Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not?
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The Saskatchewan Roughriders are looking to end a two-game slide, but in order to do so they’ll need to take down the league’s best.
The Riders will be playing host Sunday to the undefeated Calgary Stampeders. This will be the second time the teams will do battle this year, with the Stamps walking away the victors with a score of 34-22 in their first meeting.
“Anytime you don’t beat them, you owe them, they’re the team to beat, they’re undefeated,” Riders head coach Chris Jones said, noting the Stampeders always play consistent football. “Anytime you’re trying to get to the top of the mountain, you have to go through them.”
The Riders will be trying to find some consistency of their own as they look to get back into the win column.
“We’ve played some good football in spurts, we have to show up and play for four quarters because there’s been times where we’d play for a quarter or two quarters of a time and play good football.”
Quarterback Zach Collaros said he’ll be ready to hit the field.
Collaros said he’s felt like he’s been coming off a bye week for the whole season so far after returning two weeks ago against Edmonton after missing the previous four weeks due to injury.
“We’re excited to be back, we’ve got 12 in a row now and it’s crunch time for us, I know the rest of the league feels that way and we’re just really looking forward to this challenge against Calgary and the things that come after that,” Collaros said.
He said the team has to get better at the little details and get some continuity on offence.
When Collaros takes the field on Sunday, his receivers group will look a little different with the release of Duron Carter.
“That’s a decision that’s made upstairs, the guys in this locker room can only go to battle for the guys who are in here. Obviously, you wish Duron well but we’re focused on winning with the group that we have,” Collaros said.
But while Carter was subtracted from the lineup, the Riders are welcoming Rob Bagg back into the fold.
“Being able to be in the locker room with him was great for training camp and we’re very happy to have him back, just a very high-character guy and adds a lot to the locker (room),” Collaros said.
With Bagg just joining the team on Wednesday, it is not known if he will play on Sunday.
Kickoff is at 5 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.
