EDMONTON, AB; July 08/2016: Saskatchewan Roughriders Head Coach Chris Jones is seen on the sidelines during the 1st quarter of CFL game action between the Edmonton Eskimo's and the Saskatchewan Roughriders at the Brick Field located at Commonwealth stadium in Edmonton Friday, July 08 /2016 (CFL PHOTO - Walter Tychnowicz)
There were so many story lines heading into the Riders first foray on the road in 2016 taking on the defending Grey Cup champ, Edmonton Eskimos. The brightest spotlight was on the regular season return of Chris Jones and the rest of his Eskimos staff to Edmonton and would want nothing better than to pick up the Riders first victory of the season in his former back yard.
The Green and White looked great out of the gate with the early with Darian Durant hitting Rob Bagg on a 26-yard touchdown strike on the first offensive series of the game. Two Tyler Crapigna field goals stretched the lead to 13-0 early in the second before Edmonton hit the scoreboard when Mike Reilly connected with Adarius Bowman on a 56-yard touchdown connection to cut the lead to 13-7.
The Riders retook the lead when rookie Ricky Collins Jr made a circus catch on deflected ball in the end zone to stretch the lead back to 19-7.
Before the half was over, Edmonton hit the end zone again when Chris Getzlaf picked up his first score as an Eskimo on a four-yard catch to cut the lead to 19-14 at the half.
The third quarter was all Edmonton, they picked up the only score on a four-yard John White touchdown for their first lead of the game at 20-19 then on the first play of the fourth quarter Adarius Bowman caught his second score of the game for the 27-19 lead.
The Riders dug themselves in an even deeper hole after Edmonton rolled a five-play 105-yard drive finished on yet another Adarius Bowman touchdown for what looked to be an insurmountable 33-19 lead.
Then came the frantic finish beginning with the Riders forcing a Joe McKnight punt return fumble on his own 25 yard-line. Three plays later, Durant hit John Chiles in the end zone and the lead was just seven.
A bold decision by Chris Jones on a short kicked worked like a charm when Jordan Reaves tipped the ball out of bounds and it was Riders possession. The drive stalled and Crapigna hit another field goal.
The Rider defence forced a two-and-out on the next Eskimos possession to give the offence one last chance, and they cashed in. Durant threw his fourth touchdown of the game to his fourth different receiver as Shamawd Chambers caught his first touchdown as a Rider and things were looking great with the 36-33 lead with 13-seconds left.=
That was enough time for Mike Reilly to make two completions and set up a 51-yard Sean Whyte field goal attempt. He drilled it and forced overtime.
The defence stopped Edmonton and forced them to kick a field goal and things were looking good.
It all came crashing down when Darian Durant was stopped on a third-and-short to end the game and the 39-36 victory.
The loss dropped the Riders to 0-and-2 and will look for their first victory of the season next Friday night at 5pm hosting the B.C. Lions. It will be another great night celebrating the Farewell Season of Mosaic Stadium. The 1966 Grey Cup winning Rider team will reunite and be front and centre at halftime! Click here for tickets and ticket information.
Rider leaders:
Passing
Darian Durant 27/38 317yds 4TDs 131.14QBR
Rushing
Curtis Steele 8/47
Receiving
Ricky Collins Jr 6/115 1TD
Defence
Justin Cox 1KD, 1INT, 3 Tackles
