Preview: Durant returns as Riders, Bombers kick off

CFL.ca Staff
#CFLKickoff

REGINA — After the longest off-season of his career, Darian Durant is ready to finally step back on the football field.

The 32-year-old will make his first start in nearly 10 months on Saturday evening for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, set to open their 2015 campaign at home with a heated rivalry matchup against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Mosaic Stadium.

What a way to return.

“I’m so excited,” Durant told Riderville.com. “I’ve waited so long for this. There were times when I doubted if this moment would ever come again.”

“I feel great. I’m excited about going to battle with my teammates and starting this year off right.”

Durant’s last start came on Sept. 7, 2014 as the Riders capped off a two-game sweep of the Bombers in a Labour Day back-to-back with a 30-24 road win. He suffered a season-ending elbow injury and the Riders, then 8-2, won only two games the rest of the year.

The quarterback feels as good as ever but his surroundings have changed since then. Durant’s injury may have been a cause of the Riders’ late-season slide, but they didn’t use it as an excuse as General Manager Brendan Taman orchestrated an off-season re-tool.

Out are both offensive and defensive coordinators George Cortez and Richie Hall, while Jacques Chapdelaine has given a talented offence a new lease on life with a pass-oriented offence that stresses the importance of putting the ball in the playmakers’ hands in any way and as frequently as possible.

One of those receivers will be Jamel Richardson, penciled in as the team’s starting slotback opposite Chris Getzlaf. Richardson followed the long road back from a torn ACL suffered with the Montreal Alouettes in 2013 and is back where his career began in Regina.

“Words cannot even explain it,” Richardson said of his return. “I’m very ecstatic.”

“I feel like a kid all over again just to come back out here and have an opportunity to show what I can do. I’m going to give the team everything I’ve got.”

Sixth overall pick Nic Demski will also make his debut for the Riders while Jerome Messam and Anthony Allen form potentially the CFL’s top running back duo this season. While Weston Dressler will miss the season opener due to injury, the bigger question surrounds a defence that must improve in 2015.

Safety Tyron Brackenridge won’t return from injury in time for the opener while the Riders turn to a pair of rookies at linebacker to replace the hole left by the departed Samuel Hurl. Third-round CFL Draft pick Rory Connop, meanwhile, fills in on a D-line that’s missing Ricky Foley this season after swapping him for linebacker Shea Emry in the off-season.

As the strong-armed Drew Willy returns for his second season as a starter, now behind a revamped O-line that includes former Rider Dominic Picard, Chamblin said the Rider defence will have its hands full.

“It’s early in the season, he’ll have his confidence,” said Chamblin of Willy. “He’ll be trying to set a mark and he has a new contract and all of those things. They have some other guys that used to wear green so I’m sure they’ll feed off that also.”

Player Spotlight
QB Darian Durant Saskatchewan Roughriders Durant makes his first start in nearly 10 months against the team he last played against. QB Drew Willy Winnipeg Blue Bombers Contract extension in hand, can Drew Willy take the next step as an elite CFL QB?

The Riders have won 11 straight home games against Winnipeg by an average margin of 19.1 points, and eight of the last nine overall. But if the Bombers can take any extra motivation from trying to finally solve their division rival on the road, they aren’t talking about it.

“I wouldn’t say in Regina, just in general being hungry every single week is something as a team we need to take into every practice and every walkthrough,” Willy told BlueBombers.com.

Picard and linebacker Hurl are also among former Riders visiting their former team this weekend in what promises to be a spirited affair. Head Coach Mike O’Shea, no stranger to the situation himself after switching between the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats during his career, said the emotion could play to his team’s advantage.

“You win with preparation,” cautioned O’Shea. “You’ve got to rely on your preparation going into the game. You can’t just show up and rely on emotion.”

“But if you prepare, that emotion helps.”

The Bombers made strides in the off-season in Year 2 under O’Shea and GM Kyle Walters, focusing on continuity at the QB position by both extending Willy and improving the blocking in front of him. Star left tackle Stanley Bryant was signed from the Calgary Stampeders while second overall draft pick Sukh Chungh will slot in at right guard beside former Rider Picard.

Defensive back Maurice Leggett is a key absentee from a Bomber defence that remains a question mark entering 2015, a unit that cannot afford to repeat last year’s performance after ranking eighth overall in total yards.

Improving on offence, of course, would go a long way in helping the defence get better by keeping it off the field. With a bold new offensive line and healthy receivers that include Clarence Denmark and Nick Moore, the expectation is for Willy to emerge in the upper echelon of CFL quarterbacks.

For now, though, Willy isn’t focusing on anything other than Saskatchewan – the perfect first test on the road to open the season.

“Our whole focus this week is to beat Saskatchewan,” said Willy. “We know they’re a good team, a well-run organization with good coaches and great fans. We’ve got to go in there focused.”

“We know we have a tough challenge but we’re looking forward to the opportunity and hoping we can go in there and get a win. We have a great opportunity this year, the Grey Cup is here, to do something special and it all starts in Week 1.”

Game Notes: 

– The last Bombers’ win in Regina was at Taylor Field on Sept. 5, 2004, a 17-4 victory over the Riders. Kevin Glenn, now on the Riders, was the Bombers’ starting QB that day. 
– Darian Durant has never missed a start against the Bombers since becoming a regular starting QB in 2009. He is 11-2 lifetime vs. Winnipeg and has won eight of his last nine, including three straight.
– The Riders have appeared in four Grey Cup Championships over the past eight seasons, ranked first in appearances in the league over that span. 
– After going 2-7 on the road in both 2012 and 2013, the Bombers doubled their win total last season to four. This year they’ll look to get above .500 for the just the third time in the last 13 years and the first time since 2011.
– Last season the Bombers were sacked a franchise-worst 71 times, 67 of those coming against Drew Willy. Winnipeg has allowed more sacks than any other team over the last five seasons (258) ranking no better than fifth in any year.
– Nick Moore played in only half the Bombers’ games last season, but the team was noticably better with him in the lineup going 5-4 with him vs. 2-7 without.
– Clarence Denmark enters Saturday’s action with a 33-game streak of at least one reception on the line. He is one of only TWO returning 1,000-yard receivers in 2015.

– With files from BlueBombers.com/Riderville.com