saskatoon, missed four field goals and one convert during the pre-season. And it’s interesting to debate the ratio after seeing Canadian Nelson Lokombo start both pre-season games at field-side cornerback, perhaps giving the Roughriders roster flexibility on where to deploy their seven starting Nationals, as required by CFL rules.

The game was one of four played Saturday. It wasn’t televised on TSN. Instead it was available for viewing on the league’s free streaming service CFL+, using primarily in-stadium cameras. The halftime show had an excellent feature on Elks kicker Dean Faithfull.

With so many games being played and without the full complement of cameras, it evidently meant there were no opportunities for the on-field officials to use lengthy, time-wasting video reviews. So a potential Elks touchdown reception by Kyran Moore remained an incompletion and a pass that bounced from Edmonton receiver Eugene Lewis into the arms of Riders defensive back Antonio Brooks Jr., who returned it for a touchdown, wasn’t overruled.

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No lengthy video reviews! Another throwback in time. A great throwback!

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