Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-10) @ Ottawa REDBLACKS (6-6-1)
TD Place Stadium – Ottawa, Ontario
5:00pm (CST) Kickoff
TV: TSN 1/2/3/4/5
Radio: Rider Radio Network (Pre-game 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 – LaRonge
Estimated temperature at Kickoff: Rain 23C (73F)
“My optimism wears heavy boots and is loud.”
– Henry Rollins
Hello friends!! This quote sums up the feeling of the majority of Rider Nation as their beloved Green and White went into their second bye week of the season.
The victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats was the first time since the middle of 2014 that the Riders have won back-to-back games. The positive vibes continued during the week off with the signings of defensive end Willie Jefferson (Stephen F. Austin), Jeff Fuller (Texas A&M) and Henoc Muamba (St. Francis Xavier).
All three are potential big-impact players, which is why they are all on the 46-man roster heading into Ottawa tonight with Fuller and Jefferson starting!
The biggest signing is Muamba. The Congolese-born, Ontario raised linebacker is a former first overall draft pick and has had two different stints in the NFL. He is, in CFL terms a unicorn. A starting Canadian linebacker and a ratio changer.
This will give the Riders more flexibility along the defence with a fourth position in the rotation of Canadians (safety, defensive end and defensive tackle being the others).
It’s a trickle-down effect. When the Riders are healthy, they will have the three interior offensive linemen and a pair of receivers with Canadian passports in addition to the defensive rotation mentioned above.
You don’t need elite Canadians, you just need enough to survive and thrive.
What does that mean for tonight? Well, we are not quite there yet. It does mean three high level players are making their Rider debut, and they will want to make an immediate impact in the Nation’s Capital.
The Riders were able to pick up their first win of the season way back on July 23rd over the REDBLACKS 30-29. In that game, Ottawa quarterback, Trevor Harris went down in the first half and Brock Jensen went the rest of the way.
Since then, Ottawa hasn’t changed much, but this is a very different Rider roster featuring 12 different starters taking the field compared to that game three months ago.
There are some interesting battles shaping up:
Rider Defensive Backfield against the REDBLACKS receivers: The Ottawa core of Ellingson, Sinopoli, Jackson and Williams is one of the best in the CFL. The Rider defensive backs have made consistent improvements over the last six weeks and will bring out the same five starters for the fifth straight week.
Jefferson at the end: The addition of Willy Jefferson and the debut of Eric Norwood three weeks ago changed the landscape of the Riders defensive line. This will help not just at the edges, but open things up the middle for potential blitz packages in the A-gaps of the Ottawa offensive line.
Durant and Harris: Darian Durant was out with a lower body injury for the Riders win over the REBLACKS and Harris went out in the middle of the first half with a knee injury. This will be the first time these two quarterbacks will have started a game against each other.
Durant and Harris have faced each other twice before both with Harris doing mop-up duty as a member of the Toronto Argonauts:
– July 26, 2014 Harris came in for Ricky Ray in a 37-6 Rider victory
– October 8, 2012 Harris came in for current Rider Quarterbacks/Pass Game Coordinator Jarius Jackson in a 36-10 Rider victory
This will be an entertaining game tonight and a true test for how far the Riders have come over the last month and a half.
Go Riders!
Fast Facts:
College Ties:
– Mitchell White (OTT), J’Michael Deane (OTT) and Greg Jones (SSK) at Michigan State
– Antoine Pruneau (OTT) and Alexandre Gregory (SSK) at the University of Montreal
– Scott MacDonnell (OTT) and Matt Webster (SSK) Queen’s University
– Andrew Marshall (OTT) and Justin Capicciotti (SSK) Simon Fraser University
– Aston Whiteside (OTT) and Mitchell Gale (SSK) Abilene Christian University
– Zack Evans (OTT) and Dan Clark (SSK) Regina Thunder
– Welcome to Rider Nation: Willy Jefferson, Jeff Fuller and Henoc Muamba.
– In the Riders back-to-back wins they have had 13 combined points scored in the first quarter, in the previous seven losses before that, just nine.
– The average points for and points against for the Riders in the first half of the last two games are 13 for and 9.5 against. In the previous seven losses; 4.6 for and 17.4 against.
– The last time the Riders were in Ottawa (August 30th of last year), the REBLACKS piled up 10 sacks against the quarterback tandem of Tino Sunseri and Brett Smith.
– Darian Durant is five touchdowns passes away from 150 in his career.
– Despite missing the last two games, Naaman Roosevelt is still fourth in the CFL in receiving with 1,095 yards.
– The REDBLACKS have had a lead in all but one of their games this season and have also trailed in all but one of their games this season.
