The Roughriders are riding high after back-to-back wins

The process appears to be paying off for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

The CFL team has won two straight games and four of its past six to improve its record to 4-4-0.

It’s the first time since the 2014 season that the Roughriders have been at or above the .500 mark; they finished that regular season with a 10-8-0 slate.

The Roughriders were on a rollercoaster through the first six weeks of the 2017 campaign. After losing their first two games by a total of four points, the Roughriders won big, lost big, won big and lost big to sit at 2-4-0.

Since then, Saskatchewan has turned in back-to-back impressive performances, dominating the B.C. Lions en route to a 41-8 victory at Mosaic Stadium on Aug. 13 and outplaying the Edmonton Eskimos in a 54-31 win on Friday at Commonwealth Stadium.

In other words, the Roughriders are seeing the fruits of their labours.

“I think everybody sees it,” receiver Duron Carter said after the game in Edmonton. “If you’re watching our games, from the first game until now, it’s almost like we’re a completely different team — definitely a better team.

“The sky’s the limit. We’re going to keep on getting better.”

The Roughriders recorded their highest point total of the season to date against the Lions, then topped it in Edmonton.

Quarterback Kevin Glenn ran the ball-control offence efficiently in both games, going 17-for-20 for 262 yards and two touchdowns on passes under 20 yards against B.C. and 18-for-27 for 212 yards with two TDs on those same throws versus the Eskimos.

Saskatchewan’s defensive backs, who hadn’t registered an interception in the team’s first six regular-season games, had four picks (all by Ed Gainey) against the Lions and two versus Edmonton (by Jovon Johnson and Kacy Rodgers II).

Both Johnson and Rodgers returned their interceptions for touchdowns Friday and Gainey took one of his picks back for a major against B.C.

Through their first six games, the Roughriders had forced a league-low five turnovers and had pressured opposing quarterbacks a league-low 31 times. In Saskatchewan’s past two games, it has forced 12 turnovers (leading to 49 points) and has recorded 20 quarterback pressures.

Entering Friday’s game, Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly had a completion percentage of 71.3, an average of 335.6 yards passing per game and at least one touchdown pass in every game the Eskimos had played this season.

On Friday, Reilly’s completion percentage was just 57.7 (15-for-26), he managed only 160 yards passing and he failed to throw a TD pass.

The Roughriders led 40-7 after three quarters and 47-15 midway through the fourth before the Eskimos scored two touchdowns in garbage time. Backup QB James Franklin went 10-for-12 passing for 111 yards and a touchdown to lead Edmonton to its late-game scores.

“We played physical up front (and) we did a decent job stopping the run,” said Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones, whose team recorded two sacks and six QB pressures while holding Edmonton to 68 yards rushing.

“We’ve got to eliminate the explosions. We’ve got to eliminate the end of the game. We’ve got to have more of a killer instinct out of our B group when they’re out there getting their opportunity.”

Suddenly, the Roughriders are back in the conversation about a playoff spot.

They’re two points behind the fourth-place Lions (5-5-0) in the West Division standings and the Roughriders have (a) two games in hand on B.C. and (b) the tiebreaking edge on the Lions based on points for and against in the two-game season series.

The Calgary Stampeders (7-1-1) are in first place in the West, with the Eskimos and Winnipeg Blue Bombers tied for second at 7-2-0. The Roughriders’ next two games are against the Bombers, who visit Regina on Sunday before playing host to a rematch on Sept. 9.

Thanks to a two-game win streak, Saskatchewan enters the home-and-home series versus the Bombers with some serious confidence.

The offence (four touchdowns), defence (two TDs) and special teams (one TD, courtesy of Willie Jefferson’s blocked punt for a major) all found the end zone in Edmonton in the team’s second straight all-around effort.

“It was like we were just feeding off each other,” Glenn said. “It’s something that we kind of want to pride ourselves on: Playing as a team, as a family, everybody together. That’s what happened (Friday).”

The Roughriders have been riding high already this season — victories over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toronto Argonauts generated a lot of momentum — but back-to-back wins over West Division rivals as well as a road win in a western city seem to have inspired the team.

Jones, however, couldn’t say what has sparked his team.

“If I had the answer to that, we’d probably sell it for a million dollars,” he said. “The guys have great character. They show up, they work and they’ve got a good belief system — and it’s getting stronger and stronger.”