Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ worst fears were realized on Sunday when they learned leading receiver Weston Dressler suffered a fractured fibula in Saturday night’s 32-22 win over the Toronto Argonauts at Mosaic Stadium.
In true Dressler fashion, the team’s most popular player suffered the injury while making a critical catch in the dying moments of the game, allowing the Riders to get into field goal position to put the game out of reach. Dressler’s ankle locked on the frozen Taylor Field turf and the fracture occurred.
“The doctor said he broke it in the best possible spot, down low, right above the ankle,” Weston’s father Rick told their hometown Bismarck Tribune. “They’re going to put him in a boot for three weeks, and they’re not concerned about the bone healing. It should heal quickly. They didn’t have to do surgery. They didn’t have to set it. It was a clean break in a good spot.”
Rick Dressler said that the ankle may be more problematic. Right now it is swollen, so it’s hard to tell the extent of the injury.
“They will be doing an MRI in a week or two,” Rick Dressler said. “It depends on whether there is ligament damage or if it’s just a sprained ankle.”
The elder Dressler and the Riders are hopeful that Dressler will be back for the playoffs which are only four games away. Weston was the Riders’ leading receiver at the time of the injury.
As for Saturday’s win over the troubled Argos, it was much closer than the Riders (8-6) would have preferred but at least it sets up a first-place showdown for the Green & White in Calgary next Saturday.
“That was tight,” said a relieved Rider coach Ken Miller after the game. “I expected it to be a hard fought fight and it was. In the second half, a lot of it had to do with field position. We let them have the ball a little bit too long in that second half and that’s what made it a game.”
Now the Riders will scramble to replace Dressler in the offense in advance of their game against the Stampeders. The natural choice would be to insert Jason Clermont into Dressler’s slot position where he would join other Canadian receivers Andy Fantuz and Chris Getzlaf.
However, on Saturday night the Riders moved WR Rob Bagg inside and put non-import receiver Adam Nicolson outside the numbers. It’ll come to whether or not the Riders feel Clermont can contribute as much or more than the other receivers. Saskatchewan has also used the speedy Jason Armstead in their six receiver sets in games since Labour Day so perhaps the Ole Miss grad will be used a little more regularly.
RIDER NOTES: 29,361 fans were on hand for Saturday night’s game against Toronto, which is roughly 2,000 shy of a sell-out … The temperature dipped to -3 on Saturday and with a 26 km/h wind, it felt like -10 with the windchill … It will be a different story in Calgary this Saturday as the long range forecast calls for sunshine and 17 degrees … Punter Jamie Boreham missed the Toronto game due to a neck injury and there are fears he may miss multiple games as he recovers. Rider coach Ken Miller calls it “an accumulation of injuries suffered throughout a football career.
