The Saskatchewan Roughriders were back at Mosaic Stadium on Tuesday hoping that a week away was enough to cure what ails them, following back-to-back losses before their bye week.
“The guys are refreshed,” said head coach Corey Chamblin after the practice, which was closed to the media and fans. “I saw a different focus and a lot of attention to detail.”
The Riders were struggling heading into the break as their record dropped to 1-2 following a season opening win. The team didn't play particularly well in either of their two losses and are coming back hoping to treat Week 5 as a fresh start.
“It's a brand new season,” said Chamblin. “There's always going to be losses, I don't remember too many teams that have went undefeated, so there's always going to be losses and we just have to bounce back from them.”
After clicking offensively in the season opening 31-10 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, the Riders struggled to find a groove over the next two games against Toronto and BC with the many new players being out of sync with veteran quarterback Darian Durant.
That led Durant to hit the film room hard over the break, instead of heading off for a vacation.
“I learned how to use what guys in certain situations and what each guy there strengths and weaknesses,” said the veteran pivot. “It gave me a chance to really sit down and study our offence, our receivers, our backs and just see how we can use them.”
During the two losses, Durant seemed to lock into the players that he was familiar with, like Taj Smith, and ignored the receivers that were new to the offence. The hope is that this past week should help shake some of that unfamiliarity when they return to the field.
“With camp being so short and I didn't have a lot of reps with all of those guys, so just seeing them in game type situations allows you to realize what they do,” Durant said. “We're going to be moving guys around a bit and putting them in situations where they can be successful.”
The key sign coming out of the break is that the team is positive. There were some negative vibes around the team after their 26-13 home loss to the Lions in Week 3. Those seem to have been pushed out now and the team is confident that they can turn things around.
“I looked at some of the game, the ones that we lost, and I thought some guys did some things that were pretty good, but they just didn't do it on a consistent basis,” said Chamblin. “There's the making of a good team there, but we just have to make sure guys learn how to do it on a consistent basis.”
The Riders will continue their preparations throughout the week at Mosaic Stadium with the practices back open to the public on Wednesday and Thursday. They'll hold their walkthrough on Friday and then host the Toronto Argonauts for a rematch of their Week 2 loss on Saturday night.
Riders Notes... Chris Getzlaf was reportedly back on the field for practice on Tuesday after missing the last two games. Chamblin said he was limited and will be monitored throughout the week before a decision is made on if he'll play.
Fri, Apr 26, 10:00 AM
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