Rumblings are a plenty for Roughriders

Darian Durant is attended to by the Roughriders training staff on June 27.

    If you live in Saskatchewan, you know you can talk about the CFL’s Roughriders at any time, all the time and get heated dissecting every facet of the team.

    Since taking the field and falling in their regular season opener 30-26 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on June 27 at Mosaic Stadium, there is no shortage of things to discuss surrounding the green and white in Rider Nation. Everything is not all good, but everything is not all bad.

    • The worst news revolves around starting quarterback Darian Durant, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon shortly before halftime in the season opener. Durant completed 13 of 18 passes for 165 yards, two touchdown passes and no interceptions before being carted off the field.

    Durant tore a tendon in his right elbow last season in a 30-24 win over the Blue Bombers on Sept. 7, 2014 in Winnipeg. That injury occurred when the officials didn’t blow a play dead at the snap with certainty in a loud Investors Group Field, which saw half the players stop and half continue on the play. Bombers defensive end Bryant Turner continued with the play and nailed Durant to cause the injury.

    The elbow injury was created by an unfortunate set of circumstances. The ruptured Achilles occurred due to bad luck. Durant dropped to the turf after following through on a pass, and he wasn’t even contacted on the play.

    The 32-year-old has already cemented his place as a Roughriders legend leading the team to a Grey Cup championship at home in 2013 and Grey Cup appearances as a starter in 2009 and 2010. He was also part of the Roughriders 2007 Grey Cup championship team as a third stringer.

    For anyone that has dealt with Durant for a number of years, you know he legitimately cares and enjoys being the starting quarterback of the Roughriders, and he has excelled in that role. That hasn’t always been the case for a club that endures arguably more scrutiny from its fan base than any other sports team outside of the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens.

    Here is hoping Durant’s luck changes on the injury front in 2016.

   
    • The Roughriders need to play tougher and more aggressive defence going forward in 2015, if they want to have any shot of challenging for the Grey Cup. Against the Bombers, the Roughriders defence gave up 28 first towns, 325 yards passing, 145 yards rushing and failed to force a turnover. Winnipeg running back Paris Cotton had 108 yards on the ground on just 13 carries.

    The Roughriders defence missed numerous tackles and was non-existent. The fact the Bombers were able to drive the ball at will was also disheartening. Safety Tyron Brackenridge is expected to return to the Roughriders defence for Sunday’s game against the 1-0 Toronto Argonauts (1:30 p.m., Mosaic Stadium), so that should help Saskatchewan’s defensive unit.

    • Offence wasn’t a problem for the Roughriders in their season opener. Under Durant or backup

Kevin Glenn (#5) calls out signals for the Roughriders.

Kevin Glenn, the offence looked good. The Roughriders put up 285 yards through the air and 212 yards on the ground without injured star receiver Weston Dressler, who is expect to return on Sunday.

    Glenn has put up Hall-of-Fame numbers in his 14 seasons in the CFL. With a full week of practice with the first-team offence, expect Glenn to be that much more efficient going forward.

    Life is also coming full circle with Glenn, who started his CFL career with the Roughriders before moving on to play with Winnipeg, Calgary, Hamilton and British Columbia. The 2003 West Final looked at one time to be Glenn’s last with the Roughriders. As a backup, he entered the contest with the Riders trailing the host Edmonton Eskimos 23-2 for an ineffective Nealon Greene.

    Glenn gave the Roughriders a chance to in that contest, who eventually fell 30-23. During that offseason, the Roughriders brass of general manager Roy Shivers and head coach Danny Barrett backed Greene, who had been erratic his whole Roughriders tenure, as the starter going into 2004.

    That decision led to Glenn’s departure from Rider Nation, as many felt he should have been elevated or given the chance to compete for starter status. Glenn resurfaced in 2004 with the Bombers after a couple of transactions.

    Now a cagey veteran, Glenn will have his chance to lead the Riders as the starter.

    • Kicker Paul McCallum also had a back to the future moment, when he resurfaced with the Roughriders this week. The 45-year-old last played for the Roughriders in 2005 before moving on to excel with the B.C. Lions.

    McCallum’s name was linked with one of the most infamous moments in the Riders’ history. After he missed a chip shot field goal in overtime of the 2004 West Final helping the host B.C. Lions pull out a 27-25 win, his home was vandalized, he was threatened and manure was dumped on his neighbour’s property.

    McCallum was brought back to add more consistency with the kicking game, which wasn’t there with Chris Milo. Milo, who is well-liked by the Roughriders organization, struggled last season hitting 71.4 per cent of his field goals, and he often hit the post. He was 1-for-2 in the team’s regular season opener, but it is obvious the Saskatchewan coaches still have big concerns.

