Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are ready to resume the 2014 CFL season and they are hoping to resume the season with a victory against a team that flattened them earlier this month.
The 1-2 Riders will take on the 1-3 Argonauts in a game featuring two teams who believe they are better than their record indicates.
Offensive lineman Brendan LaBatte made it clear he was not happy with the way his squad had played in the first three games of the year and he feels a valuable lesson may have been learned in the bye week.
“I think we’re carrying a lot more energy in our day-to-day stuff so hopefully that will translate into game-day.” LaBatte preached. “I think guys realized how important it is to give 100 percent on each and every play because you never know when it might be your turn to make a game-changing or momentum-changing play.”
Some have suggested the slow start by the green and white this year can be attributed to a Grey Cup hangover, LaBatte bristles at that notion and feels that is not the case.
“No I wouldn’t say that, “LaBatte said emphatically. “We’ve had a lot of turnover so there are a lot of new faces in here. Those faces needed some time to see what this league is all about. We didn’t come in knowing this year would be a cakewalk. There is too much parity in this league and if you don’t give it everything you have, you can get beat. It’s a matter of effort and will and if we come in knowing that if we do things the right way we will be successful, we should be OK.
John Chick is another player who said the team had to do some soul-searching and he thinks the break came at the perfect time because they could re-think things mentally.
“I don’t think it was a case of guys not being ready to play, but something wasn’t clicking so after what I think was a good week of practice.” Chick said. ”I’ve seen a lot more focus this week and I’m really looking forward to getting back on the field and seeing if that focus turns into a positive result.”
Head Coach Corey Chamblin is obviously looking for a positive result as well and like LaBatte and Chick, he thinks the team has had a great approach to this week, but he says the real test is when the lights come on.
“The biggest thing is making sure guys understand their assignments.” Chamblin said. “We just have to play smart football, understand our assignments and reduce the amount of penalties, mistakes and turnovers we take. If we can do that, I think we can come out of here with a positive outcome.”
Kickoff is 8 o’clock on what should be a cool Saturday night at Mosaic Stadium as there is rain in the forecast, but that rain should have moved out of the area meaning a pleasant night for football. TSN will have the TV coverage while 620 CKRM will once again provide the Rider Nation with the best, longest and most continuous coverage in the CFL. Michael Ball and former Riders Luc Mullinder and Matt Dominguez will bring you “Roughrider Gameday” starting at 530 from Pilsner Place. That show can be witnessed live on-line by coming to Riderville.com. At 7, “Rider Nation Pregame” takes over with Rod Pedersen and Carm Carteri followed by those two with the play-by-play.
GAME NOTES:
- This will be the 11th time Darian Durant has faced Ricky Ray in the starting QB matchup. Ray holds a 6-4 advantage. During his Riders career, Durant is 7-5 against Toronto
- The Riders have not dropped back to back games by more than 10 points since October 2011.
- Despite not playing much since the first half of Saskatchewan’s loss to Toronto on July 5, Anthony Allen is the CFL leader in runs of 10 yards or more going into the week with 10. He is also 4th in league rushing with 231 yards.
- The game will mark the CFL debut for two members of the 2014 draft class. 2nd round pick Alex Pierzchalski and 5th round pick Matt Webster will both suit up for the Riders.
