The Roughriders head coach stopped Tuesday’s practice midway through to lecture his players before calling the team off the field an hour later
Corey Mace was not happy on Tuesday.
After returning to drills for the next hour, Mace then ordered his players off the field and into the locker room with 10 minutes left in the scheduled practice, where he could again be heard scolding his group.
The players returned to the field for the final 15 minutes before the workout ended and Mace addressed the media.
“We’ve just got to approach every day like we’re trying to accomplish something,” said Mace when asked what the message to his team was. “I thought it wasn’t our best day today.
“We didn’t meet the standard.”
While Mace has addressed his team at times during practice this season, Tuesday’s practice was the most heated and also the first time all year that the first-year head coach has pulled off the field in the middle of a workout.
“We talk about the standard that we want in this facility and I just felt we didn’t meet it really since the beginning of the day and it kind of trickled into practice and we had to address that,” he said. “I thought we had a great day (on Monday) and we’re always looking to be better each day.
“I thought we kind of failed at that today. So, it was just a message that we’ve got to come to work, we’ve got a lot to play for; we’ve got to prove it each day though.
“You know what it’s supposed to look like and it just kind of didn’t look like that today.
“We just didn’t meet our expectation and that’s something that I think is my job to hold everybody to that expectation and when we don’t, we just need a subtle reminder.”
Mace was also asked how he would describe “the standard” that he is looking for.
“Coming to work every day and looking to find ways to get better,” described the head coach. “Really, fighting complacency regardless of the circumstances.
“There’s no perfect; there’s always something to work on. So, you want to make sure that the guys in the room, the staff and everybody in this building truthfully is finding ways to improve each day.
“And that’s the standard. When you see it and it’s not, that’s the disappointing part.”
In the locker room, veteran quarterback Trevor Harris was one of the captains who decided to return to the field for the final 15 minutes of the workout.
“We didn’t bring the energy,” said Harris. “The good coaches have a good pulse for when the lock-in isn’t right and when the energy is not right.
“You can feel the urgency from the guys and just a couple lacklustre plays here and there is what’s cost us games and today was just a great message I thought from Mace that it wasn’t acceptable and we can’t have it.
“The standard wasn’t met today and the message was sent, received and the response will be very good.”
And while the urgency to pick up a victory is obviously becoming more evident, Mace said the team’s record or winless streak didn’t factor into what happened Tuesday.
“I would say it was isolated,” said Mace. “This truthfully doesn’t have anything to do with the last however many weeks.
“We just didn’t meet the standard for who we want to be today.
“Week 16, Week 1, training camp; when we don’t meet the expectations, it has to be talked about.”
Now Mace needs his players to respond as the Riders (5-7-1) will hold a closed practice on Tuesday before travelling to Calgary on Thursday before Saskatchewan’s Week 16 matchup against the Stampeders (4-8-1) on Friday night (7:30 p.m., TSN).
“You want to see a little bit of fire,” said Mace. “I’ve got faith in these guys and I’m quite certain how they’re going to respond.
“This team has shown nothing but to be resilient and to claw and scratch for everything.”
Injury update
As the team returned to the field for the final 15 minutes on Tuesday, linebacker Nick Wiebe limped off the field and had to be carted to the locker room. There was no update on his status after the workout.
The Calgary product, who was selected by the Riders in the second round of this year’s CFL Draft, made his CFL debut in Week 14 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
Defensive back Rolan Milligan (personal) missed Tuesday’s practice but posted to social media that he and his partner have a baby arriving. Defensive lineman Micah Johnson (illness) was also absent after fully practising Monday while fellow defensive lineman Malik Carney (ankle) missed a second straight day. After being limited Monday, linebacker Justin Herdman-Reed (elbow) didn’t practise Tuesday.
Riders add quarterback
The Riders also added another quarterback to the roster on Tuesday as American Michael Hiers signed with the club.
The 6-foot-1, 215-pound pivot recently attended rookie mini-camp with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers following two seasons at Samford University, where the 25-year-old suited up for 24 games for the Bulldogs.
In 2022, Hiers was named the Southern Conference’s offensive player of he year after throwing for 3,544 yards and 36 touchdowns while leading Samford to its conference title since 1991.
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