n with a bang, blowing out the Edmonton Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium 39-18 Saturday afternoon before 35,869 fans. At one point the Roughriders held as much as a 36-1 lead in the third quarter and if it wasn't such a gloriously sunny day, most of the Eskimo fans undoubtedly would have left before the 50/50 number was called.
This week the Rider coaches will dissect the film endlessly and as the saying goes, "It was never as good as it looked the first time" or "It was never as bad as it looked the first time". But for now, the Green & White should take the time to enjoy their beatdown of the Evil Empire.
Shoot the Riders hadn't even won in Edmonton since 2009 so this victory was gigantic in so many ways! They threw that monkey off their back, got a leg-up on Edmonton in the key four-game season series, and quarterback Darian Durant and his offense never committed a single turnover in their first true test of the season and he also never gave up a sack.
Need more proof? Sophomore tailback Kory Sheets only played three quarters but he rolled up 131 yards rushing along with a touchdown.Veteran defensive tackle Keith Shologan came up with two of the team's three sacks, kicker Chris Milo never missed a field goal (1/1) and young American punter Ricky Schmitt had a lights-out 48.6 yard punting average.
Really, save for a few kinks, the Rider engine purred right along like it just rolled off the assembly line. That is, except for one not-so-small thing.
Dwight Anderson.
His Saskatchewan debut was marred by an ugly third quarter incident which played out on television across Canada and the USA. The star defensive back was having his usual sensational game, locking down receivers to the point us broadcasters weren't calling any of their names, until midway through the third quarter when "D.A." lost his mind.
At the time, we didn't know why. However #33 was screaming his lungs out at the referees, jumping up and down and gesticulating wildly. He took back-to-back deadball objectionable conduct penalties (in other words 30 free yards for Edmonton) and was pulled from the game.
But that's not all. Anderson waved his finger in head coach Corey Chamblin's face on his way off the field and I thought to myself "Uh oh this is NOT going to be good". It took several moments for Chamblin to calm him down before allowing Anderson to re-enter the game.
"The real thing was one of our defensive signals was a negative gesture (a throat slash) and he got called for it," Chamblin explained after the game. "It peeved him off. He was trying to do the right thing. He misread it and it's one of the things we'll move on from and adjust the signal."
No harm, no foul? Something like that.
And there were only two other things which emanated from this game and both are of equal importance:
1)Sophomore lineman Ben Heenan was, by all accounts, spectacular in his first start at right tackle prompting Rider Radio colour commentator Carm Carteri to say on the flight home "That kid is going to be a star in this league". And...
2) Prized off-season acquisition Geroy Simon missed the game with a lower body injury and didn't make the trip. His replacement Greg Carr had but one pass for five yards. The question becomes; do the Riders really need Geroy Simon? I believe they do.
We'll find out this week when the Riders host the Calgary Stampeders in a first-place showdown in Saskatchewan's home-opener Friday at 7:30 at Mosaic Stadium (TSN, CKRM Rider Radio Network).
