Mitchell Blair
Kevin Glenn is ready to return to the lineup and keep what the Saskatchewan Roughriders hope is a late drive at the playoffs.
The 36-year-old has missed the last six weeks with a torn pectoral muscle, but he is ready to get back under center Saturday night when the Green and White take on Ottawa. Despite what he says is a nightmarish campaign, nobody in the locker-room is giving up faith even though many around the league and in the Rider Nation believe the only thing to do now is start working towards next year.
“What is most important is the guys in that room believe that we can still get in.” Glenn insisted. “We believe in not only the process, but each other. You could have had finger-pointing a long time ago, but it has never happened. We have always been together and we have always been a team and play and practice together. We haven’t had the best of fortune this year, but no one is assigning any blame on anyone.”
For the Riders to have success against Ottawa, the offensive line will have to come up with a better effort than they had in the nation’s capital earlier this season when they gave up 10 sacks in a 35-13 loss. Center Dan Clark is quick to admit his unit did not have a good afternoon on that day, but he says avenging that effort is not their focus as the two sides get ready to do battle on the Mosaic Stadium turf.
“Our challenge this week isn’t to show them that we are better than what we showed last week, our challenge is to play better than what we did last time out win or lose. “Clark said.” They have strengthened their defensive line since we last played them as Shawn Lemon has come back from the NFL so they will have a little added focus to their game as well.”
Like Glenn, Clark is still extremely confident that his team can take a late push at the playoffs. He knows the hill is a steep one, but the bottom line is they are still playing for something which is the main thing.
“There is a lot of integrity in this game. I won’t guarantee a win or a loss, but I can tell you that everyone in that room is not giving up even though the picture is bleak.” Clark states. “No matter what the outcome is, everyone will leave their heart on the field and give it their all. We hope it ends up in a win, but if it doesn’t, it won’t be because of effort.”
Head coach Bob Dyce enters his third game as the team’s top dog replacing the deposed Corey Chamblin. He will be the first one to tell you that being elevated to head coach has been an adventure for him, but he says he is pleased with the way things are going.
“I’m 50-50,” Dyce said with a chuckle. “The longer you do something, you get a little more comfortable with it. That’s probably the biggest thing. The difference is having to address the team every week and making sure you have a solid message and going forward and making sure that everybody is on point with what we want to accomplish each week. I think in life we all want to be challenged, and it’s certainly a challenging role, but it’s exciting as well and I’m enjoying it.”
Saturday’s game will begin at 7 PM with TSN providing the television coverage. 620 CKRM will begin its extensive game-day coverage at 4 o’clock with Riderville.com joining that show at 4:30 as it will stream live from Pilsner Place with host Michael Ball. Rod Pedersen will then take over at 6 with “Rider Nation Pre-Game” as he gets you caught up on any late breaking news along with his weekly chat with general manager Jeremy O’Day before being joined by Carm Carteri for the call on every tackle and every touchdown.
GAME NOTES:
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This will be the 17th time former teammates Kevin Glenn and Henry Burris have faced one another as starting quarterbacks with the head to head battle even at eight wins apiece.
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After registering hardly any turnovers in the first half of the season, the Riders defense has forced 12 in the last four games
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While he has only thrown half of the passes that Trevor Harris has thrown in Toronto, Kevin Glenn and Harris are tied for the best completion percentage in the league as both are completing 72.3 percent of their attempts
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The Riders have had success against Ottawa based CFL teams as they go into today’s game with an all time record of 40-24 against the Rough Riders, Renegades and REDBLACKS franchises.
