Mitchell Blair
The Saskatchewan Roughriders are still looking for their first win of the CFL season and with an 0-7 team taking on the defending Grey Cup champions, not many are giving the green and white much of a chance to defeat the Calgary Stampeders Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.
This is why Head Coach Corey Chamblin reached into his bag of tricks Friday afternoon at the end of the team’s rundown and addressed his squad while they sat in the east side stands hoping his message gets through.
“I told them whoever you say you are individually as a player or as a coach is something that has to show up on the football field on game day to be truth.” Chamblin said. “I also want to see them to see the field from a fans perspective. This is an entertainment business and they pay to see a top performance and you are paid to perform and perform at a high level.”
To pick up their first win of the season, Chamblin need his team to compete at the highest level, but because of more injuries, he will not have his full complement of players. Chamblin refuses to make that an excuse.
“We are down to our number three’s in a lot of areas including our quarterback. Brett (Smith) is not going to be Darian (Durant) or Kevin (Glenn) in three weeks so to think he can do what those guys can do is unrealistic expectations and that could be said about others as well. “Chamblin stated. “ There is an unrealistic expectation to think we are going to win every week with the lineup we have, but at the end of the day we have to line up and we have to make things work. My expectation is to win this week and that is my expectation every week because you have to be ready.”
For Smith, will make his third professional start, and his first in front of the home crowd. He ‘s excited to do his thing in front of the Rider Nation, hoping his home debut will be one to remember.
“With the support and everything the fans give us, I can’t wait to get out there.” Smith revealed. “I’m very comfortable going into this game and I’m excited at the opportunity to go up against a very good football club and execute. I’ve learned how to approach the game because it is so different from the pro game to the college game when it comes to communicating and other things. I don’t have a CFL win on my resume yet, but I know everyone in that room has a sense of urgency to get this losing streak over with and I know we will come out and do what we have to do to get that win.”
Smith will be without his favourite target, Chris Getzlaf, who was placed on the one-game injured list this week and right tackle Levy Adcock was put on the six-game list.
The defensive side of the ball took a couple more hits as well. Linebackers Jake Doughty and Nathan Kanya were both six-gamed this week, which means a change for Jeff Knox Jr. He will rotate to the middle with Tyron Brackenridge taking his strong-side position on the defence and Mark LeGree playing safety. Brackenridge says it doesn’t matter who is playing where, the bottom line is to end this losing streak.
“We just have to keep with this positive attitude.” Brackenridge said. “Things change week in, week out and the bottom line is you have to perform. We have to play smarter ball than what we’ve been doing and if we can do that and play the way we know we can, it should eliminate a lot of what has been happening.”
Game time Saturday is 5 o’clock with television coverage on TSN. 620 CKRM’s game-day coverage will begin at 2 o’clock with Riderville.com live-streaming that broadcast from 2:30 until 4:00. Rod Pedersen will then get you caught up with any late-breaking information and thoughts from both coaches on “Rider Nation Pre-game” starting at 4 followed by the play-by-play with Rod and Carm Carteri.
GAME NOTES:
- Running back Jerome Messam goes into the game second in the league in both yards rushing and yards from scrimmage trailing only BC’s Andrew Harris in both categories
- With three catches against the Stampeders, Weston Dressler will have 500 career receptions
- The Riders are 2nd in the CFL going into this week’s play with a 2nd down conversion rate of 54.5 percent as they are 91/167
- While Calgary is 5-2 on the season, all 5 of their wins have come on home