    Since 2009, McCallum hasn’t had a campaign where he has made less than 84.6 per cent of his kicks. Last season, he made 38-of-42 field goals for a 90.5 per cent success rate.

Any one that has followed football for any length of time knows an accurate place kicker will always find work and age won’t be a barrier.

    Over the long term, the Roughriders would love for Milo to regain his form from 2013, when he made 46-of-52 field goals for an 88.5 per cent success rate.

    • As the Roughriders go forward, the coaches also have to step up their game.

Since becoming the Roughriders head coach in 2011, Corey Chamblin has done an excellent job overall. With that said, the coaches always have to get better too. Chamblin preaches that to his players and that also has to stick to himself and his staff.

    In the opener with the Roughriders down 30-26, they faced a third and three from midfield with under three minutes to play. Chamblin went with conventional wisdom, and the Roughriders punted hoping to get a defensive stop and one last possession.

    Coaches are responsible for putting their players in the best positions to win the game, and this looked like a smart move. Unfortunately, Chamblin didn’t do a good job in reading the flow of the play.

    The offensives on both sides were running the show. At that time in place, the Roughriders needed to get the go-ahead score, as time was running out.

    Chamblin needed to mirror Bill Belichick, who is the head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots, and gamble at this point in time. With the way the Bombers were moving the ball, the chances were high the Roughriders would not get another possession, and Winnipeg did indeed ground out the clock.

    A good head coach knows that each game contains its own story and makes the best decisions to try and win with what is occurring. He can’t worry about making a decision to slight one side of the ball or the other, and he is able to get that message across to his players no matter what the outcome.

    Belichick always has the message that he always expects to make it when he gambles. Chamblin can say the same thing, if the gamble doesn’t work.

    At some point in time, the game hits a critical juncture, where you have to go for it. Chamblin needed to gamble on that third and three.

    • Penalties. As far as penalties go, the officials should go back to calling things the way they did in 2013. The tweaks that have been made to calling penalties in 2014 and this season have helped grind the CFL game down. The way calls have been made in 2015 really hasn’t led to more scoring in the early going outside of the Hamilton Tigers-Cats bombing the Blue Bombers 52-26 on Thursday night in Winnipeg.

    The only other squad to score 30 or more points was when the Bombers beat the Roughriders on June 27 at Mosaic. Offence wasn’t really broke in 2013 and didn’t really need fixing.

    If you have any feedback about this blog post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

Roughriders win and 33,427 people lose their minds

Members of Rider Nation celebrate Sunday's Roughriders win

            It is amazing how a win can cure all for a short time.

            Heading into Sunday’s game at Mosaic Stadium with the Ottawa Redblacks, the faithful that make up Rider Nation weren’t sure what would happen to their Saskatchewan Roughriders. With starting quarterback Darian Durant out with an elbow injury for an extended time, Rider Priders weren’t sure what would happen to their team.

            Understudy Tino Sunseri looked like he lacked confidence and appeared visibly nervous in a 28-3 road loss to the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton back on Sept. 14, which marked the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, product’s CFL first start.

            Against the Redblacks, the Roughriders fell behind 22-10 at halftime, and the score would have been more lopsided had Weston Dressler not returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown for the hosts.

            Saskatchewan came to life in the second half and eventually forced the game to go to overtime tied up at 32-32. The equalizing score came when Sunseri, who looked a lot more confident in his second start, led a two-minute drill 78-yard touchdown drive that was capped by a one-yard run by running back Anthony Allen and a diving two-point convert reception by Dressler.

            Chris Milo kicked a 22-yard field goal for the Riders in their second possession of the shootout style overtime format.

            On Ottawa’s ensuing possession, Roughriders linebacker Brian Peters blocked a 38-yard field goal attempt by Redblacks kicker Brett Maher to preserve a 35-32 win and send the sellout crowd of 33,427 into hysteria.

            At that moment, the fans in the stands were jumping up and down, cheering and hugging the neighbours that sat beside them even if they didn’t know them. They were just happy the Roughriders won at that point in time regardless of how they team got to the end result.

            For a short time, the team’s troubles were forgotten.

Dressler is a beast

            So how fun is it to watch Weston Dressler play football?

            Rider Nation got a real treat on Sunday from the veteran slotback during the Saskatchewan Roughriders 35-32 overtime win over the Ottawa Redblacks at Mosaic Stadium.

            Late in the second quarter, Dressler gave the Roughriders a spark with a 78-yard punt return touchdown. He easily topped that with two plays in the second half.

            Early in the fourth quarter, the Bismarck, North Dakota, product caught a seven-yard crossing pass and turned the play into a 60-yard receiving touchdown, where he spun and ducked out of numerous tackle attempts going down the left sideline. It was arguably the most spectacular play in the CFL this season.

