RIDERS READY FOR BANJO BOWL
WINNIPEG – The Saskatchewan Roughriders touched down at noon Manitoba time on Friday as they prepare to take on the Blue Bombers in Saturday’s Banjo Bowl XV. Riders Head Coach and GM Chris Jones met with the media at Investors Group Field Friday afternoon.
ON SATURDAY’S GAME:
CJ: We’ve got a job to do. Guys have been executing for the most part. Defensively we need to play better than we have the past 2 or 3 weeks, even though we’ve won those games. We need to get back to doing what we were doing earlier in the year. We’ve had a good week of prep and look forward to seeing what we can do.
WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF BACK-TO-BACK GAMES?
CJ: In all three phases, they’ve got good coaches. They’ve had a good football team over here for the last 2,3 years and a lot of it is because of their coaching. We have to be prepared for anything they do throw at us. Again, Richie Hall’s a veteran of the league and Paul Lapolice as well, and of course Mike O’Shea on the special teams. We’ve got our hands full.
HOW WILL YOU HANDLE THE NOISE ON SATURDAY?
CJ: We’ve practiced with the noise for the past couple of days. We turned it up to 111 decibels yesterday, just to put them in the environment they’ll perform in on Saturday.
HOW HAVE YOU BECOME THE HOTTEST TEAM IN THE CFL?
CJ: We’ve been fortunate to win three straight games and I say ‘fortunate’ because all three games have been close. We’ve gotta continue to do the same things we’ve done the last three weeks and that’s take advantage of our opportunities, win the time of possession battle, run the ball effectively and stop their run, and do all the little things that aren’t little things.
IS THAT A SIGN OF A GOOD TEAM; TO WIN DESPITE NOT PLAYING YOUR BEST?
CJ: That’s for y’all to decide. We just have to try to win the game. Instead of worrying about the final score at the end of the game, we’ve gotta play by the standard that you want to play by and show up every week regardless. Try to do the same things over and over.
DO YOU NEED MORE FROM YOUR OFFENSE?
CJ: We don’t ever point fingers. We’ve got a job to do and if we win 1-0 then great. If we have to win 50-49, then great. We’re just trying to come out here, play good consistent football, and do all the things that we’ve done in the past to win.
WILLIE JEFFERSON SAYS YOU LOOK GOOD IN GREEN
CJ: Willy’s in red pants out there today. He’s quite the fashion guy.
DO YOU OWN ANY SHIRTS THAT AREN’T BLACK?
CJ: No sir.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BOMBER QB MATT NICHOLS?
CJ: Matt Nichols is a good quarterback. He just passed by here a little while ago and you can tell that it’s weighing on him. He’s a good quarterback and he’s one of the big reasons why they’ve had success over here. Again, he’s a good quarterback, he was brought over here for a reason, he’s hit a bump in the road but we’d better be prepared. I can tell you that. Even when we were in Edmonton a few years ago, he helped us win games. We’d better be well prepared to play against him.
NOTES: The Riders have only two changes from their 31-23 win over Winnipeg in Week 12. ON are DB Crezdon Butler and DT Mic’hael Brooks. OFF are KR Christion Jones and DB Will Blackmon.
RP
@rodpedersen
