McMahon Stadium will be dominated by the colours of green and white Sunday.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders came back from a 10-0 first quarter deficit to beat the Calgary Stampeders 27-17 in the Western Final at Mosaic Stadium yesterday. It was the first Western Final to be played in Regina since 1976.
So how did the Roughriders get by the Stamps?
Here are some answers,
1) The Canadian offensive talent of the Roughriders came through in a big way. Saskatchewan has three non-import receivers for quarterback Darian Durant to choose from and they all found paydirt. Twenty-four year old Rob Bagg from Queen's, twenty-five year old Andy Fantuz from Western and hometown boy Chris Getzlaf (brother of Anaheim Ducks superstar Ryan Getzlaf) all made receptions in the end zone. The performance of the Canadian Rider receivers Sunday strengthens the CFLPA argument that the CFL should continue with seven Canadian starters on the field. The three non-import Stampeder receivers were outplayed. Brett Ralph and Markus Howell failed to make a catch. Arjej Franklin did lead the Stamps with 76 receiving yards, including a 56 yard reception, but at the end of the day, didn't find his way into the end zone.
2) Henry Burris threw three more interceptions than Darian Durant. During the game TSN's Sara Orlesky interviewed Durant's father, and she asked him if he gave his son any words of wisdom before the game. Durant's father told Darian "to stay calm." Well, Durant wasn't perfect, but he looked significantly more poised than Burris, who threw three picks. Sure, you can't blame no.1 for all three interceptions, but Burris has lacked his comfort zone at key times throughout 2009 and made more mistakes than his Rider counterpart Sunday.
3) Stampeder D failed to protect the lead. In my article last week, I criticized the Roughriders for not protecting leads well at home during the regular season. Well, it was the Stampeders that had the dominant first quarter and couldn't protect their lead. Down 10-0, the Roughriders scored 17 unanswered points and 27 of the next 28 points scored in the game. The Stampeders mightily struggled in the second and third quarters after a very effective first fifteen minutes.
Stay tuned for reports on the Grey Cup throughout the week, as I'll analyze both the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders.
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