OUT OF THE TUNNEL: GUT CHECK TIME FOR RIDERS

BY: RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF

Whatever momentum the Saskatchewan Roughriders gained with a convincing July 1 win over the Toronto Argonauts was completely wiped away by the defending Grey Cup champion Calgary Stampeders.

The Stampeders dominated Saturday night’s football game from the opening drive to the final gun in a 37-10 victory over the Roughriders.

Defensively, the Green and White were gutted by back-up quarterback Nick Arbuckle who threw for two touchdowns and had just three incompletions. The Stampeder offence had a great variety: a solid two-headed monster of a running game between newcomer Kadeem Carey and Terry Williams; solid short yardage plays underneath the Roughrider coverage and some big plays mixed in as well with the 76 yard touchdown to Reggie Begelton and 19 yard touchdown toss to the back of the end zone to Eric Rogers.

Other than A.C. Leonard’s two sacks and two tackles for a loss, the defence didn’t have many answers. They missed tackles, were pushed around by the Stampeder offensive line and the secondary was shredded. 

Is anyone wondering where Micah Johnson is? Yes he is facing a pile of double teams but the Riders have had a difficult time getting any pressure on the quarterback this season with just a four-man rush. Johnson is usually a slow starter and without any snaps during the pre-season it will take some time for his motor to get running, but in the meantime it does make one dream longingly for the dynamic play of Willie Jefferson.

Between this loss and the one in Ottawa, this is the second time in four short weeks the Rider defence has been put through the grinder and Saturday night, Cody Fajardo and the Rider offence couldn’t help.

With all of the new faces in the Stampeder defence, one would have expected Fajardo to have his third straight 300-yard game. But it was names like Chris Casher (with his first two CFL sacks in his second ever game in the league), Tre Roberson (who is having a breakout second season in the CFL with his fourth and fifth interceptions of 2019) and rookie linebacker Fraser Sopik (with his a four tackle game and his first career CFL sack) that stole some of that spotlight.

The Stampeder defence was the complete opposite of the Riders. They were physically dominant, swarmed around the football and didn’t miss many tackles. 

If it wasn’t for Loucheiz Purifoy’s long kickoff return early in the second half that led to the lone Roughrider touchdown, it could have been much worse for the Riders.

Saskatchewan heads into the bye week at 1-3 with a share of the bottom spot in the West Division with the B.C. Lions. Slow starts aren’t something new for the Riders over the past few seasons but as the games and weeks quickly tick by, it will become increasingly difficult to keep up or gain ground in the West. 

It’s a good chance for an early look in the mirror and gear up for a crucial July 20 date at Mosaic Stadium with the Lions. A loss there would drop the Riders to 1-4, with what would be their second home field loss and second loss to a West Division opponent. 

This isn’t quite back the to the drawing board for head coach Craig Dickenson and the Saskatchewan Roughriders just yet but it is gut check time.

It’s early and there is still time for the Riders to put together a solid season but a slew of early season losses can be difficult to overcome both in the standings and with morale in the locker room.

MONTREAL 36 HAMILTON 29

Congratulations to Khari Jones for his first win as a head coach. His Montreal Alouettes had a dramatic one week turnaround with their 36-29 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. A week ago, it was Hamilton laying the boots to the hapless Als

41-10 at Tim Horton’s Field but Thursday night it was a completely different story.

Montreal took a page out of the Roughriders week-one playbook by using a dominating running game via Wally Stanback’s 203 yards along the ground to inflict the bulk of the damage to the Hamilton defence. Quarterback Vernon Adams limited his mistakes and kept things incredibly simple en route to the victory. 

WINNIPEG 29 OTTAWA 14

Winnipeg continues to be the class of the West Division using their big play offence along with a solid Andrew Harris running game to take out the Redblacks 29-14 on the road in Ottawa.

It might have been the Winnipeg defence that was the story of the night. They held Ottawa to under 300-yards of offence and just 24 yards along the ground on eight carries. 

BC 18 TORONTO 17

Finally another congratulations to DeVone Claybrooks on picking up his first win as a CFL head coach as his B.C. Lions eked out an 18-17 victory over the Toronto Argonauts.

It wasn’t easy. Toronto had their chances but two decisions sealed their fate. 

The first was with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, while in field goal range, the Argos gambled on third and a little more than two yards. James Wilder Jr. came up short and it was a turnover on downs. A field goal there would have made a difference.

The other was the kickoff out of bounds after Toronto tied the football game with a touchdown and a 2-point conversion with just under a minute left. That put the Lions in prime scoring position and even though they missed the field goal, the still picked up the rouge and the victory.

The difference for the Lions this week was the 138-yard rushing performance by 2014 all-star running back John White. It was their first 100-yard rushing game of the season and coincided with their first victory

It was a huge win for the Lions who keep pace with the Riders in the West and sets things up for a fun one at Mosaic Stadium on July 20.

The theme of week four was pound the rock. Two of the four winners had 100-yard rushers (Stanback, White) while Winnipeg and Calgary significantly out-rushed their opponents.

The passing game is still essential in the CFL but a strong running game will put a team over the top.

(RODPEDERSEN.COM STAFF/PHOTO: TAYLOR CURRIE)