Saskatchewan Roughriders bring the thunder in lightning-delayed win over Alouettes (& six other thoughts)

Photo courtesy: Saskatchewan Roughriders
The Saskatchewan Roughriders head into the bye on a winning note after a 34-6 win over Montreal.

The Riders have had two problems this year: letting teams hang around in games and weather delays. Well, consider both of those dragons slayed for at least one week as the Riders controlled this game, and an extended halftime due to lightning couldn’t slow this team down.

Here are the rest of my thoughts on a convincing Saskatchewan victory. 

Fantastic Four

Being a defender in football is difficult. Fans like points and leagues like fans, so rules tend to favour those who put points on the board. It is particularly difficult in Canadian football when the field is huge.

However, defending at any level of football is a whole lot easier when you can get to the QB while only rushing four. And that is something Saskatchewan thrived on in this game. The defensive line didn’t need any help getting to McLeod Bethel-Thompson; they were in his face early and often. It was a four-man rush when Shane Ray planted MBT into the turf for the turnover on downs. 

Thur the man

Jameer Thurman has been a leader on the Riders’ defence all season long, and he came up with a fantastic interception to set the Riders up with a field goal late in the first half. Last year, this team dined out on interceptions. This year, Saskatchewan entered this game tied for fourth in the league in turnovers forced with 14.

Now, they had several opportunities to up that number substantially against Bethel-Thompson and the Als this week, but only had one. It came from a guy who has been Mr. Reliable since coming to Regina.

Two-headed monster

The Riders’ receiving room is a prime example of “Next Man Up” with three of their top receivers – Samuel Emilus, Kian Schaffer-Baker, and Shawn Bane – all missing large chunks of the season. That has required others to step up, but the two who have levelled up the most consistently are KeeSean Johnson and Dohnte Meyers.

They both balled out in Montreal this week. Meyers had his biggest day in the CFL with 136 yards receiving, breaking his previous career high set two weeks ago. Meanwhile, Johnson had 62 yards and a score. All four of his catches felt like they had a high degree of difficulty, but he was able to fight through.

You never want to see injuries happen, but these two are making the most of the opportunities presented to them, and that should put the Riders in a good spot down the stretch.

Even Stevens

I am making an effort to be much more positive this week because, well, 34-6. And that is much easier to do with Tommy Stevens as a member of the Riders.

One thing that drives me crazy about the Green and White experience this year is how often a pass will go a yard or two short of the sticks. For some teams, that would be a frustrating way to end the drive. For the Riders, that just means it’s Tommy Time. The hulking short-yardage specialist extended drives and found his way into the end zone to open the scoring. It is as close as you can get to an automatic feeling in this sport. 

Fantasy darling

I have long held the belief that you could run a Fantasy Football league with CFL teams the way you do with the NFL, with 10 teams and a draft. I know there seems to be an obvious flaw in that plan: how can you have more fantasy teams than there are teams in the league? Tommy Stevens, that’s how.

If you were the one team in the league that didn’t get a starter at QB, Stevens and other short-yardage QBs could be acceptable fill-ins. And this game is a prime example of how that could work. In standard NFL Fantasy Scoring, Stevens would have had 7.3 points this week. Factoring in his interception, McLeod Bethel-Thompson would have had 4.9 points. So there, a game recap and free advice for the CFL.

Final thoughts

Last week, I was rather critical of Saskatchewan, even in a winning effort against the Elks. This game is the exact reason why I was so hard on them. Because I know they are capable of performances like this.

This Alouettes team beat the Stampeders last week when Calgary had all the momentum of KPop Demon Hunters. And the Riders took them down. This team is capable of being the best, most complete team in the CFL, which makes games like the Edmonton one so frustrating.

Now the Riders have a week to bask in the joy of playing a complete game before a massive stretch will see them play the East-leading Ticats before a rematch with the Stamps, leading up to their Labour Day back-to-back with Winnipeg. That is a very difficult span of games, but given how this team has played and the now four-point cushion they have atop the West Division, Rider fans should feel good about where this team is at right now.