Saturday night’s Rider victory over the Toronto Argonauts was an affirmation of the importance of two positions on a CFL team – quarterback and rush end.
If James Franklin and Kennan Gilchrist had been exchanged for Cody Fajardo and Charleston Hughes I believe the Argos would have won the game.
The Riders won 41-16 over the Argonauts on Sept. 28.
While the final stats of the evening showed only a difference of 70 passing yards between the teams, there was no equivalency between the quarterbacks. Half of the Toronto passing yardage came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of reach. Fajardo did not even play the last half of the fourth quarter.
Toronto’s passing game reminded me of the 2018 Riders when Brandon Bridge was quarterback. Most of the passes were short passes to the outside or forms of screen passes.
Out of the 21 completed Argo passes, nine of the completions were to running backs. It is hard to sustain an offence when half of your passing game involves throwing to running backs.
By contrast the Riders completed two passes to their running backs.
Fajardo completed numerous passes to receivers who had curled or stopped in open zones. Often the pass would be crisply thrown between a pair of defenders or he would be throwing slants on time.
Franklin was either unable to make such throws or the plays featuring such routes were not called for him.
Years ago Cal Murphy told me the curl is the perfect CFL pass route and almost unstoppable when run well.
Fajardo is also a better runner. While the number of times he runs each game scares me he is an offensive weapon as a runner. He is seventh in the league in rushing with 476 yards.
Franklin has a limited number of runs as he has not played much this season but Saturday nights 14 yards on four rushes was reflective of his role as a runner. (Fajardo led the Riders with 80 yards against the Argos.)
Overall Fajardo’s quarterback rating is 103.7 while Franklin is at 80.9. While Franklin has been limited to five games the respective performances on Saturday night favour Fajardo.
On quarterback efficiency the winning teams in the league have a quarterback whose rating is above 100. Surprisingly Bo Levi Mitchell’s rating is below 100 but I expect it will be over 100 before the end of the season.
On the other side of the ball it is hard to win without an elite pass rusher at end.
While the Riders are starting Charleston Hughes, the league’s leading sacker, at right end the Argos are starting Keenan Gilchrist who is listed on their roster as a linebacker.
Hughes is in his 11th CFL season and having a fine year as he leads the league in sacks with 15 this season. He had two sacks on Saturday night and was a broken tackle from a third.
Gilchrist is a rookie who has earned three sacks this season. If we looked at their other end, Freddie Bishop III, it is little different in sack production with four sacks on the season.
Hughes is crafty. He is not rushing aggressively on every play. He picks his spots and his timing is perfect. His first sack came from sliding down the line and being positioned at the snap of the ball to split two defenders trying to move with him. His second sack saw a quick step to gain the advantage and a precise angle that cut the corner such the tackle could not block him.
It was an Argo offensive lineman who called Hughes old and fat during the first Rider-Argonaut game. In two games against Toronto he now has four sacks. He would be glad to play the Argos every week.
Since there is no Fajardo and Hughes in sight for the Argos, it is hard to see Toronto doing any better during the last five games of the season.
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.
