Fajardo, Riders’ offence looking for more energy after bye week

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are hoping their previous game was a blip on the radar screen rather than a sign of things to come.

After two weeks of great play from quarterback Cody Fajardo, the offence took a step backwards in a 37-10 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on July 6.

“I just let the team know that that (loss) was on me,” Fajardo said after practice at Mosaic Stadium. “I don’t want anyone else to think that it was on them and I’m willing to take that responsibility because I know I didn’t play to my standards.

“I set the bar pretty high for myself (and) I’m pretty tough on myself.”

Fajardo was thrust into the starting role after Zach Collaros suffered a concussion on June 13 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Collaros has been on the six-game injured list since.

During his first two starts, Fajardo threw for 790 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions and added two rushing touchdowns.

Against the Stampeders, Fajardo had just 89 passing yards and threw two interceptions. While Fajardo did have a rushing touchdown, he was pulled in the fourth quarter after throwing a pick-six to Calgary’s Tre Roberson.

Fajardo’s next test comes against the B.C. Lions on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium. Kickoff is set for 5 p.m.

“(The team) just wants to play with more energy, make sure that I play with more energy and it felt like some of our guys, we were just down a little bit and I personally felt like we never felt like we could win that game,” Fajardo said.

Fajardo was sacked four times, including twice on the first two drives.

“I just felt like our energy was down,” he said. “I talked to the guys after the game and it all starts with me. Anytime you’re getting sacked in the backfield, it’s on me and I kind of buried my head a bit and got into my own mind a bit. It’s tough to play quarterback at that point.”

With head coach Craig Dickenson saying Collaros will not be coming off the six-game injured list early, the Roughriders remain Fajardo’s team for the near future. Fajardo said the team needs more energy on the sidelines and that starts with him leading the way.

“We got away from having fun and I think in the earlier games we had a lot of fun playing football,” Fajardo said. “I told the guys I like it when they’re dancing on the sidelines, when they’re dancing after we get first downs. That gets everyone going.”

Before the game against Calgary, Dickenson said his team looked like it could be lacking energy following the short week.

He said the team looked a little more energized following the bye week but it still wasn’t where he wanted to see it.

“We’re still a little sloppy unfortunately,” he said. “We had a couple of substitution errors but we’re getting better. I think we’re getting better slowly each week.”

Dickenson said he would like to see the offence take over more in practice without having the coaches needing to say as much.

“I think we coach them hard and I think sometimes we tell them too much,” Dickenson said. “I’d like to see the players go out there and take ownership a little bit more.

“You don’t want to tell them where to line up after a while (and) you don’t want to tell them that they’ve got such and such a route. You want them to know that and they do for the most part but then you get to our second group and it’s almost like starting from scratch.

“I do want to see those leaders on the offence step up and start holding those young guys accountable.”

The team could soon be getting a veteran boost to its young receiving corps.

Emmanuel Arceneaux continues to inch closer to returning to the field after suffering a torn ACL in a 24-21 loss to the Roughriders last season when he was a member of the Lions. He spent nine seasons with B.C. before joining the Roughriders this off-season.

He joins a group that features five-year Roughrider Naaman Roosevelt, 10-year CFL veteran Cory Watson and a bevy of younger faces. Kyran Moore and Shaq Evans are in their second full CFL seasons and KD Cannon joined the team late in the 2018 season.

Justin McInnis and Brayden Lenius — both of whom were selected in the league’s 2019 draft — and fellow CFL rookie Carlos Henderson round out the receivers on the team’s active roster.

Dickenson said the addition of Arceneaux would add some more leadership to the young group.

“Leadership is great, but if you’re not playing, people don’t listen to you,” Dickenson said. “If you’re playing and playing well and you have something to say, people listen. If we can get Manny out there, being productive and contributing, then what he says in the locker room carries a lot more weight so that’s what our hope is.”

Dickenson couldn’t say if Arceneaux would play Saturday, still wanting to see how he performs during practice all week before making a decision.

If Arceneaux does play, he would join linebacker Solomon Elimimian in facing their former team Saturday. The Roughriders and Lions sit at the bottom of the West Division, with only one win each. The Roughriders travel to Vancouver to meet the Lions on July 27.

Dickenson said Saturday’s game is important to find some footing in the division early.

“If they beat us, we’re going to be looking up the whole season,” Dickenson said. “The guys know how important these games are, they’re big for this early in the season.

“We want to get to 3-and-3 by the six-game mark and you can’t get to 3-and-3 without getting the first one, so it’s really important that we do well this week.”

The Green Zone pre-game show is set to begin at 3 p.m. Saturday.