The Roughriders aren’t taking the Alouettes for granted

The shoe is on the other foot for the Saskatchewan Roughriders these days.

The playoff-bound Roughriders are to face the visiting Montreal Alouettes — who aren’t going to the post-season — in a CFL game Friday (7:30 p.m., CKRM, TSN).

Montreal comes to Mosaic Stadium with a league-worst 3-13-0 record and is riding a nine-game losing streak, so some believe Saskatchewan could be at risk of looking past the Als to its final regular-season game Nov. 4 against the Edmonton Eskimos — with whom the Roughriders are battling for third place in the West Division — or to the playoffs.

But Saskatchewan centre Dan Clark said he and his teammates know the Alouettes can be a high hurdle, mainly because of the Roughriders’ own recent past.

“Look at us last year: We were at the opposite end,” said Clark, recalling a season in which the Roughriders didn’t have anything to play for down the stretch en route to a 5-13-0 record. “When we had that record, we wanted people to know that we were dangerous and we weren’t just going to roll over.

“It goes beyond (the Alouettes’) record. A professional athlete isn’t going out on the field to lose a game. A professional athlete is going to go out there and perform, whether it’s for that team or whether it’s for a job down the road. They’ve still got to show up and overcome adversity.”

Saskatchewan was eliminated from the 2016 playoff race on Oct. 10, by which time it had a 4-10-0 record. The Roughriders went 1-3-0 in their final four regular-season games, beating the Toronto Argonauts and losing once to Montreal and twice to the B.C. Lions.

This season, the Alouettes were knocked out of playoff contention on Oct. 9, when a 42-24 loss to the Eskimos dropped Montreal’s record to 3-12-0. That left the Als with three meaningless contests left (including Friday’s outing) but the Roughriders aren’t expecting Montreal to treat its games that way.

“We’re not in any position to take anybody for granted,” said Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones, whose team clinched a playoff berth this season in its 16^th regular-season game — last Friday’s 30-7 victory over the Calgary Stampeders.

“My memory’s not great, but it’s not that bad to know that very recently we’ve not been the best team. It’s a deal where we’ve got to go out and play solid football regardless of who we play.

“Montreal’s got a lot of veteran players who are certainly proud of where they’ve been and what they’ve done and I fully expect them to come out here and play just as hard as they possibly can play. I can tell you this: Those tears I saw on TV with (Montreal defensive end) John Bowman the other night when they got knocked out of the playoffs? Those weren’t fake.”

To that end, Jones has been stressing to his charges all week that the Alouettes aren’t to be taken lightly. That message has gone around the Roughriders’ locker room and it appears to have stuck.

“You can’t look past anybody,” said Saskatchewan defensive tackle Makana Henry. “You could be great one day and someone greater finds you tomorrow. You have to prepare for every opponent the best you can and go into each game giving every man the respect they deserve.

“They’re here for a reason, so you can’t look past them. That’s how you lose games.”

So far this season, the Roughriders have a 6-3-0 record against teams that have sub-.500 records (the Als, Argos, Lions, Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Ottawa Redblacks). That slate includes a 17-16 loss to the host Alouettes on June 22 in the first regular-season game for both clubs.

By contrast, Saskatchewan is 3-4-0 against squads that are above .500 this season (the Eskimos, Stampeders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers).

The point is, the Roughriders haven’t played down to the level of their competition this season — and they don’t want to start Friday against a team that has lost nine in a row.

“You don’t look at their record,” slotback Bakari Grant said when asked to avoid the trap. “You don’t look at the team that you’re playing. You worry about yourself having success, doing what you need to do — being in the right spot, being assignment sound and giving full effort for four quarters.

“That’s what we’ve been preaching for the whole year and that’s what we’ve got to keep preaching.”

By doing so, the Roughriders can keep their own positive vibes going.

Saskatchewan has won seven of its past 10 games after a 2-4-0 start and is guaranteed at least a .500 season. But the Roughriders want to keep their collective foot on the gas down the stretch to make sure that they’re on a roll going into the post-season.

Their next opportunity to generate momentum comes Friday.

“You just can’t turn the switch on once the playoffs start and say, ‘Hey, OK, we’re in the playoffs now. Let’s turn it on,’ ” Saskatchewan quarterback Kevin Glenn said. “You’ve got to play good football …

“These last two games are like practice for us to play good football — and I don’t mean these games don’t count. They’re very important games because we want to play good football going into the playoffs.

“We have to take these games as if they’re our last game (of the season) or as if we need these two games in order to get into the playoffs.”