Roughriders tangle with Tiger-Cats

Sep 10, 2014 - 4:27 PM Hamilton, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Despite sitting in second place in the West Division standings, the remainder of the regular season could end up being a real roller coaster for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, given the news of quarterback Darian Durant's injury.

This Sunday, the team will try to move on without Durant as it clashes with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Hortons Field.

Durant, a big part of the reason why Saskatchewan, the defending Grey Cup Champion, is riding a seven-game win streak and is just two points out of first in the division, has a torn tendon in his right elbow that will require surgery it was announced on Tuesday. Responsible for almost 1,800 yards passing and eight TDs, Durant figures to miss the remainder of the regular season, although he has not yet been scratched from potential postseason action.

Before giving way to backup quarterback Tino Sunseri last weekend, Durant completed all but one of his nine pass attempts for 77 yards against Winnipeg during a narrow 30-24 victory on the road. Sunseri, who will now take over the starting role at quarterback, hit just two of his five pass attempts for another 30 yards, while being sacked twice.

The Saskatchewan offense produced a modest 303 yards, almost two-thirds (196 yards) coming on the ground thanks to Anthony Allen who put up a game-high 115 yards and scored the only offensive touchdown for the visitors.

The Riders survived the close call thanks to a blocked field goal returned 60 yards for a major by Rod Williams in the second quarter, as well as a 75-yard punt return for a score by Weston Dressler in just his second game back from the NFL. Of the 26 points registered by Saskatchewan in the second quarter, the squad also picked up two points on a safety when the ball was fumbled through the end zone by Winnipeg.

In addition to Sunseri, who has thrown for a mere 319 yards and a score in the last two seasons since coming out of Pittsburgh, the only other active quarterback on the Saskatchewan roster as of Tuesday afternoon was Seth Doege, a free-agent signee in February who had spent some time with the Atlanta Falcons after leaving Texas Tech where he finished third in school history in passing yards (8,646) and touchdowns (69), completing a staggering 69.0 percent of his attempts in 2012 to set a new benchmark for the Red Raiders.

While the Riders are attempting to put their best foot forward after the devastating news, Hamilton is just praying for another win at this point, which would give the program just three triumphs on the campaign. The Tiger- Cats were pitted against Montreal last Sunday and even though the Alouettes are struggling to find a steady presence at quarterback, the hosts still held on to defeat Hamilton by a final of 38-31.

Hamilton led 17-7 after the first quarter and 21-7 at the break, but then it all began to fall apart for the visitors as Montreal posted 31 points in the final 30 minutes in order to squeeze out the rare victory, just the third in 10 attempts for the Als.

Zach Collaros fought his way through five sacks and an interception to convert 30-of-43 passes for 338 yards and a couple of scores through the air. Both aerial TDs went to Andy Fantuz as he caught six balls for 44 yards. Defensively, Rico Murray picked off a pass and returned it 40 yards for a major in the opening frame.

Although he has lost some of the momentum he generated earlier in the campaign, John Chick will again be on the hunt for Collaros as he hopes to improve upon his league-leading 13 sacks. One of the more punishing defenses in the league, the Riders will have to bring even more pressure this, and in the coming weeks in order to offset the loss of Durant. That means players like Tearrius George and Ricky Foley, who both have seven sacks, will also have to apply more pressure at the line of scrimmage in order for one or more of them to break through this weekend.

Saskatchewan won the first meeting of the season, 31-10, as they kicked off the 2014 campaign against each other on June 29. In that game the Riders led 24-1 at the half, before calling off the dogs, thanks to Allen who ran for 158 yards and a score, and Durant with his 136 yards and two TDs through the air.

Hamilton, which put up a mere 201 yards of offense, suffered a staggering 17 penalties for a loss of 148 yards. Collaros, the leading rusher for the visitors with a paltry 18 net yards, converted 19-of-33 passes for 159 yards and a score, but was not only picked off once. He was also sacked an incredible 10 times.

Thanks to the victory early on, Saskatchewan now owns a 43-38-4 advantage in the all-time series which takes into account only regular-season meetings dating back to 1961. The Riders have taken three straight matchups and 18 of the last 21 battles with Hamilton overall.