‘I heard the boos:’ McAdoo explains Riders offence

Stephen McAdoo could hear Rider fans booing.

The offensive co-ordinator may spend the game behind a glass window halfway up the west side of Mosaic Stadium, but it’s not soundproof and he knew exactly how Rider Nation was feeling.

“I don’t ever get caught up with that,” McAdoo said. “My job is not that and I love these fans and everything but everybody’s got an opinion. Until they’re here coaching and understand what our offence is and what we do — our strengths and weaknesses — that never concerns me.”

What concerned the fans was a seemingly limited playbook that included short passes, quarterback draws and rushing plays and very little else.

After Saturday’s game, head coach Chris Jones explained they were taking a page out of Calgary’s book, implementing what they do on offence.

“They’re running the ball, they’re running sally, they’re running quicks, they’re running screens. They’re not asking (Bo Levi Mitchell) to throw the ball vertically down the field and they’re the most successful football team over the last half-decade,” Jones said.

McAdoo explained it differently, saying he called the game to give the offence the best chance of success against Calgary’s defence.

He said the opportunity to throw a long ball was there, but he only wanted to use it when the team needed to.

“We didn’t want to throw it up for grabs for anything like that. What I do as an offensive coordinator is try to play for our guys’ strengths. I didn’t want to put (Brandon Bridge) in a situation where we were turning the ball over and just throwing it up for grabs and things in that nature because their defence is going to back off and invite you to throw the ball deep. Our philosophy was to take advantage of what they were giving us underneath, moving the chains and eventually getting in the end zone.”

Jones told reporters after the game that they should expect the same kind of plays as the Roughriders take on the Edmonton Eskimos but that may no longer be the case.

The Roughriders activated quarterback Zach Collaros from the six-game injured list about two weeks earlier than expected.

Collaros was removed from the Riders week two match up against Ottawa with concussion symptoms. He told reporters on Monday afternoon he’s actually been experiencing symptoms — to some degree — since a hit in the preseason game.

“I kept it a secret and kind of just took a couple touches in Ottawa and things went a little haywire for me,” the quarterback said, adding he realizes now not telling the team or the trainers earlier was not the right decision.

The reality of playing came to fruition over the last 48 hours, according to Collaros, who said he was excited to get back on the field with his team and throw to live receivers when previously he could only throw the football with trainers outside of the team’s regular practice.

Having Collaros back will also give McAdoo a few more options on offence.

“He has his strengths on a lot of different plays,” McAdoo said. “The (offensive) philosophy wouldn’t change with Zach in there. He just has some things that he’s a little more comfortable doing that maybe the other guys aren’t.”

The Roughriders have one more practice at Mosaic Stadium on Tuesday before flying to Edmonton on Wednesday.

Tuesday’s practice is closed to the media and to the public.

Quick hits

• Despite a scary tackle that saw Naaman Roosevelt land on the top his head Saturday night, the receiver was back out at practice Monday morning feeling no real ill effects. He said he did feel a little sore on Sunday, however.
• Defensive back Nick Marshall practised with the club again for the first time since breaking his hand in week one against Toronto. Under CFL rules, Marshall is eligible to practice in the week before he comes off the six-game injured list, which is what he’s doing. If he were to be used in Thursday’s game the Riders would have to pull him from the six-game injured list early. Carter has been playing on defence in Marshall’s absence.
• Chris Jones was unwilling to comment any further on the criminal charges levied against Jerome Messam. Calgary Police told 980 CJME that Messam is facing voyeurism charges after finding he allegedly recording a sexual encounter with another person without their consent. The Roughriders announced Monday morning the running back was released from the team.