Three weeks of training camp, two preseason games and a week of preparations have gotten the Saskatchewan Roughriders to this point as they open the regular season on Saturday afternoon in Edmonton.

“I'm ready to get to the game, we've been practicing long enough,” said head coach Corey Chamblin on Thursday before the team departed for Edmonton.  “The coaches are doing a phenomenal job in their teaching and coaching on the field, and I see the players picking it up, so I can't wait to see the players take what they've learnt and put on the field.”

After overhauling the roster with young players last season, the Riders did another overhaul this offseason, supplementing the top performers from last year with proven veterans.  It's all in a hope of getting to the 101st Grey Cup at Mosaic Stadium in November.

One of the bigger changes came at the offensive coordinator position with George Cortez taking over Bob Dyce, who becomes the special teams coordinator.  Cortez has a winning background coming in and has been known for his innovative offences.

Quarterback Darian Durant, who's been under essentially the same offence his entire career, said it's been a great experience so far learning the Cortez offence.

“We've been in and out of coordinators for the past couple of years and a lot of it was similar, but coach Cortez has brought in his philosophies, his terminology and actually it's been fun,” said Durant.  “It's been fun to learn something new, see how he wants things run and trying to execute, so I'm looking forward to getting out there and having our first real test.”

The offence had its struggles during the preseason with the starting offence not getting much going in the finale against Calgary until the final two possessions of the third quarter, but when it's clicking it looked very high powered.

“It's coming along, we've only been together as a group for three weeks now, so there's no way you can master it in that amount of time, but I like our progress and if we put it all together, we'll be fine,” said Durant.

Chamblin said he can't predict what the offence will do in Week 1, but, of course, expects it to score points.  “It doesn't matter how we get them in there, as long as we score points,” he stated.  “I hope it will be lights out, but at this point there's still work to be done, but it's game time and we just have to play the game.”

The Riders faced Edmonton in the preseason opener, but Durant and the starters were only in for about a quarter, and failed to score a touchdown during that time.  They will no doubt be hoping for a better performance this week when the game counts.

“We went into the game with a very simple game plan, we're in game plan mode now and every game counts, and it will show,” said Durant.

To get ready for Edmonton's defence, which has former Riders head coach Greg Marshall as its coordinator, Durant said he went back and took a look at game film on Marshall.

“I looked at coach Marshall from his Hamilton days and his earlier days in Edmonton to try and figure out his tenancies and things like that,” he explained.  “He's a guy that relies on his front four to get the pressure and he's a fundamentally sound coach, he makes sure that his guys are rarely out of position and you're going to have to earn everything you get against them.”

The Riders offensive line was dominant against Edmonton in the preseason opener, but then struggled last week against Calgary, giving up six sacks.  Durant added that he's not worried about that, “I'm comfortable with the o-line, I just think that Calgary came out and they did some things that we hadn't game planned for.  We weren't worry too much about what they were doing, we were just trying to execute our plan.”

Heading into the Week 1 game, Chamblin said there's only one question he wants answered by his team.  “Can we win and can we win on the road, and that's the biggest thing,” he said.

The Riders and Eskimos square off on Saturday afternoon at 1:30pm at Commonwealth Stadium.  You can catch the game on TSN.

Defensive Ends Looking To Meet Expectations

One came early in the offseason and the other right before training camp, but the Saskatchewan Roughriders are hoping that their two new defensive ends can make an equally big impact for the team this season.

Fresh off a Grey Cup with the Toronto Argonauts, the Riders added Canadian Ricky Foley to the mix early in the free agent period, hoping he could provide a boost to one of the weaker spots on the roster.  He says he's excited about being a Rider and ready to get to work.

“I haven't been that healthy (during training camp), so the body is starting to feel really good and that's starting to give me more confidence, so I'm just really excited,” said Foley after the team's final practice on Thursday.

“I feel like I knocked the rust off that I needed to (in the second preseason game) and I'm pretty excited to get going with this group.”

Despite being an eight-year CFL vet with two Grey Cup rings, Foley added that there is some nerves going into Edmonton.  “Even before training camp, I had a little bit of goosebumps before the first day of practice,” he said.  “There's just something different about being a part of Rider Nation out here and this group of guys, we've got a lot of youthful energy out there.”

There were many changes to the defence this offseason and Foley thinks they're starting to come together.  “We know on paper we're really good, we know in practice we've been really good, so a veteran guy you want to say we'll wait and see, but it's there and I think it's going to come down to the mental aspect.”

Foley was initially going to be paired with Brent Hawkins, but his retirement left a hole that was filled by John Chick.  The familiar name to Rider fans came in a day before training camp and is now expected to have a big impact on the defence.

He says he's looking forward to living up to those expectations, “I always have high expectations for myself and that's it.  It's just a play at a time, do my job and be a difference maker out there.

“Everything has been preparation up to this moment and it's the first test to see where you are and everyone has high expectations about what they can do and what they expect from themselves, so you want to meet those.”

The Riders defence dominated the Eskimos to the tune of five sacks and two interceptions returned for touchdowns during their preseason meeting.  Chick sees that being possible again this week.

“We were just playing as a whole and when we do that, everyone is hunting and in that pursuit and sitting there waiting for someone to make a play, and that's the mentality that you've got to continue to take,” he said.

The Riders defensive ends will no doubt be something to watch on Saturday and going forward throughout the season.

Riders News & Notes:

-- Kickers Chris Milo and Ricky Schmitt will both be on the roster on Saturday with Milo handling the placekicking and Schmitt taking the punting.  Chamblin also hinted that Schmitt could be called on for a long field goal attempt.

-- Veteran slotback Geroy Simon won't be in the line-up for the Riders on Saturday as he failed to hit the field for practice throughout the week.  The severity of his injury hasn't been revealed.  Click here for more details.