Saturday night's Week Three clash in the 2014 CFL regular season between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and B.C. Lions was a matchup that fans have seen more than a few times before, and not just because in the CFL division rivals see each other more than long distance couples do in a given year.
With the Lions starting the season 0-2 and the Riders trying to shake off an embarrassing defeat to the Toronto Argonauts and keep pace with the Calgary Stampeders early in July and an excited group of Riders fans congregating at Taylor Field following the rain soaked home opener that wasn't, Saturday was a scenario that the Roughriders usually thrive in. A big game at home on Saturday night, a chance to make a statement. The type of game that truly shows if you are an early contender or if you have adjustments to make, a measuring stick game, a statement game, or simply just a big game in the long CFL season with a little bit more on the line than usual. In a win both teams needed, fans came out hoping that the Riders would show that those who saw warning signs in their blowout in Toronto were too quick to panic.
Before a bye week, the Roughriders found out that they will have a lot of early adjustments to make should they want to contend for a second straight Grey Cup without several key offensive and defensive players from the 2013 roster in another game where the Riders offence continued to struggle with the lack of run threat in Kory Sheets and the lack of receiving threats in Weston Dressler and the injured Chris Getzlaf.
For a third straight week, Darian Durant continued to struggle to move the ball down the field for the Riders, getting only 188 yards passing with a touchdown to Taj Smith and an interception in the loss where the Riders couldn't score a single point in the second half.
Perhaps the lone positive on offence was the play of Smith, who has done more than enough to step up and try to fill the void the absences of some of the best players in the CFL last season have left. Smith caught nearly half of Durant's passing yardage on Saturday, eventually hauling in eight catches for 90 yards in addition to the touchdown reception. Still, his presence alone wasn't enough to give Durant enough open receivers to prevent a 15/34 passing performance in what has to be considered the quarterback's third straight disappointing performance to begin the season.
In fairness, the Roughriders struggles early on should have been expected as the loss of so many players due to free agency and the expansion draft was bound to cause some growing pains for a franchise that is looking to rebuild as quickly as possible in a market where fans don't want to see any sort of rebuilding after winning the Grey Cup. That presents a problem when it becomes clear that the Roughriders are going to need to do some roster building if they want to get back to the level they were at just a few short months ago.
Chris Getzlaf being out of the lineup is probably the most pressing concern and is the last reason for the Riders failure to compete in the last two games that doesn't boil down to the team simply not being good enough as a whole.
When Getzlaf returns to the lineup, hopefully after a much needed bye week things could be different on a Riders offence that still has two of the best wideouts in the league when Smith and Getzlaf are playing at their highest level at the same time.
Other than that, there really isn't much the Roughriders can rely on right now except for getting better as a unit. The phrase "Next man up" holds true for the 2014 Riders more than any team as if the magic is going to return to Taylor Field, the entire team is going to have to improve. Blocking will have to be better, route running will need to improve, turnovers will need to be limited, tackling will need to get better. Missing star players that gave the team that extra difference in close games, the Roughriders are going to have to win by playing fundamentally sound until they can get some momentum going. That should start in the bye week as the team continues to attempt to make the key adjustments, just don't expect any fireworks for the time being while they do.
