The incredible seven-game winning streak came to an end for Saskatchewan with their visit to the newly opened Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton. Although they swept the home-and-away series with Winnipeg, Saskatchewan lost their starting quarterback Darian Durant in the process, leaving them with newcomer Tino Sunseri under centre.
The results were perhaps predictable. Hamilton, blowout loss. Ottawa, overtime win – barely. Edmonton, shutout loss.
But Tino Sunseri has had three and a half games, and the offence still hasn’t come together. This was a powerhouse offence, too, not just a one man show: Taj Smith and Weston Dressler were hauling passes, and Anthony Allen, Will Ford, and Jerome Messam were surging on the ground, the infamous “three-headed monster.”
Well, the guns have gone silent. And on defence, John Chick – lauded for his impressive twelve sacks in the first seven games of the season – leads a defence that has all but fallen apart, giving up big plays and lots of points to all three of their recent opponents.
The bad news just keeps coming, though. Darian Durant is out until the end of regular season play, probably – the team says week 17 or 18, but that’s extremely optimistic. And on September 28, the team put Taj Smith on the 6-game injured list with a broken clavicle. That brings him back for the playoffs.
If Saskatchewan makes the playoffs.
And then the latest news, probably not something Saskatchewan meant for general consumption. They made a play for a new quarterback: Henry Burris, currently struggling to bring the Ottawa Redblacks into some semblance of respectability. The Redblacks’ response was probably not printable, but it was apparently a pretty strong “no”.
And so the most feared team in the West until a few weeks ago, the Riders are now looking at the lead they’ve got on B.C. – now whittled down to two games – and wondering how to hold off the Lions (who have had their starting quarterback for only a couple of plays themselves).
How did it come to this?
In fact, Saskatchewan has been a surprisingly inconsistent team considering they once stood 8-2 in an ultra-competitive Western division. Their two losses, though, were also blowouts: they took a 48-15 shellacking at the hands of a weak Toronto Argonauts, followed by a 26-13 home loss to the B.C. Lions. When this team loses, it loses big.
So even if we’re looking at a playoff team, here – which would be miraculous, given that they play both Edmonton and Calgary twice before the finish line – the Riders are not the team of destiny that took the Cup in 2013. If they limp into the playoffs on a crossover spot, their end will probably come swiftly and mercifully in the Eastern Semi-final, to Toronto or Montreal.
The CFL has a long season, and good teams with a consistent winning record are rare. Lucky teams peak late and hit the playoffs with momentum; unlucky teams peak early and fade away.
We know, now, which group Saskatchewan is in. With five games left, the season’s end can’t come soon enough for the Riders.
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