Sunday Morning 'Rider Blogging

The Saskatchewan Roughriders' 37-13 win over B.C. undoubtedly made for a great turnaround from the previous week's result in Montreal. But it's less clear whether the 'Riders' performance actually reflected much improvement, or merely the result we should expect against a Lions squad on the verge of collapse.

The key to Saskatchewan's success was once again a seemingly ferocious defensive performance, with 5 sacks (3 by Jerrell Freeman) and 2 interceptions to go with subpar output in both points and yards. But while the 'Riders deserve credit for taking advantage, it's the Lions who presented about the best setup a defence could ask for.

After all, it isn't often that a team starts a quarterback whose greatest strength is a cannon arm, then schemes for him to use that arm mostly to achieve the highest possible bounce on short throws into the flat. Nor would a team that's struggled with the pass all season (and particularly in the game at hand) normally choose to pass on two thirds of its plays, especially when its running attack is churning out 10 yards per attempt. But the Lions gave the 'Riders a massive advantage by doing both - leading me to wonder whether their goal was as much to test out Jarious Jackson for future use as to try to compete with Saskatchewan in what was bound to be a tough game.

Meanwhile, the 'Riders' offence was effectively a mirror image in results from the previous week: unimpressive when it came to racking up big numbers (and B.C.'s defence deserves credit for keeping the 'Riders in check with effective tackling), but balanced and efficient enough to pile up points when it did get within scoring range. Indeed, the only real area of concern was Darien Durant's continued vulnerability to turnovers in the form of two more interceptions - but Durant more than made up for that with a strong ground game that kept the chains moving even when the passing game wasn't connecting.

As for the special teams, Eddie Johnson looks to have firmly entrenched himself as the 'Riders' punter with another strong game. But while the kicking unit looks to be set, the return and cover teams only played a struggling team to a draw, trading off slightly more effectiveness on punts for slightly less on kickoffs. That may not be the kind of performance that puts anybody's job in jeopardy, but nor should it be seen as any great triumph - particularly when it ranks as one of the team's best outcomes of the season.

That said, there's every reason to be satisfied with a game whose outcome was never really in doubt after the second quarter. But what remains to be seen now is how much impact the bye week has on the 'Riders - as a team which has managed to win in a lot of different ways so far tries to work out a formula that will enable it to take on all comers. And that task doesn't get any easier when there's so much reason to doubt that future opponents will give Saskatchewan the kind of advantages it enjoyed on Thursday.