Riders’ season on the line in clash with Argos

The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ 2023 season could reach its final chapter Saturday.

After the Calgary Stampeders improved to 6-11-0 with a 41-16 victory over the B.C. Lions on Friday, the Riders (6-11-0) now need a win or a tie Saturday against the Toronto Argonauts (14-2) — the top team in the CFL — just to remain in the playoff hunt.

Kickoff for the game at Mosaic Stadium is set for 2 p.m. The Green Zone pre-game show begins at noon.

“It’s very rare (to make playoffs with that kind of record). I didn’t think I would be in this position again,” said running back Jamal Morrow, who was on last year’s Riders team that lost its last seven games and missed the playoffs. “Here we are.

“We still have a chance and everything is still on the table for us. We know we’re not going to get too low or get too high. We know we still have an opportunity and take advantage of this.”

The Riders were 6-5-0 at one point in the year, but having gone without a win since Sept. 3 — including a 26-19 loss to the Stamps last week that saw Saskatchewan drop the season series and the tiebreaker to Calgary – they’re now on the cusp of their season coming to an end.

Saskatchewan needs to finish with more points than the Stamps in order to make the post-season, but with a bye week following Saturday’s game, this is the Roughriders’ final opportunity to earn points.

While there was some thought the Argos would sit a number of their starters in this game, having had first place in the east division locked up for over a month, that didn’t turn out to be the case.

Many Argos starters will play in the game, including quarterback Chad Kelly who ranks among the league leaders in yards passing (3, 848), touchdown passes (22) and passer efficiency (109.9).

“We figured they would bring their guys. It’s the CFL so there’s really no such thing as a B group. You have your practice roster guys and then you have your injured but for the most part, it’s such a small roster you’re going to see most of their starters most of the time,” said Riders head coach Craig Dickenson.

“We’re focusing on ourselves but we’re anticipating them playing most of their guys and I think they will. We’re looking forward to the game.”

One of the biggest challenges facing the Riders in this game will be stopping a potent Argos pass rush. Toronto leads the league with 63 quarterback sacks this season while Saskatchewan has given up 52 – third-most in the CFL.

“They are sound. When you have a group that plays together, there’s nothing new to go over. It’s something you carry on from the previous year,” said guard Philip Blake, who was a member of last year’s Argos team that hoisted the Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium.

“They brought back most of their guys so that’s the one thing: Teams that come back and have a good nucleus, they carry on with what they did the previous year.”

On offence, quarterback Jake Dolegala will once again be given the start for the Green and White. Dolegala won his first two games as the starter after injuries to Trevor Harris and Mason Fine but has been defeated in the last six.

The last time these teams met was during the Touchdown Atlantic game on July 29, with Toronto winning 31-13. While Fine was the starter in the game, Dolegala came in late and led the team’s only touchdown drive.

“I went out there and I executed pretty well. You take that into consideration. I know it was late in the game but they weren’t doing much different,” Dolegala said. “Mason did a great job that day too. We had a lot of explosive (plays) and we had a couple plays that were really close. They got to the quarterback that day so we are hoping to fix that.”

The Riders’ defence will need to try to stop an offence that is putting up 33.4 points per game, the most in the CFL.

While the defence bounced back in last week’s loss to the Stamps — it only surrendered two touchdowns — the unit had given up 38.8 points per game during its five previous losses.

“We really took this week to focus on us and what we do,” said defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. “Whatever those guys have going over there, we will see what they got. I just feel like it’s about us.”