RIDERS VERSUS ALS ALL ABOUT DURANT? TEAMS SAY NO
There are online reports Owens has been placed on the 6-game Injured List.We’ll be eager to attend the Alouettes’ walk-through, also scheduled for 11:00 am ET, to get the pregame thoughts of Alouettes quarterback Darian Durant.
Frankly, the hype over this “Durant Versus The Roughriders” scenario isn’t nearly to the level I expected when Saskatchewan shipped their franchise legend to Montreal on January 13.
In the days leading up to Thursday’s season-opener, both sides have downplayed any bad blood.
“The hype and drama is from the outside. It’s the first game of the season,” Durant told Herb Zurkowsk of the Montreal Gazette. “This is an opportunity to get out on the right track. It doesn’t matter who we play. We just want to win. There’s no extra motivation. This is a new regime. It’s a new beginning for myself and a lot of guys. We want to get this thing started right.”
CKRM football analyst Luc Mullinder says this game isn’t “all about Durant facing the Riders” for the first time.
“No,” Mullinder surmised Tuesday in Montreal. “When you look at the team aspect, and this Rider team in general, they look really good on paper. I think they’re beginning to start their own journey and that doesn’t include Darian Durant unfortunately.
“As much as people in Saskatchewan want to focus on Darian, you don’t talk about him in the locker room. You talk about your special teams battles and the offensive threats that they have and their defensive capabilities.
“If you make it about one player, you’re literally taking the focus off of 23 other guys. You don’t want that. The Alouettes are lions lying in the grass right now and if you focus on only one lion, the other ones will come out and bite you.”
We’ll discuss Wednesday’s happenings from Montreal on 620 CKRM’s SportsCage at 4:00 pm.
