Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders head to Hamilton to face the Tiger-Cats with questions swirling around the football team and how the future will go for them with a new man at the helm.
A season-ending injury suffered by Darian Durant last weekend in Winnipeg means the Riders hopes are now pinned on second year quarterback Tino Sunseri. The University of Pittsburgh grad will make his first professional start and his teammates are firmly of the belief he will not have a major problem running the Saskatchewan offence.
Receiver Rob Bagg says Sunseri is a very confident individual and that confidence rubs off in the huddle.
“He’s got a big arm and he’s very smart. His pedigree is strong and he shows no nerves when he steps in there. “commented Bagg. “He’s not afraid to run any play and I know our offensive co-ordinator is ready to hand him the whole book because he believes in him. There’s no replacing Darian because he’s our heart and soul, but he would say if one guy goes down, the next guy needs to step up and we are confident Tino will do that for us the way he has when he’s been called on this year.”
As for Sunseri, he is ready to go.
“I don’t have any nerves. I may have some before the game starts, but right now I am just concentrating on my job. “states Sunseri. “I’m looking at tapes, talking to the guys, doing the homework I have to put in to be successful. I fully expect them to pressure me, but I’ve seen that from my other games this year so I think I’m ready to go out there and do my thing.”
Sunseri does admit that some of the pressure he may get could be alleviated somewhat because of the Riders running attack as Will Ford, Jerome Messam and Anthony Allen have provided defensive co-ordinators across the league from buying some Advil to deal with the headaches they bring.
“Its huge having those guys behind me,” insists Sunseri. “When you have guys who can run the football and move the chains, it makes the defence have to respect that. If we can stay balanced, we can keep the defence honest and control the tempo that we want to play at.”
Defensive end John Chick says his unit isn’t feeling any pressure to help the 2nd year quarterback be successful by forcing some turnovers and giving Sunseri a short field. He says that is the aim every week no matter if Sunseri, Durant or whoever is calling the signals.
“As a whole, that’s our game plan and our mentality.” Said Chick. “It doesn’t matter who you play or who you have at quarterback, you want to make those big plays because if we do enough of those, we likely win so creating those turnovers and having those short fields is something we want each week.”
In the first meeting of the year between the two teams, the Riders won the game handily 31-10. They had 10 sacks against their Eastern foes on that afternoon. Chamblin says he can throw the films of that game out the window as they are a completely different looking team from the squad they beat by 21 on opening week.
“To be honest with you, I am really surprised at their record when I look at the guys who are over there,” admitted Chamblin. “That team is totally different from when we played them. They are doing a lot of stuff over there and they have a lot of talent over there. They aren’t the same team and I expect them to give us a hard-fought game. We certainly aren’t looking at their record.”
Game time Sunday morning is 11 o’clock with 620 CKRM beginning its pre-game coverage at 8:30. Michael Ball will bring you “Roughrider Game Day” live from the Four Seasons Sports Palace at 909 Arcola Avenue East beginning at 8:30. As always, you can watch that program live on Riderville.com. TSN will have the television coverage.
GAME NOTES:
- In the history of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, the football team has never won eight straight games in a single season.
- Eight quarterbacks made their CFL debut as a starter last year with those eight going 6-2. In 2014, three quarterbacks have made their CFL debut with those three going 2-1. Tino Sunseri will be the 4th.
- While the Riders lead the CFL in rush yards per game, the Hamilton defense is number two in the league at stopping the run giving up just under 88 yards per game
- The Riders have thrown the least passes in the CFL at this stage of the season having tossed it up 253 times. They are also last in the CFL when it comes to completions at just 153.
