Mitchell Blair
It took longer than anyone expected, but now that the Saskatchewan Roughriders felt that winning feeling, they don’t want it to be a one week thing.
The green-and-white are fresh off their first win of the season over Winnipeg in the Labour Day Classic and head to the Manitoba capital for a return engagement against the Bombers Saturday afternoon.
Defensive lineman John Chick goes into the contest knowing the team must build on the momentum created with the 37-19 victory at Mosaic Stadium.
“We know we still have a large mountain to climb, but we have to find a way to build on this and keep the positive momentum we started.” Chick said. “It has been a tough season, but we have had to roll with the punches and we know it won’t be easy in Winnipeg. It will be a quarter to quarter thing, but now that we know we can play a complete game, I hope it will pay off for us.”
Defensive coordinator Greg Quick got his first chance to take charge of his unit in the Labour Day Classic and they responded as the 19 points given up was a season low. Quick, who appeared on 620 CKRM’s Sportscage this week, feels perhaps we might have finally started to see the defence that the club thought they had at the start of the regular season.
“What I envisioned is a team playing with great energy and we did that,” Quick said. “That is the type of defense I want to see and I think we can carry that over to Winnipeg and beyond. The one thing that was great going back to last week was we didn’t have to go to Plan B or Plan C. We didn’t have to turn over our cards last week so we will use them this week and hopefully it will produce more positive results.”
Head Coach Bob Dyce is obviously hoping for more positive results and the Winnipeg native would love nothing more than to get a victory in his hometown. He says the key will be to take the same approach into this game, but they have to be very knowledgeable over the way they do things.
“It is challenging because you know you have done things well, but you also know they have a good coaching staff over there and they are going to have worked this week to combat the things we did well. “Dyce said. “The players need to know that just because we won last week, those guys are not going to lie down. All of us have to be better including me this week if we are going to be successful.”
Receiver Weston Dressler says it was a relief to finally celebrate after a game, but he also realizes one game does not make a season and the team will have to be on top of their game in a very challenging environment. Investors Group Field can be a very tough place for the visiting team to play. He adds it will be very difficult to take out the same team two weeks in a row.
“It’s tough,” Dressler admitted. “Anytime you play the same team, you get caught up in what went well the week before and it can feel like one big game, but it isn’t. The score gets reset to zero and everything we did in the first game might not happen again in the second game. We just have to be focussed. It will be tough in that stadium because of the noise factor, but we know what to expect. We have to use our hand signals the best we can and communicate as best as we can and be on the same page.”
Game time from Winnipeg Saturday will be at 4:30. 620 CKRM will begin its game-day coverage at 1 o’clock with the first episode of “The Riderville Radio Show” followed by the pre-game activities at 1:30 as Michael Ball brings you “Roughrider Gameday” from the Four Seasons Sports Palace on Arcola Avenue East with the program streaming live on Riderville.com starting at 2. As always, television coverage will be provided by TSN.
GAME NOTES:
· While the Riders have owned the Labour Day Classic, they have also had great success in the Banjo Bowl winning five of the last seven games played in the back half of the annual September home and home.
· The Riders are tied with Calgary for the 2nd most rushing touchdowns in the CFL this year. Ottawa leads with 9
· He would need a big afternoon on the ground, but Riders running back Jerome Messam is 165 yards away from the 3000 yard career mark.
· Rookie linebacker Jeff Knox Junior is tied with Adam Bighill in total tackles (defensive and special teams) with 67. Knox is second in the CFL with 58 defensive tackles, but his 9 on special teams puts him in a tie with Bighill overall. Knox is also 22 tackles ahead of his nearest competitor on the Riders as Terrell Maze is 2nd with 30.
