Riders looking to rebound against Alouettes
Coping with a nightmare defeat isn’t simple, however Cody Fajardo believes the Saskatchewan Roughriders are as much as the duty.
The Riders, coming off a brief week, had been trounced 37-13 by the Montreal Alouettes on June 23. It was a sport that began badly for the Riders. Montreal’s Chandler Worthy took the opening kickoff 88 yards for a landing.
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Fajardo admitted the Riders, who will host the Als on Saturday in Regina, had been slightly overwhelmed by the beginning and couldn’t discover a method to flip again the tide.
“They run again the opening kickoff and self-doubt begins to creep in,” stated Fajardo. “You’re already down seven factors. Then on our first play of the sport we had some miscommunication and a missed task that just about was a pick-six. After which the following was a throw to Shaq (Evans) and he was in all probability a half of an inch out of bounds so we go two and out. Then they get a discipline objective and also you’re taking a look at an early 10-0 deficit and we’d solely had two performs. As an offence, it’s onerous to beat that.”
The offensive woes had been compounded by a powerful efficiency by the Montreal defence, which recorded eight sacks and three interceptions.
It was the primary sport for the Riders with out beginning centre Dan Clark, who suffered a damaged fibula on June 18 in a 26-16 victory over the Edmonton Elks. With Clark sidelined, rookie Logan Bandy stepped into the lineup towards the Alouettes with only one observe to arrange for his first CFL begin.
Bandy’s inexperience, mixed with lack of observe time and the power of the Montreal defence, resulted in an extended night for the Riders.
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Riders Head Coach Craig Dickenson feels the offensive line shouldn’t bear the brunt of the blame for the eight sacks.
“I feel our offensive line performed higher than what the eight sacks would point out,” stated Dickenson. “I believed they competed onerous and for essentially the most half stayed in entrance of the defensive linemen, however that’s an excellent defensive entrance.
“They did an excellent job of disguising some issues and forcing us to hold on to the ball slightly longer than we wished to. And sure, Bandy made a few errors so it was an ideal storm nevertheless it wasn’t all on the road. It wasn’t all on the quarterback. And it wasn’t all on the backs, they shared accountability.
“Now we’ve had correct time to arrange issues, get issues cleaned up and we’re anticipating to be a significantly better staff and to play quite a bit higher than we did.”
After not permitting a sack in Week 1, the Riders have given up 11 sacks within the final two video games. That’s the largest two-game complete for the Riders since October 2016, once they gave up 12 sacks to B.C. and Montreal.
The Riders could have it slightly simpler on Saturday as Montreal shall be with out defensive lineman Almondo Sewell, who’s unavailable resulting from a private subject. The 35-year-old veteran is without doubt one of the high defensive gamers within the league and recorded two sacks in final week’s victory.
Along with Clark’s damage, the Riders offence can also be coping with the absence of Evans, who suffered a fractured ankle within the first quarter of final week’s loss. That is the second straight season that Evans has been sidelined by a severe damage. He missed seven video games in 2021 with a damaged leg.
Evans is anticipated to overlook six to eight weeks with the ankle damage and shall be changed this week by Regina’s Mitch Picton.
MONTREAL ALOUETTES (1-2) AT SASKATCHEWAN ROUGHRIDERS (2-1)
Saturday, Mosaic Stadium
ALS BY THE NUMBERS: Heading into Week 4, Montreal had the main rusher, receiver and scorer. Jeshrun Antwi has 172 dashing yards, Eugene Lewis has 307 receiving yards and kicker David Cote has 40 factors.
SACK ATTACK: Riders defensive finish Pete Robertson leads the CFL with 5 sacks and has recorded a sack in all three video games this season. In 11 video games final season as a rookie, Robertson collected 5 sacks in a backup function.
SAVING THE BEST FOR LAST: The Riders have scored 69 factors in three video games this season with 39 of these factors coming within the fourth quarter. They’ve scored 30 factors within the different three quarters mixed.
