Head coach Corey Chamblin addresses the media on Tuesday.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders returned to Mosaic Stadium on Tuesday with a little more bounce in their step after opening the season with a 43-16 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.  The team started their preparations for Edmonton with a morning practice.

Head coach Corey Chamblin says they’re back to square one now as they get ready for their Week 2 match-up, “Everybody is in first place right, so it’s just like the beginning of the season again and we have to prepare again for this opponent, and we’re playing a Western opponent.”

The CFL’s West Division went undefeated in Week 1 to set up a four-way tie for first place to start the season.  “It’s like it’s Game 1, like it’s 0-0,” added coach Chamblin.

While the Riders were dominant in their season opening win over Hamilton, Chamblin says there is still room for improvement, “There was no perfect game and I told the guys, ‘We’ll never try to be perfect, but we’ll at least try for excellence.’ You across this team, it was a big score, but nobody was perfect, so we want these to keep moving along and keep getting better every practice and every week.”

One area that the Green & White worked on was tackling, which is a rare sight for a professional football team during the season.  “This is an extra day and tackling is something that always has to be improved,” said Chamblin following the work out on Tuesday morning.  “The one thing about the CFL is that you have a two-week training camp period and you’re not going to beat these guys up, so you can only work on form tackling, but it’s only live in the two preseason games.  Tackling is an on-going thing and we’ll continue to work at it.”

Chamblin added that tackling wasn’t a specific area of concern for the team during the season opener, but they want to stay sharp.

The Riders will continue to practice at home throughout the week, but practices are now closed to the public.  Saskatchewan kicks off the home portion of their schedule on the weekend when the Edmonton Eskimos come to Mosaic Stadium.

Riders News & Notes

-- Quarterback Darian Durant was honoured with the CFL offensive player of the week award for his performance in Hamilton.  Click here for all the details.

-- Coach Chamblin addressed the status of injured guard Chris Best after practice on Tuesday, saying he remains out, “You don’t want to rush a guy back because then you set him back even further.  There is progress there, but I don’t think enough for us to push him to that limit.”  Chamblin added that the play of Ben Hennan has allowed them to take their time with Best as well.

-- The Riders will practice on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 10:35am each day at Mosaic Stadium.  Then they’ll have a walk-through on Saturday before the home opener on Sunday.