A great way to start the season

As far as Saskatchewan Roughrider fans are concerned it could not have been a better way to start the season .A victory over the defending Eastern Conference champion Montreal Alouettes in their own backyard in impressive fashion led by a rock ribbed defence that pinned their ears back and came after Alouette Quarterback Anthony Calvillo registering eight sacks which could be a team record for a single game. The season team record for sacks is 73 set in 1988.

The Riders had been victorious in Montreal on only one occasion in the last eleven years and the Als had not lost a home opener in the last ten years so the odds were definitely stacked against the Prairie Folks going into this one.

As well the Green Machine had a suspect defensive line because of the absence of menacing giant defensive tackle Nate Davis who was released in the off season and a lower back injury to defensive end Terrell Jurineack. However the revamped front four did not miss a beat with outside linebacker and pass rush specialist deluxe Kitwana Jones being moved up to the defensive end position.and coming up with his usual top notch performance.Marcus{Chunky} Adams playing in
Nates spot had three sacks and was a thorn in the side of Calvillo all night long and has shown all and sundry that he can play in this league. Luc Mullinder the Canadian from Michigan State playing defensive end in certain situations had a couple of key fourth quarter sacks as well as he played his best game as a Rider.

The secondary which lost veterans Davin Bush and Omar Morgan in the off season and was a cause of concern came up with three timely interceptions by James Johnson ,Tristan Clovis and veteran Eddie Davis who had ten tackles to go along with his interception and was like a coach on the field from his inside DB position.

Quarterback Kerry Joseph showed why the Riders were so anxious to acquire him last year because of his scrambling ability and the way he escaped from a couple of would be Alouette tacklers and then while on the dead run was able to get the ball to Henri Childs for the games only touchdown was one of the great broken plays in Rider history.Joseph quite deservedly was named the offensive player of the game.

Kent Austin in his CFL Head Coaching debut was calm and cool on the sidelines and and was in total control of his troops.The players have bought into his philosophy of playing a smart aggressive heads up confident style of football and believing that they can beat the man across from them in each and every situation. and that if the first stringer goes down the back up will come in and play as well. Austin has a no nonsense approach and has little tolerance for players taking stupid penalties which accounts for the noticeable absence of negative yardage being assessed against Saskatchewan in two exhibition games and one league game this year.The Coaching staff he has assembled is arguably the best in the league as they have collectively and individually so much CFL experience that they know how to instantly react to each and every situation.


So next up is the home opener next Sunday at Five with the Calgary Stampeders in town and you can expect a different Cowboy team this time around than the one that lost 23-21 to the Roughriders here on June 22nd. in Exhibition play.You can also expect Kent Austin and his very competent coaching staff to make sure this team is prepared mentally and physically for the Red Raiders from Alberta and that they will not be overconfident because of what happened two weeks ago.

These days its great to be a Rider Fan as the loyal die hard followers of this franchise who have had their hearts broken on so many occasions have genuine reason to believe that finally the football gods are smiling on them.