The Saskatchewan Roughriders won't be looking for a repeat performance of their last meeting with the Calgary Stampeders when the two teams square off at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
The last time these two teams hit the field against each, the Roughriders spotted Calgary a 14-0 lead after the first two drives and couldn't claw their way out of the hole and ended up losing 17-10 on Taylor Field.
The first quarter has been the death of the Riders this season. Saskatchewan has came out of the gates slow all season, scoring only 49 points in the first quarter, while giving up 69 points in 11 games so far this season. They've only hit double digits in the first once -- and barely with 10 points in the 52-0 blowout of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Labour Day.
"We need to start the game fast," said slotback Weston Dressler after practice on Friday. "Offensively, we can't take time to get into that rythum and move the ball down the field and get points on the board.
"Defensively, we've played well. Last week we played well for most of the game, but the first few drives got away from the defence, so we just need to keep the focus on starting faster.
"The one thing we're doing a good job of is, even if we are starting slow, we're recognizing what they're doing and making the appropriate adjustments throughout a game to create that success later on."
So needless to say, a start of any kind will be good for the Green & White as they look to get back to .500 on the season after losing to the Montreal Alouettes, 28-17, last week, which was another game where they gave up 14 first quarter points.
This week has been the "Week Of The Guarantee" after Roughriders head coach Corey Chamblin proclaimed on Day 1 that Stampeders running back Jon Cornish wouldn't get 100-yards rushing this week, or someone would be losing their job.
"It was a challenge put out to the defence, but the whole team got the challenge," said Chamblin. "If you want to keep any back under 100 yards, the offence just needs to stay on the field long enough. We all need to make sure we're doing what we need to do because the best defence is offence."
Cornish is one of only two running backs to break the 100-yard barrier against the Riders this season and Chamblin says the guarantee has nothing to do with the play of the defence in recent weeks, he just sees that as the key to victory.
"The run defence has sured up a lot, but like I told the guys in the meeting, they're playing good defence, they're playing good football. We've had some ups and downs, but they're playing tough as of late."
The Riders come into this week two games back of the Stampeders for second in the West Division and Chamblin says this game has playoff implications, "When you look at the way the playoff picture is shaping up, we're right there in the hunt, so this is a big game and the focus is to win the game and to make sure we win enough so that we get into the playoffs."
"The closer we get to the end of the season here, it becomes more and more apparent of how important each game is and we just want to win, we want to win football games and make our way into the playoffs," added Dressler.
Saskatchewan will get a big boost this week with quarterback Darian Durant expected to be back in the lineup after missing last week's game in Montreal with a hip flexor injury.
"We plan on him playing if there's no setbacks, but I've thought he's been pretty crisp in the things that he's done over the last couple of days," said Chamblin.
Dressler says while Drew Willy did good in his first career CFL start, the experience that Durant brings to the table is priceless, "He's played more years, more games, and for myself, just that familiarity from playing together. That's something that you can't just replicate with anyone without that game experience. I feel like we have that chemistry of knowing what each other is thinking."
While Durant returns to the field with the offence, two defensive stars are expected to be missing come game time on Sunday. Safety James Patrick hasn't practiced all week as he's nursing a foot injury and he isn't expected to play against Calgary. Defensive end Brent Hawkins will be a game time decision.
The Riders and Stampeders hit the field on Sunday at 2:00pm.
Tue, Apr 16, 7:00 PM
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