The Saskatchewan Roughriders opened the 2013 CFL preseason with a 31-24 come-from-behind victory over the Eskimos in Edmonton Friday night. As exhibition games go, it really was a cliff-hanger complete with enough plays to fill a highlight-reel. Well, maybe a short one, but it was better than what we expected at this time of year.
From a Rider perspective, the Green & White started strong with second-string quarterback Drew Willy calling signals and the team scored on its opening drive, a 40-yard Chris Milo field goal. They carried a 10-7 lead into the second quarter but things bogged down a little in the second period when Darian Durant took over and the offense seemed a tad out of sync. A turnover and a defensive breakdown on a 77-yard Eskimo touchdown led to the Riders being on the wrong end of a 14-11 halftime score.
Back-ups for both teams took over in the second half and it was a see-saw battle over the final 30 minutes. However Roughrider youngsters came through in the clutch as rookie quarterback Tino Sunseri led the team on a game-tying touchdown drive with 53 seconds to go and safety Graig Newman provided the winning points on a 77-yard interception return touchdown with 24 seconds remaining.
It was a satisfying effort for second-year Roughrider head coach Corey Chamblin.
"Our purpose was to come here and win," Chamblin said after the game. "It means something. Preseason, regular season or postseason, we need to win football games."
Saskatchewan's defense was relentless in this one, sacking Edmonton quarterbacks five times (including three in the first quarter) and picking off a total of four passes. Chamblin said the team is faced with some tough decisions regarding who to keep and who to cut, however a Rider assistant coach quipped "a lot of the decisions made themselves tonight".
It was a typical showing by the new George Cortez offense, as Rider quarterbacks completed 76% of their passes and connected on timely strikes downfield. That's the way it's set up to work.
The Riders left a handful of their big stars at home for this game including Weston Dressler, Geroy Simon, Rey Williams, Keith Shologan, Ricky Foley and Dominic Picard. Some were due to injury while others simply don't have to worry about their spot in the lineup.
With this veteran, star-laden roster excited about getting the 2013 season going, management is indeed faced with some very tough decisions regarding the salary cap. With the late addition of defensive end John Chick, reportedly at a pricetag of $120,000 per season, the club is certainly looking at a salary cap violation as it stands today. However they've still got some time to piece it all together knowing full well they have some tough moves ahead.
"We do," Rider GM Brendan Taman agreed. "And we've got some adjustments we've got to make. We're always aware of that. Step one from January to June is that you have to get the good players and make sure you can win games, right? How we work the finances is hand-in-hand with that but the salary cap's made at the end of November, not now.
"We'll do what we need to do to make it. It's always part of our equation but we're not going to overlook getting Dwight Anderson, Weldon Brown or Ricky Foley or Chick, or trading for Geroy. We've got to win. That's step one and with the finances in mind, we're going to try to tie that together."
It's a good problem to have.
