Saskatchewan Roughriders' kicker Brett Lauther gave a blunt response about recording 1,000 points in his career and playing his 100th game.
"Being totally honest, I didn't think about that for one second. I couldn't even really sleep the night of. I'm thinking about everything -- how you can be better," Lauther said to voice of the Riders, Dave Thomas.
“I don't personally care about 1,000 points or 100 games. I don't care about any of that stuff. All I care about is trying to win the Grey Cup. What I did personally, we're not even close to doing that. As a team, I think we're there, but we have to be much, much better and it starts with me.”
Lauther wanted to set the record straight when it comes to his performance against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Week 2.
"It's solely on me, I don't want anyone else trying to take the blame or anything in the media or publicly because they're trying to be a good teammate and good person. I really want to say a quick thanks to everyone here because every guy came up to me after that game and there wasn't one negative thing said," Lauther shared.
"I know this team is destined for good things because of the guys in that locker room and in this organization. That was the, I guess, silver lining in it all. Other than that, I have to be better -- an apology to everyone, really the fans organization, everyone that's been so supportive."
Lauther made two out of five field goals in his game against the Ticats while the Riders won 28-23.
Riders' head coach Corey Mace was asked whether Lauther's apology to Rider Nation was needed.
"He's a good Canadian guy. We're going to say sorry for everything, even if we do something good, there's no need for that. We understand what it is. People are going to make mistakes," Mace said.
"Nobody plays a perfect game. There are calls that I call, we get banged on for a touchdown and put us in a tough, it happens. Bounce back or bounce backwards and he's a bounce-back kind of guy.”
It is back to work for Lauther as the Riders prepare for a match-up with Toronto on Friday and Mace has total faith in him.
"He's still around here smiling and guys are joking with him. Sure enough, we came out here and he was already banging field goals. We know how he's going to respond," Mace said. "That's his order of operation anyway, but happy we can get out here and he can get some kicks in."
The 34-year-old Lauther is not a big fan of superstition when it comes to kicking the football.
"I don't want to change anything because if I played really well, I would do the same thing this week. If I play badly, I don't want it to be driven on the week before. All I try to do is go one-for-one. In Toronto, I'm going to get a chance to go one-for-one. Then I'll have another chance to go one-for-one," Lauther explained.
"It's taking one at a time because I don't think any two kicks are ever the same from the hash mark, the wind, what direction you're going, what time of day or night it is to the snap and hold or the operation or score in the game. For me, it's focusing on going one-for-one, trying to get back out there and do a much better job for the guys."
The Green and White travel to Toronto on Friday to take on the Argonauts. Catch the pre-game show with Teagan Witko, Justin Dunk and Wes Cates at 2:30 p.m. while Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder will have the call at 5:30 p.m. You can hear everything on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
