Is Chris Jones Yeats’ Rough Beast?
What Rough Beast, it’s hour come at last, slouches towards Bethlehem, waiting to be born?
When the poet Yeats penned those lines, I’m not sure he was thinking, or even aware of the Saskatchewan Roughriders or Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but if you ask Darian Durant, quarterback of the Montreal Alouettes, he would probably say the rough beast is definitely Chris Jones.
After Montreal eked out a 17-16 win over the Riders, Durant made a few literary references of his own to the football gods who pushed the final kick by Rider kicker Tyler Crapigna wide and allowed Montreal to get out with a win. He then added his own celebration with a few words towards Jones and well, the post Durant era began more or less as expected. No one proving anything.
When you add the signing of quarterback Drew Willy as a back-up, who previously worked under Durant in 2013, you get the idea that Montreal is going to the Rider 2013 model to try to bridge the gap between a non-playoff team and a contender. That likely means Montreal is in for a longish season.