Any Rider fans out there know of what I speak – namely, a very close, very tense and crucial football game played on Sunday, where the Roughriders topped the Stampeders 33-30 for the right to advance to the Western Final in the CFL playoffs.
I don’t often do sports commentary in this space, but I think in this case it’s warranted.
The Stamps have been a thorn in the Riders’ side this season, but I think Sunday’s exciting results show just how close the two teams really are, their first game of the season notwithstanding. (Or the second …)
There was a slow start to the game, but to be fair, there was a highly questionable call that took an amazing run and touchdown off the board and instead basically granted the Stamps the opening TD.
There were sloppy plays, not to mention all the interceptions on both quarterbacks, and missed field goals.
The panel on TSN didn’t like some of those plays, with Matt Dunigan in particular saying it wasn’t good football.
I liked how Glen Suitor (a former Rider) responded to that, saying it wasn’t a case of poor football, it was a case of some really good defensive work by the linemen, and I have to agree, at least in part.
A couple of the plays that stood out for me were by Riders QB Cody Fajardo. One play saw him scrambling back and back as he was chased by Stamp defensive linemen, and he got the throw away, and the player caught it and ran not only for the first down but for additional yards. I loved that play.
On another occasion, Fajardo ran with the ball up the middle and not only got the first down he was aiming for, but another eight or nine yards.
While he was intercepted four times, he showed what he was capable of in that confident drive in the fourth quarter down the field, and with the opening plays of the second half to open it with a TD score.
Will that be enough to defeat the Blue Bombers this weekend and earn a berth in the Grey Cup? That remains to be seen, of course, as the Bombers are yet another thorn in the Riders’ side, one they badly need to extract.
