By Jamie Nye

Preview: Saskatchewan Roughriders look for win in Montreal

Jul 24, 2011 | 8:42 AM

The Saskatchewan Roughriders search for their first win of the season has taken them to Montreal to face the Alouettes on Sunday (5pm on TSN).

It's a rematch from two weeks ago between the Grey Cup rivals, when the Alouettes defeated Saskatchewan 39-25 due to 15 unanswered points in the third quarter.

Cooling off AC

In the Alouettes win quarterback Anthony Calvillo ate up the Roughriders defence for 414 yards passing and five touchdown passes. Keeping Calvillo off the field is the goal for his Roughriders counterpart, Darian Durant, “We just have to control the ball more and keep A.C. and the boys off the field and if we do that we give ourselves the chance.”

The defence is well aware of the challenge facing the all-time CFL leader in touchdown passes.

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“The best way to (defend Calvillo) is to just play your technique and play hard, that's all you can say. When you have a great guy like that you know he's going to make some plays but you just have to make your fair share to,” says second year corner Nick Graham.

Fighting for respect

The Roughriders struggles out of the gate has dropped them to the bottom of the standings.

The week leading into the football game saw the Roughriders release defensive back and veteran Tad Kornegay and the team in meetings with coaches and administration.

Coach Greg Marshall believes the team has handled the adversity well, “We've had a good week of practice, they've been good in the meetings and I think they've been very professional about it and now I look forward to see if we can translate it over to the game.”

The poor start has many of the players scratching their heads, as well.

“We've got to get it together and that's what we're doing in locker room is trying to find out what's going on and what we need to do,” explained defensive tackle Dario Romero, “With this much talent on the team it's hard to figure out what's really going on so we just have to go out there and play hard, keep it simple and fight.”

Roster moves

The Roughriders have made five changes to the lineup after last week's 33-3 loss to Hamilton. Safety James Patrick, running back Hugh Charles, linebacker Chris Graham, defensive back Eddie Russ and defensive lineman Mathieu Boulay are all on the roster this week. Patrick and Charles are off the 1-game injured list, replaced by rookie safety Craig Butler and running back Brandon West.

The other players off the roster are defensive end Montez Murphy, who loses his starting defensive end spot to Luc Mullinder, Tad Kornegay who was released earlier in the week and rookie receiver Patrick Brown.

Bad starts

A loss in Montreal will give the Roughriders one of their worst starts in the last 20 years. The Riders started the 2000 season with an 0-6-1 start before their first win and in 1995, the Roughriders started the season 0-5 before their first win.

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