DURANT TO START AT CALGARY
Upon the Saskatchewan Roughriders arrival in Calgary on Wednesday, Head Coach & General Manager Chris Jones named Darian Durant the team’s starting quarterback for Thursday night’s game against the Stampeders (8:00 pm, TSN, 620 CKRM Roughriders Radio Network).
“Darian’s gonna be fine,” Jones declared. “All set to go. He’s been around for years and years. As we drove over from the airport we talked about some of the games when we went against one another when I was here. He was in those games in 2010 and he’s a player. We’re fortunate to have him back.”
Durant – looking slim and trim from an off-season where he shed almost 20 lbs – said he’s eager to shrug off a bad start and help his team knock off the first-place Stampeders.
“It has been (a tough start) but I feel good to be able to get back out there,” Durant said. “Help my teammates out, my brothers most importantly, and just looking forward to getting out there, having fun, and helping us get back in the win column.”
Thursday’s game is the first of a back-to-back set between the West Division rivals and the Riders know how key it would be to collect an upset victory.
“Definitely this is a big game,” agreed veteran receiver Naaman Roosevelt. “Just for us we need to go out and do the little things and everything will work out. We had a good week of practice, Durant’s back telling us what to do and to have that guy back there leading us is awesome. For us we need to get back to doing the things we do. We work hard in practice and now we need to put it out there on the field.”
A little fuel was added to the Riders’ fire by Stampeders defensive back Joshua Bell who apparently said on Wednesday that if the Riders lose this game, their season’s over.
“Who?” questioned Chris Jones when asked for a comment on Bell’s assessments.
“Well you gotta win every game. Let him know you gotta win every game.”
The Roughriders have six changes to the roster from last week’s game in Montreal. In are CB Buddy Jackson, LB Korey Jones, LB Graig Newman, C Dan Clark, WR Kris Bastien and DL Ivan Brown. Out are RB Curtis Steele, CB Johnny Dixon, RB Michael Dyer, OL Aaron Picton and DL Jordan Reaves. Steele has been placed on the 6-game Injured List while Dyer was released.
RP
@rodpedersen
Riders will have to go all out to win this one even with Durant back it will be tough, and I reason that for the fact that Curtis Steele is still not available to run the ball and ground could be key in this game. I'm still picking the Riders for an upset win of lets say…Sask….29….Cal….24. Go Riders.
you couldn't find a better picture of durant
Great you're back DD. Keep the O on the field as long as you can and score!
GpS
As a matter of fact, no.
Rod. I think I wish DD stayed out one more week. The lack of a running game worries me a lot. And the o line depth as well. I know Gale wasn't planted last week, but he could be.
Go Riders
Russ from Saskatoon
Probably best Doubles closes his eyes and plugs his ears. Instead of listening to so many Rider fans that call him glass and fragile as well as other dumb names.The game in Edmonton when he had the team up by 3 with 19 seconds left. He had done his job!!! It was the defence who lost that game.Had he not taken a cheap shot against the Lions at home that took him out of the game. It looked like he had that game in great shape to pull out a win. I dont think this Province will ever be 100%… Read more »
Did Darian borrow a main street Milestone Co-op special (shirt) from Rod?
As for the season being over if they lose? If they dont win one of these back to back they will have dug themselves an enormous hole to crawl out of and they may not have enough games left to come back from a 1-6 start. They would need to go 8-3 to finish 3rd and make the playoffs.