Saturday at Taylor Field was supposed to be more of a weekend celebration than a nerves inducing emotion rollercoaster as Saskatchewan took their home field in the first time in a month. Yet when the Riders took to the field in front of 40, 637 fans on Saturday it was a nightmare for much of the afternoon.
Despite Anthony Calvillo going down with a concussion early on in the game, a sputtering Saskatchewan offense that gave visions of the Riders of the past two seasons crept back into what was supposed to be a bounce back game after a disappointing loss to Calgary the week prior.
That sputtering offense allowed the Alouettes to stick in a tepid, low scoring affair until late in the fourth quarter, when things looked as if they fell completely apart for Saskatchewan despite the feeling that they would eventual pull through against a much weaker Montreal team.
Just 1:45 remained in the fourth quarter when the Montreal Alouettes' Jerald Brown retrieved a fumble by Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant and trotted 54 yards to the end zone. With Durant playing poorly to put it nicely and just over 100 seconds left on the clock for him to work with on one of his off nights, the cause seemed lost and many Rider fans took the walk of shame to the exits early.
Those fans would look mighty foolish after Durant shook off the cobwebs and marched Saskatchewan down the field for a fourth quarter comeback that didn't happen in all of 2012. Double D marched his troops 84 yards in three plays. The final bomb was a 65 yarder to big play target Taj Smith, 40, 637 (minus a couple traitors) rose to their feet as the whole of Riderville woke up.
A two and out followed by a smart decision by Corey Chamblin to insert Weston Dressler to return the punt ahead of Jock Sanders after Dressler carried the rock back into field goal position with a 38 yard return gave Chris Milo a chance to seal the game. Milo, who hasn't missed yet in 2013, coolly finished things off with a chip shot of a field goal to allow the Riders to escape a game that very well could have ended in disaster.
After B.C. beat Calgary 26-22 that disaster became a perfect scenario as the Riders got some more extra breathing room at 6-1 after Calgary couldn't overcome the BC Place crowd to keep pace with Saskatche-wan.
Still it wouldn't be all smiles at the end of the afternoon as a fan favorite who has overcame injuries his entire career went down for another time in what has been a comeback season. Rob Bagg went down with an undisclosed knee injury during Saturday's game, a harsh turn of events for a guy who has overcame ACL tears in the past to make an unlikely return to being a productive CFL receiver this season.
Bagg was shown on a YouTube video running the Taylor Field stairs, but whether or not he will return soon, or be out for a significant time was not clear at the time of writing.
In addition to Bagg's injury was the worrying sign that the Riders may play down to their competition during a stretch that sees them play the Eskimos next week before playing embattled Winnipeg back to back weeks for the Banjo Bowl/Labour Day Classic.
Saskatchewan let an Anthony Calvillo-less Als team come within 1:45 of stealing a win at Taylor Field due to poor ball control and execution.
Edmonton and Winnipeg may be the worst teams in the league, but if the Riders are going to stay in first in a tight West race between themselves and the Lions/Stamps, they will need to step on the throat of weaker opposition, not give hope for the upset.
