It wasn’t a great day at the office for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ offence on Sunday.

The Riders couldn’t get anything going offensively throughout their 15-9 loss to the Calgary Stampeders on a sunny afternoon at Mosaic Stadium.

“They lined up and whopped our butt,” is how Head Coach Chris Jones summed up the Riders’ struggles against the Calgary defence in the loss.

Saskatchewan managed just 13 first downs and 210 yards of offence in the loss with 75 of those yards coming on on the Riders’ lone touchdown drive in the fourth quarter.

In his first start back after missing one game due to a hand injury, quarterback Kevin Glenn was replaced by Brandon Bridge in the fourth. Bridge came in and sparked the Riders’ offence a bit, leading them on a four-play, 75-yard drive that ended with at 14-yard touchdown strike to Devon Bailey.

“They came out and played well and had our number,” said Glenn after the game. “It was one thing after another, we didn’t get the protection that we needed and then when did get an opportunity for big plays, we had penalties, so we just didn’t get into a rhythm.”

Glenn finished the game 12-of-19 for 127 yards and an interception. It was only the third time this season that Glenn was held without a touchdown pass, second against Calgary, and his lowest yards total of the season.

Bridge came in and 6-of-7 for 91 yards and a touchdown, but he fumbled on the final drive of the game at the Calgary 49-yard line to seal the win for the Stampeders.

Jones said that the Riders needed to make a change at quarterback for a few reasons, but Glenn will be the starter for their Week 15 game in Ottawa.

“When you can’t protect and K.G. is a 38-year-old guy,” said Jones. “When there’s pressure consistently up in his face and he’s having to move around and you can’t put him in a second-and-manageable because you can’t get two yards on first-and-ten than we’ve got to put someone in there to make them defend the length of the field.”

Saskatchewan managed just 28 rushing yards in the loss compared to the 148 yards that the Stampeders were able to put on the ground, which included Jerome Messam carving the Riders’ defence for 127 yards on 23 carries.

Messam finished with 71 yards alone in the third quarter as the Stamps extended their lead to by six points to 12-2 and grinded out the clock.

The Riders’ defence made plays throughout the game to keep their team in the game, limiting Calgary to five field goals from Rene Paredes and forcing a pair of turnovers.

“It’s a great offence and a great team that we just faced out there and we fared pretty well,” said Middle Linebacker Henoc Muamba, who finished with a team-high nine tackles in the loss. “We accomplished a few of the things that we wanted to accomplish, but we still feel short. There’s still positives to be taken from it.”

Calgary quarterback Bo-Levi Mitchell completed 24-of-33 passes for 222 yards.

Bakari Grant was the Riders’ top receiver with six catches for 59 yards, while Bailey grabbed three passes for 68 yards and the game’s lone touchdown.

The Riders lost receiver Naaman Roosevelt in the second quarter when he received a vicious hit to the head from Calgary’s Tunde Adeleke. Roosevelt stumbled after getting up and trying to make his way to the sidelines, he didn’t return to the game.

Saskatchewan will have a short turnaround after the loss as they head out on the road to Ottawa for a meeting with the Redblacks on Friday.

Riders Link Arms During Anthem

U.S. President Donald Trump encouraged NFL owners to fire players that protested during the national anthem at games during a rally on Saturday and again on Twitter over the weekend.

Those comments led to a rise in protests seen across the NFL during Sunday’s slate of games.

The Seattle Seahawks, Tennessee Titans and Pittsburgh Steelers stayed in the locker room during the anthem at their games, while the majority of players chose to take a knee.

The protests moved north of the border on Sunday as well with many of the Roughriders’ players linking arms on the sidelines during the singing of “O Canada”.

“Everybody’s got family members or friends back home or that plays in the other league and some guys have played in that league too, so it’s just a sign of unity, that we’re all together because sometimes people don’t understand that we have to go back to that and live in that, so that’s why we did it,” said Glenn.

Jones said he didn’t have a problem with the players making the decision to join in on the protests.

“It’s a sign of unity on our part, we’ve got a very strong locker room,” he said after the game.