By Jamie Nye

Preview: Roughriders and Stampeders battle for second

Jul 29, 2011 | 4:26 PM

The Saskatchewan Roughriders (1-3) and Calgary Stampeders (2-2) renew their rivalry at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday night. (7:30pm, TSN)

After a 1-3 start to the season the Roughriders have the chance to climb into second place with a win over Calgary. After three straight games against Eastern opponents, Roughriders Head Coach Greg Marshall knows these divisional games are important.

“We play Calgary four times so obviously it's important for us to get a jump ahead on the season series with them and if we can win the season series against the Western opponents we should be fine as far as the playoff positioning goes.”

Caught in a bad offense

Both the Roughriders and Stampeders have gotten off to a slow start on the offensive side of the ball. The Roughriders rank 6th in both rushing and passing in the CFL, while Calgary ranks 5th and 4th respectively.

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Last week, Saskatchewan quarterback Darian Durant provided a spark with seven rushes for 71 yards and it's something the Stampeders will be trying to key on.

“(Durant's) running is definitely a threat like we saw last week,” explained Calgary Head Coach John Hufnagel upon the team's arrival in Regina, “It was his best running game, he made plays with his legs and when he's played Calgary in the past he's always made plays with his legs so it's something we need to contend with.”

As for the Stampeders troubles on the offensive side of the football, Calgary quarterback Henry Burris says changes have made for some growing pains, “From last season's West Final our entire offensive line except for one guy (are gone). And there hasn't been a week where we haven't had at least two new guys as far as our offense goes but now we're starting to get some consistency going.”

Roughriders linebacker Barrin Simpson believes the Stampeders run game is another reason for Calgary's sluggish offense, “Last year they had their running game going which kind of gets Hank in his extra gear so we have to make sure we keep that disruption going with their running game and get after Hank a little bit.”

Getzlaf factor

One player happy to see the Stampeders on the schedule for the Roughriders is receiver Chris Getzlaf, who has had his two best games of his career against Calgary. Getzlaf has seven of his 14 career touchdowns against the Stampeders, including his career game last season when he caught five balls for 201 yards and two touchdowns.

“I think part of it has to do with how they like to match up defensively and the game plans we have going in that have allowed me the opportunity to make some plays out there.”

The Roughriders will face one of the best defences in terms of the passing game, despite the Stampeders losing all-stars Dwight Anderson and Brandon Browner. Two players Darian Durant believes change the way the Stampeders secondary plays.

“For us, those guys gave us a lot problems last year but at the same time though they're playing great defensively so they've lost two of their great DBs but they have some guys back there that are replacing them and doing a great job.”

Home field advantage?

The Roughriders will be opening the doors to Mosaic Stadium to the third straight sell-out crowd of the season on Saturday night. After losing their first two home games, Simpson says it's time to set the tone at home.

“If you're going to be a tough guy, you better be the toughest guy at home. If you can't win at home when you go on the road it's that much more tough to do so we want to get that turned around and get our 13th man involved.”

If the sold out crowd does get involved, Burris says they won't impact him at all, “I don't really hear them. A lot of people say, 'oh, it bothers him' but it doesn't, you can trust me on that. I'm so focussed on what I'm supposed to do on the field and the speakers are so loud at McMahon Stadium when we prepare for this game each and every year that we can't even hear ourselves talk so to turn it into boos it's actually very comforting than having to listen to white noise.”

News and Notes

The Roughriders will likely be without running back Wes Cates. Cates will test out his injured leg on Saturday morning before the team makes a final decision whether or not he can play. If Cates can't play Hugh Charles will be the main running back with Brandon West getting a few looks. Craig Butler will be back on the roster after the rookie safety missed last week with a hamstring injury. James Patrick will still get the start at safety.

The Calgary Stampeders will be without starting linebacker Juwan Simpson who suffered a knee injury last week against Edmonton. Joffrey Reynolds is 82 yards away from 9,000 rushing yards for his career.

Roughriders offensive lineman Gene Makowsky will tie Roger Aldag for the most games played as a Roughrider on Saturday night.

news@panow.com