The Saskatchewan Roughriders gave the Edmonton Eskimos everything they could handle on Thursday night, but they couldn't finish the deal in a 26-19 loss at Commonwealth Stadium.

The two West Division rivals went toe-to-toe for sixty minutes in an exciting contest. The Eskimos pulled away for the win thanks to the fourth lead change of the game on a one-yard touchdown from Mike Reilly with just under three minutes to play.

It was another game that the Riders were in, but a few too many mistakes ended up costing them.

"We were out coached, we were out executed, we were the more indisciplined football team and again it reared its head tonight," Riders head coach Chris Jones told riderville.com after the game. "We know we’re good enough to beat that football team, but they were disciplined enough to make the plays when they needed to and won the football game."

The Riders are now 3-4 on the year and have opened play in the West Division with back-to-back losses to Calgary and Edmonton.

Jones feels they're right there with the top teams in the league.

"We know that we can beat Calgary, we know we're good enough to beat Edmonton," he said. "We've played them both and you don't have to be Superman to beat them, you just have to show up and execute."

Zach Collaros put together a strong game in his first game back under centre for the Riders after sitting out since Week 2 with a concussion.

He says he felt comfortable in his return from injury, "I felt good, I felt comfortable, it usually takes a series or two after a long layoff to get acclimated to game speed and on a short week it was tough," said Collaros.

"Our guys battled up front all night, receivers did as well and Tre (Mason) and (Marcus Thigpen) did a great job too, so it wasn't the result we wanted, we have to clean a lot up and it starts with me."

Collaros was 22-of-34 for 261 yards and a touchdown in the loss, while on the other side, Reilly finished 13-of-27 for 257 yards and a touchdown.

Reilly ended up making some key plays when it counted, including a 36-yard touchdown strike to Derel Walker early in the third quarter, which answered Collaros' TD pass to Duron Carter and made it 17-14 for the Eskimos.

The turning point in the game came late in the third when David Watford lunged for a one-yard touchdown on third-and-goal, but the score was overturned.

Edmonton ended up conceding a safety and a 33-yard field goal from Riders kicker Brett Lauther would give Saskatchewan a 19-17 lead early in the fourth.

The Eskimos moved into scoring position late in the game and Reilly finished the drive with a one-yard score. Sean Whyte sealed the win for Edmonton with a 46-yard field goal with 34 seconds to play.

"There's things to clean up and get better at, we're very close to becoming who we want to be on offence and we just have to pay attention to detail, clean up some missed assignments and procedure calls, the buck stops with me and I have to be better," said Collaros.

Jordan Williams-Lambert had a big game with four catches for 86 yards for Saskatchewan, while Carter had three catches for 59 yards and a touchdown in his return to offence.

Riders running back Tre Mason finished with seven carries for 62 yards and he had seven catches for 47 yards.

CJ Gable managed 81 yards on 14 carries against the Riders’ defence, while Walker had a huge game with six catches for 154 yards and a score in the win.

The Riders are now on their bye week until Aug 19 when they host Calgary at Mosaic Stadium.