CHAMBLIN MONDAY COMMENTS

Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin met with reporters Monday morning at Mosaic Stadium to discuss Sunday’s 28-3 loss in Hamilton which dropped their record to 8-3.  Here are his comments:

ON TINO SUNSERI’S FIRST PRO START

CC:  I’m sure that’s not the start he wanted.  Neither of us wanted.  There’s things I’m sure he stayed up all night rewinding and replaying in his mind.  That’s a part of football.  I know he’ll get better and get back to the drawing board.  Darian will be around this week and I’m sure that’ll help him also, being able to bounce some things off him.

Tino has to get all the reps.  There’s nothing in practice that simulates the speed of the game and the speed of your opponent.  He has to get those game reps and you could see change near the latter part of the quarters.  He started to feel a bit more comfortable.  He’s a professional and he’s growing and hopefully he’s a lot more comfortable going into his next start.

ON TINO’S UNCOMFORTABILITY IN THE POCKET

CC:  Versus their defense, lately, Hamilton’s been playing a lot of pressure.  With pressure it doesn’t matter if they’re young quarterbacks or old quarterbacks, it usually pushes them to the edge. I thought he’d look a little bit better but he didn’t and I’m sure he will in the upcoming weeks.

WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST ISSUE?

CC:  Being his first start.  Darian always says it’s one thing when you’re the back-up and correcting all the plays.  It’s just like coaching — you can question coordinators all days until you actually run the plays.  It’s always easier to be in second than be in first.

ON THE TEAM PLAY AROUND TINO

CC:  I don’t think we played well enough in all three phases to win the game.  It was close at one points, but I don’t think we played well enough in all three areas.  It wasn’t solely on Tino.  He has part to play, but there are two other phases as well.

We have to rebound from a loss.  He can make the throws and reads, he’s a smart guy, but he has to get his confidence and let his nerves settle.

We didn’t play our best ball.  We’ve been playing good ball, not great ball, and it’s been declining.  We’ve been playing hard-fought games but it showed in this one we weren’t 100%.  We didn’t have 100% execution and we didn’t have 100% energy level.  But I think those things will be corrected as we move forward.

IS THERE ANY THOUGHT TO ANOTHER QUARTERBACK STARTING?

CC:  No.  There’s no debating that.  Like I said, now you’re just starting down another road starting another one and he’d have to get his nerves ready.  Both guys will prepare like they’ll see time and we’ll move forward from there.  There’s no point bringing a new quarterback in and I don’t know where he’d come from or how long it would take to learn the system.  Tino knows the system and same thing with Seth.