A few years ago the Riders were known as the Cardiac Cowboys for their ability to rally late in games and pull out last minute victories. The 2019 Riders have become such a team.
On Saturday night it was another late kick by Brett Lauther that won the Sept. 14 game 27-25 against the Montreal Alouettes. There was more tension with this 39 yard kick compared to the last play kick to win the Labour Day Classic. Having missed a field goal and an extra point, there was a touch of uncertainty against Montreal.
After the game, Lauther said he wanted to be there for the guys at the end as he had put the team in a bad spot with the earlier misses.
He accepts there will be misses for a kicker. He said he has missed in the past and will miss kicks in the future but a kicker has to move on to the next kick.
He said he knew he could make the kick at the end.
There was no reason for the earlier problems. He said he just missed. They were a couple of misfits.
When it comes down to a kick to win, he said he does not ask the offence to try to get the ball to a specific side of the field for the field goal.
On a night honouring the 1989 Grey Cup winning team, it seemed fitting this game would also come down to a last minute kick to win. I was in the end zone pressbox at that Grey Cup. Dave Ridgway was kicking right at me. I was at ease with Robokicker making that kick and was among the first at the stadium to know it was a perfect kick splitting the uprights.
Prior to the kick, Ridgway and holder Glen Suitor have often talked about how Suitor sought to distract Ridgway from thinking about the kick by telling to Ridgway to look at a particular woman in the stands.
I spoke to Ridgway after every game for 14 years. He was candid and always direct.
Lauther said he does not involve himself in distraction. As he waits to kick the ball he tries not to think.
After the successful field goal, his celebration was more muted than the Labour Day race down the field to Pil Country and a beer with the faithful.
Lauther had to line up for a kickoff with 17 seconds to go in the game.
On two kickoffs earlier in the game towards the same end zone Montreal kicker, Boris Bede, had launched kickoffs into the Rider end zone. Each time the Rider returner had taken a knee.
With the Riders up by two points I asked him if he had considered going for the end zone like Bede to try to get a third point.
He said it is hard to hit a ball 75 yards to reach the end zone and it would have needed to be deeper to get a single.
More important than just distance with the kick is that it has been a year with an abundance of big kick returns.
He said he just wanted to give it a good kick. He put it up high and gave the Rider kick coverage time to get down the field and restrict the return to the 32-yard line.
Lauther, as with most kickers, has a calm demeanour. Labour Day was an exception.
After an NFL game in Dallas I heard former Argo kicker Mike Vanderjagt say that he had shared a hot tub earlier in the week with head coach Bill Parcells.
On Saturday he was back to quiet. You would not have known in the locker room that he had just made a game-winning kick for the second consecutive home game.
Bill Selnes, who’s based in Melfort, has written about the Saskatchewan Roughriders since the late 1970s. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, Football Reporters of Canada wing on Nov. 24, 2013.
