Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-3) @ Montreal Alouettes (1-3)
Percival Molson Memorial Stadium (McGill University)
Montreal, Quebec
5:00pm (CST) Kickoff
TV: TSN 1/3/4/5,
Radio: Rider Radio Network (Pregame Show begins at 2:00pm)
CKRM 620AM – Regina
CJGX 940AM – Yorkton
CFWD (Cruz FM) 96.3FM – Saskatoon
CJNB 1050AM – North Battleford
CJNS 102.3FM – Meadow Lake
CKBI 900AM – Prince Albert
CKBI 92.5FM – Big River
CKBI 95.9FM – La Ronge
Estimated temperature at Kickoff: Partly Cloudy 26C (79F)
“When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.” – Hunter S. Thompson
The father of Gonzo journalism proclaimed this while covering Super Bowl VIII in 1974. What it truly means, who knows, because Thompson was the king of weird, so I will adapt this quote to this truly weird beginning of the 2016 season for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
It began with three games that, with a couple of plays, could have gone the Riders way (actually it began with a week one bye – weird). Then last week, with a back-up quarterback (Mitchell Gale) making his first pro start against the top team in the CFL, so many things went right for the Riders to pick-up their first victory of the season that it seemed like the “football gods” felt sorry for all the wrongs in the first three weeks.
Now it gets even weirder, the cascade of injuries to the offensive line the last two weeks has meant Chris Jones and the rest of the Rider front office have put out the emergency signal for available trench warriors to suit up for the Riders.
This week (in just one day!) the Riders lost Dan Clark, Xavier Fulton and potentially Andrew Jones. Clark missed the last two weeks with an injury, and was placed on the six-game injured list along with Fulton, Brendon LaBatte, Chris Best, Matt Vonk, Jarriel King and Dillon Guy.
There is a ridiculous amount of CFL experience on the injured list (379 game with just LaBatte, Best, Clark and Fulton) and it will put a lot of pressure on a now extremely inexperienced Rider offensive line.
With a huge question mark on Andrew Jones (who has the most experience on the current 46-man roster at 84 games), the Riders could potentially roll out a line with 31 total games of experience.
Thaddeus Coleman will be the only true veteran out there with 25 CFL games under his belt, but the combo of Aaron Picton (1), Kennedy Estelle (3), Josiah St. John (2), and Marcus Hall (0) are ridiculously young.
It will be trial by fire tonight in Montreal for the young offensive line against one of the top defences in the CFL. The Alouettes are led by an experienced front-seven with two future CFL Hall of Famers front and centre, John Bowman and Chip Cox.
The Alouette defence has had to be good; their offence has been wretched. Led by former Rider, Kevin Glenn, they have only averaged just a hair under 15 points a game and are second last in total offence per game at just 335.
This is like a mirror image of the Saskatchewan Roughriders who have one of the top offences in the league, but have struggled on the defensive side of the football.
To be totally honest, these are a pair of 1-and-3 games that both desperately need a win tonight to keep up in their respective divisional races. If the Riders were to drop to 1-and-4, they would still be within striking distance, but a win would put them in a tie with both Winnipeg and Edmonton (and potentially Calgary if they lose tonight to B.C.). But if Montreal were to lose, they would be a full two games back just five games into their year.
Emotion and desperation are two key ingredients to the recipe of a great game, and this one should be a doozy tonight.
Fast Facts:
– Welcome to the CFL Michael Dyer, Marvin Golding and Marcus Hall.
– Welcome to the Rider Nation Major Culbert.
– Only three players on the roster tonight (Darian Durant, Rob Bagg and Spencer Moore) have three or more years with the Green and White.
– Mitchell Gale and Major Culbert were teammates on the 2009 Abilene Christian Wildcats.
– The offensive line may be inexperienced, but there is some Power-Five college experience. Marcus Hall played at Ohio State, Josiah St. John hails from Oklahoma and Kennedy Estelle spent three seasons at Texas before transferring to West Alabama.
– Naaman Roosevelt already has three 100-yard receiving games this season, only Weston Dressler (4) and Ryan Smith (3) had multiple 100-yard games in 2015.
– The Riders have just one interception this season (Justin Cox, week two in Edmonton).
– Only Rob Bagg, Naaman Roosevelt, Spencer Moore, Ricky Collins Jr. and Thaddeus Coleman will have started all five games on the Rider offence this season.
– The Riders are by far the least penalized team in the CFL with just 28 fouls in their first four games.
– After a steady diet of run-first offence the last few seasons, the Riders are last in the CFL running the ball at just 24% of the time.
