OUT OF THE TUNNEL: A CANADA DAY VICTORY, AND GAINER-GATE

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

Football fans! We hope you all had a great Canada Day weekend as we get Out of the Tunnel to the start of a fantastic summer!

The Saskatchewan Roughriders finally kick-started their summer with a convincing 32-7 win over Corey Chamblin and the rebuilding Toronto Argonauts.

THE GOOD:
Cody Fajardo had his second straight 300+ yard passing game and looked elusive while throwing with conviction. It will be interesting to see what happens when Zach Collaros comes back to the team.

The Rider defence finally found their big play swagger. They picked up their first two interceptions of the season courtesy of Nick Marshall and Derrick Moncrief and won the turnover battle. 

The ageless wonder, Charleston Hughes had a two-sack game, taking his tally to four on the season.

The offensive line was solid and kept Fajardo upright and William Powell picked up some solid yards on the ground.

Kudos to the fans who stuck around after the two-hour weather delay to cheer on the green and white to their first victory in 2019.

Finally, congratulations to head coach Craig Dickenson for winning his first CFL game!

THE BAD:
The Toronto Argonauts. It’s only three weeks into the season but with how bad Montreal continues to be and now the Argos struggling we can now start the crossover playoff race in the CFL West Division.

There is a lot of work to do to get the Argos off the ground in an important CFL market. If they continue at this wretched pace, they will be hard pressed to get 5,000 fans to a game in Canada’s biggest city.

THE UGLY:
New- look Gainer is a travesty. It was such an embarrassment it was one of the top trending topics in Canada. We could describe what new Gainer looks like but instead head to your favourite social media platform and search Gainer. You will be entertained. The Riders will more than likely defend the look and compare it to the Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty. The thing is, Gritty is fun and is supposed to be dumb, Gainer is haunting and should be burned immediately. Bring back old Gainer.

We love a lot of the new tweaks to Rider game day including the addition of a fun dance team, the DJ is a great touch, a hype man is a nice piece and the themes could be fun this year.

The win was desperately needed for the Green and White. Yes, it’s only three games into the season but with Winnipeg starting off undefeated, Edmonton playing well and Calgary pulling one out of the fire, this Rider victory goes a long way to keeping up with the frantic pace of the West Division.

RECAPPING WEEK 2

Canada Day weekend began with an odd game at IG Field in Winnipeg. 

Edmonton dominated the stat sheet with 162 more yards of offence than the Blue Bombers but lost their first game of the season by a touchdown, 28-21. The majority of the Eskimos offence came between the 30’s as they had to settle for seven Sean Whyte field goals and no touchdowns. 

Winnipeg on the other hand used a handful of big plays to put four touchdowns on the board, upping their record to 2-0 and a share of the top spot in the CFL West Division. 

The Blue Bomber offensive line was solid and the defence was the prototypical Richie Hall bend-but-don’t-break defence which was enough for the victory.

There was much ado over the Edmonton field goal that was kicked from the Winnipeg 28-yard-line on first down to cut the lead to seven.

If Eskimos head coach Jason Maas was going to settle for a quick field goal, why not take at least one shot at the end zone. This is what most teams in NCAA and NFL football will do before kicking on second or third down.

It almost worked for Edmonton as they had two more shots at a game tying touchdown, but three crucial drops quickly ended their chances. 

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the lone team at 3-0 in the CFL as they won in a walk 41-10 over Montreal. Jeremiah Massoli threw for over 400-yards for the second straight game and return specialist Frankie Williams had a long punt return (63 yards) and a long kickoff return (53 yards) that added to the dynamic Ticat play.

Hamilton now has a 60+ yard return in three straight games to start the season. Williams had a 68-yard punt return for a touchdown in week one against Saskatchewan and Brandon Banks had a 113-yard field goal return for a score in week two against Toronto.

Montreal looks like they will struggle all season especially at quarterback. Vernon Adams and Matthew Shiltz ended up splitting time with neither having much success.

The fun ending to the week came Saturday night in Calgary with the Stampeders storming back to a 36-32 victory over the still winless B.C. Lions.

Many (including us here at Out of the Tunnel) were getting some joy at the potential of the kings finally taking a slide in the West Division but the Stampeders scored a pair of touchdowns in the last 3:50 to give them their victory.

There were two key parts of this game: One was obvious, the successful onside kick that led to the game winning touchdown late in the fourth quarter, but the other wasn’t as obvious. 

At the end of the first half, Mike Reilly led the Lions on a 13-play drive that stalled at the Stampeder one-yard line with a goal-line stand to end the half.

The Stampeders took all of the momentum in the second half with that stop and ended up with the victory.

It looks like the Riders will host the Stampeders in a beauty early season battle Saturday night in a battle of the backups. It will be the Riders first West Division game and to pick up a win over the defending champs will go a long way in both the standings and the confidence of the Saskatchewan Roughriders as they head into their first bye week of the season. And let’s not forget that Dickenson family rivalry!

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF)