The Saskatchewan Roughriders took to the field at Mosaic Stadium on Tuesday for their first practice since defeating the Toronto Argonauts in Week 5 of CFL action.
The game kept their perfect record rolling as the team is now 4-0 to start the season and Shea Patterson is 1-0 as a starting quarterback in the league.
“Didn’t start off the way I wanted to necessarily but finished stronger. Defence made a lot of plays to keep me in the game so big time kudos to them,” Patterson said when reflecting on watching film from last week.
“It was a lot of adrenaline after the game, a lot of excitement, and gratitude. But just enjoyed it [the win] after, carried into the next day but [now] we’re focused on BC,” he added.
The Lions currently sit with a 4-1 record and second in the West Division. With a win over the Riders this week, they can clinch first.
“It’s another week for us that we have to be ‘on it’ to give ourselves a shot but, you know, speaking with the guys, everybody’s up for the challenge. We just have to make sure to prepare,” said head coach, Corey Mace.
Saskatchewan’s defence will have to continue to dominate against BC Lions quarterback, Vernon Adams Jr.,’ who is leading the league in passing yards and is tied for first in passing touchdowns.
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“Everything,” exclaimed Mace with a smirk when asked what his defence is going to have to do to stop Adams this week. “You know, VA’s on it. He’s on it right now, through the air obviously but the run game is strong as well.”
“Stop the ‘X’ plays. Stop the big players. They call hi ‘Big play V-A’ right? We have to stop the deep ball and other than that go out there and play our game that we play,” said defensive back Diontae Williams.
The defence is proving to be one to mess with so far this season as they lead the league in interceptions with nine and turnovers with 14.
“When you look into it, we have everything. We have leadership, we have talent, we have the coaching, we have the drive, we have the skill. We just have to continue to put it together every single week,” said defensive back, Marcus Sayles.
As for injury updates, the Riders will be without defensive linemen Charbel Dabire and Christian Albright for the foreseeable future as both are out dealing with knee injuries. Defensive back Rolan Milligan was limited at practice on Tuesday due to a shoulder injury. But the team did see receiver Shawn Bane Jr. return after he missed last week due to personal reasons.
