Courtesy Regina Leader Post:

Steven Jyles was ticked off after being picked off.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback was especially irked after his second interception of Friday’s CFL preseason game was returned for a touchdown by the B.C. Lions’ Tad Crawford on Taylor Field.

“Right after the second one, I immediately told myself, ‘That’s not you. Why are you playing like this?’ ” Jyles said after Tuesday’s practice. “I kind of had my mind focused right then. But then when I came to the sideline, coach (Ken) Miller talked to me, and he gave me some words of confidence. He made me feel that everything is all right. It was, ‘Just go out and play your game.’

“After I went back out there, after hearing that from him and talking to myself, it was like I was refocused and I was able to go out and run the offence.”

Jyles atoned for the interceptions by throwing a touchdown pass and running for another major to help the Roughriders win 33-13. He is to return to action Thursday when the Roughriders conclude their exhibition slate against the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium.

“I think I was just trying too hard to make a play instead of letting the game come to me,” said Jyles, 25. “That’s my total mindset for this game: Just let it come to you and react rather than trying to make plays that are not there.”

Jyles and Darian Durant are competing for the Roughriders’ No. 2 quarterbacking job, behind Marcus Crandell.

Crandell is to make the trip to Edmonton, but will not dress. Miller wants to eliminate any possibility of Crandell being injured before the regular-season opener — a June 28 home date with Edmonton — while resolving the second-string quarterbacking situation.

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