Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders find themselves in a familiar position as they head into Week 3 of the CFL season. The football team is 2-0 going into a date against the defending Grey Cup champions. Last year, the team beat the B-C Lions to improve their record to 3-0 before starting what would be a roller-coaster ride when it came to wins and losses as it was followed up by a five game losing streak.
Its partially because of that that the team is staying extremely grounded over the fact that they are 2-0 and the lone unbeaten team in the CFL as they get ready for a Thursday battle in Toronto against the Argonauts.
After Friday’s 36-21 win over Calgary, quarterback Darian Durant indicated that being 2-0 wasn’t that big a deal because the end of the season isn’t even on the horizon. Its an attitude that his teammates are sharing as they get ready for the Argonauts.
“A win like Friday makes you feel good about yourselves, but its only Week 2, “ receiver Weston Dressler insisted after practice on Monday. “2-0 is a good start, but we have to continue to improve as a football team if we want to make a run at it. You have to continue to get better otherwise you won’t be there in the end. “
Dressler says the key to doing that is a simple one.
“Stay focussed,” Dressler said. “We have a lot of guys in that room that have played a lot of football. They understand what it takes to win and what type of attitude you need every week. There are a lot of factors involved in being a winning football team. We learned a lot about ourselves going through the bad and the good last year.
Defensive back Tyron Brackenridge has noticed a difference in the room this year compared to last even though the team has had a similar start.
“We know what we went through last year and we don’t want to go through that again. I think there were some guys that thought when we started 3-0 that it was going to come easy and that they would crown us Grey Cup champions, “ Brackenridge said. “That wasn’t the attitude to take. We have to grow and realize that its one day at a time, one game at a time.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin seemed reluctant to discuss the past when it comes to the present day, but he will say that humility is something the team needs to accept as they march along game by game.
“I just need to teach these guys how to handle success. We are the only undefeated team right now, but we have to make sure we don’t get caught up in that excitement,” Chamblin said. “We are 2-0 so far, but we are 0-0 this week and we will try and do what we’ve done the first two weeks. If we can do that I’ll be satisfied for this week and then start again next week. “
Chamblin’s crew will try to stay on their early season roll at the Rogers Centre when they battle the Argonauts to kick off Week 3 of the season. Kickoff is 530 meaning pre-game coverage will start on 620 CKRM at 3 pm with the play-by-play to follow. TV coverage will be on TSN.
