A smile flashed across Brendan Taman's face at the mention of the term "playoffs." There's another word the Saskatchewan Roughriders general manager actually despises, but we'll get to that later.
The Roughriders entered this past weekend teetering on the edge of a playoff berth, needing either a home win over Montreal Saturday afternoon, or a Hamilton Tiger-Cats loss at Calgary Saturday night.
Well, one of those two things happened. The Riders dropped a 34-28 decision to the Alouettes at Mosaic Stadium as a fourth quarter rally fell short. However, the Ticats muffed their game to the Stampeders later that evening and the Riders were able to clinch without even breaking a sweat.
Backing into the playoffs? Absolutely. Apologizing for it? Not on your life.
"I hate doing this because I never want to look back to last year, but going from where we were a year ago to where we are now, it's a big credit for us," Taman said about heading back to the CFL post-season after a one-year absence in 2011, the club's 5-13 season. "We've improved this team. I think there's no doubt about that, but we need to play better. We're happy to be where we're at, but we need to be better."
No guff. The Riders have lost back-to-back games to Edmonton and Montreal in the stretch drive and their record stands at 8-8 with two games left. The chance at a home playoff game has been blown and now the only question which remains is: are they going on the road in the West Division in the playoffs or crossing over into the East Division?
Really, if you ask these Riders, it doesn't matter. They're in the playoffs with a rookie head coach and a roster which was completely overhauled in the off-season by Taman, his first season truly in charge of the Green & White. They rebuilt, with using the term "rebuild." Why?
"I hate that word," Taman said as he grimaced. "I don't know if there's another word to use. I'd use it if there were, but I hate that word because that's sort of a built-in excuse to lose.
"We were never gonna do that, but we knew we were gonna change the team a lot. I think other teams in the past have done it, even Edmonton did very well using 'that word' last year."
The Riders have two games left; at home this week to Toronto and then the last game of the regular season against the B.C. Lions in Vancouver. Who knows how things will play out? They're looking at 10-8, 9-9 or 8-10, but they all constitute a huge leap from last year under first year coach Corey Chamblin.
The key is that they've clinched a playoff spot with still two games remaining, and they can now start making plans for the playoffs. As for the makeover - the "rebuild" - things went according to plan despite a lot of silent hand-wringing behind closed doors, especially during a five-game losing streak mid-season.
"I think in this league with eight teams, you can do it pretty quick," Taman explained. "It's not easy, but it's a credit to the coaches and the players to have won enough games."
The current two-game slide is nothing to be overlooked, but by no means is it an omen for the future. In 2010 the Riders lost four in row in October before winning game 18 and rolling into the Grey Cup in Edmonton.
Hold on tight. This is where it gets fun.
(Rod Pedersen is the voice of the Riders on CKRM Radio)
