Roughriders ready for rematch with rival B.C. Lions

The Saskatchewan Roughriders will try to tame the B.C. Lions for the second straight game, but know the Orange and Black will have a new plan of attack Saturday.

The Roughriders won the first meeting July 20 between the two teams 35-28 at Mosaic Stadium.

As the team got ready to travel to Vancouver, head coach Craig Dickenson said there’s barely any benefits to playing the same team in back-to-back weeks.

“The benefit is that you don’t have as much film to catch up on,” Dickenson said after practice Thursday at Mosaic Stadium. “The negative is that if you rely too much on what they did the last game, you could get caught.”

Kickoff for the rematch is at 5 p.m.

Dickenson said he expects his team to come out and play more a more physical game this time around. Dickenson feels like the defence did a good job of making Lions quarterback Mike Reilly feel uncomfortable but they could still do a better job.

“(B.C.) out-gained us, they had the ball longer than we did and they had more first downs,” Dickenson said. “Our defence knows that. The defence also knows if you can hold them to field goals, we’ve got a good chance of winning.”

The Roughriders did a good job of doing that in their victory, forcing B.C. to kick four field goals while only scoring two touchdowns. Reilly finished the game with 346 yards, a passing touchdown and a rushing one as well.

“When (Reilly’s) in a rhythm, he’s really good,” Dickenson said. “Our goal is to make the quarterbacks uncomfortable and make decisions when they feel rushed.”

There will be a new face on defence this time around for the Roughriders. Cornerback L.J. McCray will make his CFL debut in the game. McCray played 22 games for the San Francisco 49ers over the course of the 2014 and 2015 seasons. He was cut by the Buffalo Bills in 2018. McCray signed with the Roughriders in April.

The Green and White are going to be looking for their own quarterback to maintain the rhythm he found against the Lions.

Quarterback Cody Fajardo bounced back from an 89-yard, two interception game against the Calgary Stampeders on July 6. Fajardo finished the game against the Lions completing 17 of 23 passes for 278 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Fajardo also finished the game as the Roughriders’ top rusher with 53 yards and a touchdown.

“The (plays) that worked, you’re kind of tentative to re-do it because you know they are going to be looking at it just as hard,” Fajardo said. “They know they got hurt on it so they are going to try and fix that.”

Two receivers who have been stepping up this season to help Fajardo out has been Shaq Evans and Kyran Moore.

Moore and Evans are both entering their second season in the Roughriders’ offence. In their first season, Moore caught 32 balls for 475 yards and one touchdown while Evans recorded 50 catches for 785 yards but scored zero touchdowns.

After six weeks in the 2019 season, Evans ranks sixth in the league with 408 yards. He’s also caught two touchdowns on the season.

Evans said he’s not surprised about the success he’s had so far because of the amount of work he put in during the off-season. He said not scoring a touchdown in his first season was the driving force behind the work he put in.

“It was my first season ever where I didn’t score a touchdown so that was my main focus,” Evans said.

Evans has said he’s gotten more chances to go up and get those 50/50 balls in 2019 than in the previous season.

“They have faith in me because those are the plays that myself and the rest of the receiving corps. makes during all week during practice,” Evans said. “We’re taking more shots down the field this year and we’re capitalizing.”

Moore has also taken a step forward in his development in 2019. He’s caught 21 receptions for 367 yards and two touchdowns.

Moore said it’s the trust in the offence that is leading to more success.

“Coming in last year, it was our first year and (offensive co-ordinator Stephen McAdoo) had to get used to trusting us like we had to buy-in to what he was doing,” Moore said. “I feel like in year two, everything is clicking and he has more trust in us.”

The offensive line will once again have a new combination starting for the team. It will be the fifth time in six games that a new starting group has been put in place. Dariusz Bladek will start for the first time since suffering an MCL injury on June 13 against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He will take Philip Blake’s spot, who broke his leg against the Lions in their last meeting.

Wide receiver Justin McInnis left practice early Thursday with an injury so former University of Regina Ram wide receiver Mitch Picton was added to the active roster.

The Green Zone pre-game show gets underway at 3 p.m.

Here’s the Roughriders’ depth chart for the contest: