The Saskatchewan Roughriders are to complete their first tour through the CFL’s East Division on Thursday.
Saskatchewan (1-2-0) so far has faced the Toronto Argonauts, Ottawa Redblacks and Montreal Alouettes. On Thursday (7 p.m., CKRM, TSN), the Roughriders are to get their first look this season at the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The Roughriders have lost two straight games entering the contest — their latest defeat was a 23-17 loss to the Als on Saturday — while the Tiger-Cats have won two straight. Hamilton’s most-recent game was a 31-17 victory over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Friday.
Here’s one man’s list of five things to watch during Thursday’s game.
- Arms Race: For the second time in 10 months, Saskatchewan’s Brandon Bridge and Hamilton’s Jeremiah Masoli will start at quarterback for their respective teams. Bridge won the previous meeting, helping the Roughriders post a 27-19 victory in Hamilton on Sept. 15. Bridge is to make his second straight start in place of the injured Zach Collaros — and Bridge hopes to get more than the two quarters of action he got against Montreal. Masoli, meanwhile, is on quite a roll entering this game. He has thrown for at least 300 yards in eight straight games, one short of the CFL record shared by Sam Etcheverry and Kent Austin.
- Shaq Evans: Very quietly, Evans leads the Roughriders in receiving yards with 133 through three games — although he has played in only two of those contests. The CFL rookie out of UCLA had a team-high 77 yards on three catches against Montreal, a showing that included a remarkable leaping grab over Als cornerback Tommie Campbell. Evans is averaging 19.0 yards per catch — second only to Caleb Holley’s 21.0-yard average among the Roughriders’ receivers — and he’s tied for the team lead with two receptions of 30 yards or more.
- Strength Against Strength: Something has to give in this contest. Hamilton enters Week 4 with the league’s most productive offence in terms of average yards of net offence per game (457.3), first downs (77) and average yards per play (7.9). The Roughriders, on the other hand, go into the week ranked second in the CFL in opponents’ average yards of net offence per game (317.7) and opponents’ yards per play (5.9) and tied for third in sacks (six). Saskatchewan will be eager to put pressure on Masoli — and Hamilton is fifth in the league with six sacks allowed.
- Zack Evans: The veteran defensive tackle has got off to a slow start with the Roughriders this season, with one defensive tackle, one tackle for a loss and one pass knockdown through three games. But Saskatchewan head coach-GM Chris Jones said this week that Evans may have played his best game of the season Saturday — and that could bode well for the Roughriders’ defence. The Regina-born Evans averaged more than five sacks over his four seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks, so a return to that form would help a defence that has had just two players (Charleston Hughes and Willie Jefferson) record sacks so far this season.
- Duron Carter: The receiver-turned-cornerback will remain in the secondary for a third straight game, but he may get more work with the offence than he has in the past two games. Carter took a number of snaps with the starting offence during practice this week and could see action on that side of the ball Thursday. Carter the DB had some trouble with his technique in the past two games, so the Roughriders’ coaching staff worked with him on those issues. Carter the receiver, meanwhile, is a dangerous weapon who also can help loosen coverage on teammates as a decoy.
