Who else is curious about the Roughriders offence?

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Ya know, the Saskatchewan Roughriders didn’t have the CFL’s worst offence in 2023. Maybe it just felt that way, which is why there’s a bevy of new faces and an updated approach for the season opener Saturday against the hometown Edmonton Elks.

“We have good players, we have a good running back,” said Marc Mueller, a first-time offensive co-ordinator who joined the Roughriders in the off-season after an overhaul removed his predecessor, Kelly Jeffrey, head coach Craig Dickenson and most of the staff.

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“We’ve got physical players, physical receivers with speed and skill. To play in the CFL at certain positions you have to be not only fast and able to get open, but you also have to block.”

The only major offensive category where Saskatchewan trailed everybody else last season was yards per carry. Well, turnovers, too. The Roughriders had a league-high 46 offensive giveaways, including a league-high 16 turnovers on downs because they were often in desperate, gambling-on-third-down circumstances during a seven-game losing streak that ended their 6-12 season.

Turnover issues are easier to address than an offensive overhaul.

The Roughriders averaged only 4.4 yards whenever they rushed the football last season, worse than the eighth-place B.C. Lions (4.7 yards) and league-best Edmonton Elks (6.1). That doesn’t mean run-oriented teams are unstoppable, but everyone knows running the football uses time and wears down opposing defences.

In the off-season the Roughriders signed free agent running back A.J. Ouellette, a bruising runner who never shies away from contact, and right tackle Jermarcus Hardrick, one of the CFL’s top run-blockers. Throughout training camp Saskatchewan’s receivers gushed about their willingness to block downfield.

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The Roughriders are certainly going to rely more on their running attack this season. They even placed veteran Frankie Hickson on their practice roster because newcomer Clint Ratkovich was more effective in the backfield as a fullback/tailback.

Mueller is evidently heeding the words of his late grandfather, Ron Lancaster, a Hall of Fame quarterback and Grey Cup-winning head coach who used to say, “You don’t have to run the football in the CFL, but you have to run the football when your opponent knows you’re going to run it.”

Mueller has grown up watching the evolution of CFL offences, from two-back formations to the reliance on play-action to all-shotgun snaps to the six-receiver sets. He absorbed lessons from Lancaster, veteran coaches like Adam Rita and another Hall of Fame QB, Danny McManus. After playing quarterback at the University of Regina, Mueller spent 10 seasons as a Calgary Stampeders assistant coach. For awhile last year he was calling Calgary’s offensive plays.

“You’ve got unlimited (pre-snap) motion, so you gotta take advantage of that,” said Mueller. “Use your best players the best way they can be used. You try to manipulate that based on your personnel while doing things that are familiar to them.

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“All the offences in the CFL are relatively alike, using the same (route) trees and things like that. I don’t think we’ll be unique, you know, but it will be different.”

With tackles Hardrick and Trevor Reid, Ouellete and former NFL receiver KeeSean Johnson joining the offence, Mueller has had four weeks and two pre-season games to physically install his game plans. He’s been working with starting quarterback Trevor Harris since inking their respective deals during the winter.

“We’ve been together the past six, seven months, trying to do what I’ve done in the past and what he’s done in the past and mould everything together so we can have the best version of this group,” said Mueller.

Harris missed most of last season following knee surgery. Returnee Shea Patterson has moved into the backup role and rookie Jack Coan is the third-string quarterback. With receivers Shawn Bane Jr., Kian Schaffer-Baker, Samuel Emilus, Jerreth Sterns and Johnson, they’ll be operating an offence that Mueller has learned, designed and reworked with the intention of being unpredictable and effective.

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“On any play you’ve got a long, medium and short option,” said Mueller “It depends on what the coverages are. Sometimes we’ll try to dictate where we want to go and sometimes the defence will dictate where we’re going.”

Sometimes it won’t work, but it’s just got to be better.

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