By Mitchell Blair
For Riderville.com
That’s more like it! The Saskatchewan Roughriders played the kind of football that people expected of them on Sunday afternoon as they dismantled the top team in the CFL handily defeating the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-7 to win their 7th straight Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium.
With Ken Miller back in charge, the team seemed electrified coming out of the tunnel and it showed all afternoon as they had an energy and a passion in them that had been missing for most of the season. Quarterback Darian Durant also seemed like a more confident quarterback as he led the team going 13 for 21 for 232 yards and three touchdowns—two of them to Chris Getzlaf. He says the difference between today and past games this season was that they were ready to play today.
“Just preparation,” Durant insisted. “Everyone in this room was prepared. We knew where we could make plays against them on both sides of the ball. It’s all about preparation. We knew that if we came in and just prepared and focused like we never did before. If we can keep this thing focused, we’ll be fine.’’
Defensive lineman Dario Romero was perhaps the best defensive player on the field as he did his thing while getting under the skin of the Bombers offensive line who got involved in several scuffles during the game. Romero had a sense when he walked into Mosaic Stadium on Sunday that it would be a different looking green team on the field.
“All week, I noticed something different in the locker-room,” Romero said. There was a looseness and an excitement and you could tell there was something different in the air and it showed tonight. It’s nice to knock a little swagger out of Swaggerville. We know we are still 2-7, but we remember what it’s like to win and we have some confidence now.”
As expected, Miller was smiling from ear-to-ear when it was over as his return to the sidelines was a successful one. The low-keyed Head Coach was quick to deflect any praise though saying it belongs to “the men”.
“I did very little,” Miller said after the game. “Our team played with great effort and energy all game. Our defence didn’t allow a touchdown, our special teams were great and our offence was productive enough for us to win. I’m very happy with the outcome.”
Miller also said that this was the football team that he was expecting to see.
“I think it’s the real deal.” Miller stated. “It could have been easy for us to be affected by all the adversity we have faced and go the other way, but what we saw today is consistent with the character of the guys we have in the room. I think they can carry on from this and go forward. We know we’ll be in tough next week in Winnipeg and that we will have to raise our level of play, but I think it’s a genuine effort and good play by the men in that room.”
One player who never has a problem with energy is Weston Dressler. The North Dakota product brought the sellout crowd of 30-thousand to its feet in the 3rd quarter when he made a spectacular one handed catch for a touchdown to arguably put the game away. Dressler knows this winning feeling is one that they should have had a while ago and that this is the type of team that many expected to see.
“I would have liked to seen it earlier, “Dressler admitted. “We just have to build off of this and get better as we move on.”
With the win, the Riders are now 2-7. They will go to Winnipeg next weekend to complete the home and home with the Bombers before returning to Mosaic Stadium on September 17 to take on the Toronto Argonauts.
