The stretch drive has arrived.
The CFL clash Monday at Mosaic Stadium between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Edmonton Eskimos (2 p.m., CKRM, TSN) will have significant playoff implications in the West Division.
The Roughriders (9-5-0) have a two-point lead on the third-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers (8-7-0) and a four-point edge on the Eskimos (7-7-0) and B.C. Lions (7-7-0), so the outcome of Monday’s game will have an impact on the race for second place.
The Roughriders have won six of their past seven games, so they have momentum entering Monday’s contest. The Eskimos, however, are just 1-4-0 in their past five and will be eager to right the ship.
Here’s one man’s list of five things (or players) to watch during Monday’s game.
1. Tre Mason: The former NFLer has settled in as the Roughriders’ No. 1 tailback, rushing 128 times for 688 yards and one touchdown. He scored his first CFL TD during last Sunday’s game in Montreal, breaking loose for a 27-yard major during a 13-carry, 86-yard performance. Mason was fourth in the league’s rushing derby entering the week and his 5.4-yard average was comparable to the averages of Andrew Harris of the Bombers (5.7), Edmonton’s C.J. Gable (5.6) and William Powell of the Ottawa Redblacks (5.5). Mason’s running mate in the tailback rotation, Marcus Thigpen, has 402 yards and an 8.6-yard average on 47 carries this season. The Eskimos, meanwhile, went into the week ranked in the bottom third of CFL run defences.
2. Kyran Moore: The rookie receiver/returner has been living up to his nickname — Swerve — in recent weeks. In the six games he has played, Moore has two punt returns for touchdowns and 19 receptions for 314 yards and a touchdown. His receiving totals include a nine-catch, 126-yard outing last Sunday in Montreal, where he showed some strength not many people would have expected from the diminutive receiver. After catching a three-yard pass across the middle, Moore dragged a number of would-be tacklers for another 20 yards to move the chains. He’s quickly becoming a solid target for quarterback Zach Collaros.
3. Marshall law: Nick Marshall is the pre-eminent two-way threat in the CFL this season. As the Roughriders’ short-yardage quarterback, Marshall has scored a team-leading six rushing touchdowns — even though he has rushed for only 14 yards on 11 carries. On defence, the first-year CFLer has made 30 defensive plays (19 tackles, seven knockdowns, two interceptions, one forced fumble and one tackle for a loss) while developing into a good corner. Marshall will face an old friend Monday, when Eskimos receiver Duke Williams comes to town. When the duo attended Auburn University together in 2014, Marshall was the Tigers’ quarterback and Williams was one of their leading receivers.
4. Ends of the line: Two of the CFL’s sack leaders are to play in this game. Saskatchewan defensive end Charleston Hughes went into the week with a league-leading 14 sacks, which gave him a five-sack lead over B.C.’s Odell Willis and a six-sack edge on Edmonton’s Kwaku Boateng. A CFL sophomore, Boateng has turned into one of the league’s top national pass-rushers and already has doubled his sack total from last season (four). Hughes, meanwhile, just keeps rolling along. His sack number this season already is the third-highest single-season figure of his career, trailing only the 18 he had in 2013 and the 16 he recorded in 2016.
5. Action Jackson: Eskimos returner Martese Jackson has had a relatively quiet season in 2018 — he has yet to return a kick for a touchdown — but he was still fifth in the CFL when the week began in punt-return average (12.0 yards) and led the loop with five punt returns of at least 30 yards. This week, he goes up against a Roughriders special-teams unit that allowed its third punt return for a TD this season in Montreal. Entering the week, that was the highest such number in the league. The good news for Saskatchewan is that Edmonton went into the week ranked ninth in the CFL in punt-return average (7.5 yards) this season.