            In order to force overtime, Dressler made a diving catch for a two-point convert late in the fourth quarter to cause a 32-32 tie.

            On the day, Dressler caught seven passes for 125 yards, returned five punts for 103 yards and one rushing attempt for five yards, scored two touchdowns and hauled in the two-point convert. 

Huskies close to a shocker

             The University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team shouldn’t worry too much about letting this one get away.

            On Friday at Griffiths Stadium, they were in position for most of the night to pull off a monster upset over the University of Calgary Dinos in a battle for first place in the Canada West Conference. The Huskies led 24-21 at halftime and were locked in a 24-24 draw for most of the second half.

            The Dinos, who have won the last six straight Canada West titles, scored two touchdowns in the final 3:31 of the fourth quarter to pull out a 38-24 victory.

            While most of the 5,801 engaged spectators were likely disappointed about the final outcome, they also spoke with pride about the effort their team put in against the powerful Dinos (3-0).

            The Huskies (2-1) have a lot to build off of in defeat. They might get another shot at the Dinos in the post-season. 

Blades still a work in progress 

            Some of the initial optimism with the Saskatoon Blades got tempered thanks to the Prince Albert Raiders.

            The Raiders swept the Blades in a home-and-home series that opened the WHL regular season for both teams. In the second of those losses on Saturday, the Blades fell at home 3-1 to the Raiders before 6,337 spectators at the building that is still known at the moment as the Credit Union Centre.

            The Blades had trouble busting through the trapping system that the Raiders utilized. Going 0-for-5 on the power play also didn’t help the cause for the host side.

            The effort was there from the Saskatoon side. The Raiders won because they the superior team, when it came to executing systems on the ice.

            With all that said, the Blades are still rebuilding from loading up to be the host team for the Memorial Cup in 2013 and loading up to try and make a long playoff run in 2011, when they finished first overall in the WHL.

            The rebuild could still be seen from a number of moves from Monday. The Blades dealt Nikita Scherbak, who was their leading scorer last season, to the Everett Silvertips in exchange for 1997-born goaltender Nik Amundrud, a first round selection in the 2015 WHL Bantam Draft and a second round selection in the 2016 Bantam Draft.

            The deal helped Saskatoon recover some of the lost high end draft picks that were traded away in 2011 and 2013 and get a goaltending prospect who will get the chance to play now.

            The team also released overage goaltender Troy Trembley and 18-year-old defenceman Ross Hnidy. The double blue still have to make some cuts, when players return from NHL camps. Saskatoon is currently carrying 14 forwards, nine defencemen and three goaltenders. 

Hilltops roll 

            The Saskatoon Hilltops improved to 3-2 after posting a second straight blowout victory.

            On Sunday, they traveled to Calgary and bombed the Colts 47-19. Things were close for a bit as Saskatoon led 17-10 at halftime. Turnovers played a key as the Hilltops intercepted four Colts (1-4) passes and recovered one fumble from the host side. Saskatoon didn’t commit any turnovers.

            After two weeks on the road, the Hilltops return home to the newly renovated and named Saskatoon Minor Football Field this coming Sunday to take on the Winnipeg Rifles for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The Rifles also sport a 3-2 record after falling 43-20 last week to the defending CJFL champion Regina Thunder.

 The jinx was in Huskies women’s hockey team 

            Oops, that was a bit unintentional.

            It appears I gave the U of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s hockey team almost a mafia style kiss of death heading into the Mandi Schwartz Challenge tournament last weekend in Regina. The Huskies are the defending Canada West champs, who return most of their players from that squad. I wrote in this blog that it was perfectly fine to optimistic about their upcoming season.

            They then went winless in a pre-season tourney hosted by the University of Regina Cougars. According to the Cougars website, the Huskies fell 1-0 to the University of Manitoba Bisons, 2-0 to the York University Lions and 5-0 to the host Cougars, who fell to the Huskies in last season’s Canada West final.

            When one team gets played up in a blog like I wrote about the Huskies, that article usually finds its way into the dressing rooms of their future opponents and are used for motivation, especially given the fact not a whole lot of media coverage is given to Canadian Interuniversity Sport women’s hockey in Canada.

            Due to the media cuts that have come down in Canada, teams like the Huskies women’s hockey team won’t draw a whole lot of media coverage, even with having won a conference title, due to the fact resources media companies have are stretched thin. Those teams won’t get much of a spotlight until they go to a national championship type tournament.

I just wanted to give a little recognition to a great bunch of people, who have won a conference title. I still believe the Mandi Schwartz Challenge tourney will be a blip on the radar, and the Huskies will have a memorable year in the long run.

If you have any feedback on this blog, feel free to email comments to stankssports@gmail.com.