Riders News

You could say the Riders offence is off to an excellent start in the first 3 weeks.They lead the league in scoring avearging 38.3 points a game, touchdowns scored with 12, passing touchdowns with 7and rushing touchdowns with 5.Darian Durant says new offensive coordinator Doug Berry has been a key piece."Coach Berry has done a great job of utilizing the talent we have.  He's always putting guys in the right position to make plays.  It's showing up on the board and the score column."

The Saskatchewan Roughriders have played well for the most part in this early CFL season.  But a 213 yard performance by Edmonton Eskimos receiver Freddy Stamps has posed some questions.

Lance Frazier takes the performance of himself and the defence personally.

"You know you definitely take those big games against us personally with me being in the backfield.  That's something we have to get ironed out sooner rather than later.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders didn't play their best football game, but it was enough. 

The Riders came away with a 24-20 win over the Edmonton Eskimos.  Wes Cates ran for 112 yards on 12 carries highlighted by an 83 yard run in the 2nd quarter that set up a Hugh Charles 1 yard touchdown.

The loss by the Eskimos drops their record to 0-3, which is their worst start in 45 years.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders know they're in for a test.  Even though the Edmonton Eskimos come in with an 0-2 record, they're a hungry team.

Darian Durant says they're not taking the game lightly.

"We know what they're capable of.  We know Ricky Ray is a great quarterback, they have a great defence, they have weapons all over the field.  We deifinitely can't be complacent.  We have to come out and take care of business."

Head coach Ken Miller says his team takes it one game at a time and doesn't worry about what the other teams record is.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders put the final touches on their game plan for week three against the Edmonton Eskimos. A practice Head Coach Ken Miller looked at as extremely positve, "I was amazed at how much fun our players had at practice today. Just the energy, the enthusiasm and the positive feeling that they had as they prepared and worked to get better today."

And after a 2-0 start to the season, Miller doesn't see anybody getting over confident, "I don't think the term swagger really fits with what we're about."

The Saskatchewan Roughriders offence is rolling along just fine.  91 points in 2 games....  Wes Cates and the running game looks good.....  Darian Durant has thrown for 6 touchdowns and more importatntly no interceptions.  He had 4 at this time last year.

Durant says the familiarity he has with his offence is a big key.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders just about made it through day one of practice this week before the sky opened up and the hail came crashing down.

The players headed for the locker room with about 10 minutes left because of the weather. Head Coach Ken Miller says it wasn't the hail that stopped practice it was a lightning strike he saw in the distance that made him call for the last play of the day.

Another weekly award for the Saskatchewan Roughriders.  Defensive end Brent Hawkins has been named the CFL's defensive player of the week.

In just his second CFL start, Hawkins had 2 defensive tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble which he returned 40 yards for a touchdown in the Riders 37-18 win over B.C.

Hawkins, Darian Durant and Andy Fantuz have all won awards this season.

Other award winners are:

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are looking for a repeat performance this weekend against the B.C. Lions.   And really......who can blame them.  After putting up 54 points against Montreal in game 1, more of the same is expected on Saturday.

Wes Cates says the offence has the ability to be a point a minute team.

"We feel we have the capabilites to be the best offence in the CFL, so that's how we're going to approach it.  We're trying to come out and make plays early and often without making mistakes."

It's going to be another tough test for the Saskatchewan Roughriders this weekend.

After getting Anthony Calvillo the first week, they're going to have to deal with the likes of B.C. Lions quarterback Casey Printers.  And there will no doubt be some extra running around for the defence.

Defensive end Brent Hawkins says you have to keep your game simple with a guy like Printers.