The defending Grey Cup champs limped into the playoffs this year, feeling the effects of losing starting quarterback Darien Durant early in September. It looks like Durant was holding things together, because since they lost him, Saskatchewan has put up only a 2-6 record; one of those wins came from a meaningless game in week 20, too, where the Riders looked no better winning than they looked in losing the last six games before it. Expectations were high for the Roughriders this year, and only the fact that their semi-final opponents have lost their starting quarterback as well gives them any hope of taking this playoff game and moving on to meet Calgary – again – in the western final.
Our breakdown of the visiting team in the CFL western semi-final is below; don’t forget to check out our preview of their opponents, the Edmonton Eskimos, here.
Offence
The only story for the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ offence has been the hole left by the injured Darien Durant. The Riders had a legitimate shot at the top of the division while Durant stayed healthy, but after his elbow injury, the team management burned through his two backups before landing on the well-seasoned and rapidly un-retired Kerry Joseph. Joseph has filled in adequately, but he’s still a 41-year-old quarterback in a wide-open, mobile game; he’s lucky to have a wealth of decent receivers. Luckily Saskatchewan still has the league’s second-best rusher, Anthony Allen, to pound out some yards on the ground.
Defence
The Green machine has been excellent in getting at the quarterback, with John Chick leading the league in sacks and two other Roughriders, Tearrius George and Ricky Foley, registering a dozen apiece. However, the Riders are weak against the run, and give up a lot of yards and points. With their offence suspect, they’ll be looking to their defence to make some big plays. If they can put some pressure on the relatively untested Edmonton pivot, they could turn this game into a slugfest, which is probably their best chance of pulling out the victory.
Special Teams
Chris Milo left the last game of the season with a possible knee injury, but the entire province let out a collective sigh of relief upon learning that the injury was not serious enough to keep him out of the playoff game. However, Milo’s stats are way off last year’s, with a poor 71% on field goals; punter Josh Bartel is similarly unimpressive with only 43.5 yards per punt over the season. The one bright spot is returner Tristan Jackson, who has impressed with some solid returns all year.
Coaching
Helmed by Corey Chamblin, the Riders haven’t had any worries at the head coach position; the 2013 Grey Cup winner and CFL coach of the year is still keeping a complex team together through arduous circumstances. More problematic is offensive coordinator George Cortez, who has a sort of grim determination to stick to his game plan no matter how poorly his schemes are working. The former NFL quarterbacks coach also had little success with the two backups who tried to take the reins after Durant’s absence began. In the CFL playoffs, there are no do-overs, and with Cortez in charge, if things go wrong for Saskatchewan in any given game, they’ll have little chance to put things right.
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