REGINA — The BC Lions and the Saskatchewan Roughriders will close out a Friday Night Football doubleheader as the Lions and their formidable offence will travel to Mosaic Stadium to take on one of the most revered defensive fronts in the league.
In the last meeting between the two West Division rivals the Lions earned a 32-17 victory over the Riders in Week 8.
Both teams enter the new week after earning hard fought late game wins in Week 10. BC took a 41-40 win over the Calgary Stampeders with a last second field goal, while a touchdown from receiver Duke Williams helped seal a 34-23 win over the Edmonton Elks.
As has been the case all season long, BC quarterback Nathan Rourke stole the spotlight in his teams Week 10 win over Calgary. Rourke completed 75 per cent of his passes for 488 yards and two touchdowns. Setting a new career-high in passing yards and breaking his own record for most passing yards by a Canadian for a second consecutive week.
In his team’s Week 8 matchup with the Riders, the young Lions pivot completed 27 of his 33 passing attempts, throwing for 336 yards and two touchdowns.
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Part of the reason Rourke has been so successful is the numerous playmakers that the Lions offence surrounds him with. In the Week 10 win, five different BC wideouts had over 50 receiving yards.
The Lions passing attack was led by Bryan Burnham, who had 165 yards and a touchdown in the win. Teammates Dominique Rhymes, Jevon Cottoy, Lucky Whitehead and Keon Hatcher combined for 288 yards in the game and it was Rhymes who caught the other Rourke touchdown pass.
BC sits atop the league in average passing yards per game with 366.8, the second best is the Toronto Argonauts who average 282 yards through the air.
Despite the high volume of production from Rhymes, the receiver is more impressed by the depth of the Lions offence and knows how dangerous they can be.
“The talent alone is the best I’ve been around,” Rhymes told BCLions.com. “You see all the guys making plays around me. I’m just one of many. Nate’s been spreading it around so everyone has been able to have fun, catch the ball and score touchdowns.”
Running back James Butler is set to come off the one-game injured after missing his team’s matchup in Calgary. The addition of Butler gives Rourke and the Lions yet another offensive playmaker.
Butler has 433 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 97 carries this season, and has been equally as effective when catching passes out of the backfield. The Lions running back has caught 30 of his 33 targets, turning them for 218 yards and three touchdowns, Butler will surely be a welcome addition to the Lions offence.
The Lions will look to use their offensive depth to wear down the Riders over the course of 60 minutes.
The 40 points given up to the Stamps is the most the Lions have surrendered this season. Still, the Lions possess the best defence in the CFL when it comes to yards per game. In the air they’ve held teams to 221.9 yards to go along with 76.3 on the ground, leading the league in both categories.
They failed to record an interception or a sack a week ago, something they’ll look to change against Fajardo and a Riders offence that has thrown 12 interceptions and has allowed a league-high 32 sacks.
In their last meeting, defensive lineman Mathieu Betts had two sacks, while fellow defensive lineman Tibo Debaillie and defensive end Obum Gwacham had one each.
Riders head coach Craig Dickenson didn’t mince words when speaking about the two teams last matchup.
“We have to play better,” Dickenson told riderville.com. “We have to get Rourke off his spot and disrupt his timing. We need to stay on the field on offence and defensively we need to be able to get them off and stop them on second down. This week is a new week.”
In the Week 10 matchup Fajardo completed 11 passes and threw for just 130 yards and a touchdown in a 34-23 victory over Edmonton. He’ll be up against a much tougher opponent this week facing the stout Lions defence.
Approaching the Week 11 matchup against a tough Lions secondary, the success of the Rider offence can’t be placed squarely on the shoulders of Fajardo. Receivers Duke Williams and Kian Schaffer-Baker will need to bring their best efforts.
On the year, Williams leads the Green and White receiving corps with 438 yards and 4 touchdowns, Schaffer-Baker leads the team in targets and receptions on the year, reeling in 37 of his 56 targets for 426 yards and three touchdowns.
In addition to his elusive rushing ability, Jamal Morrow is the team’s third-leading receiver with 277 yards and a touchdown on 30 receptions. Morrow’s 229 yards after catch lead all Saskatchewan receivers.
Despite the decline in air yardage against Edmonton, Fajardo managed to rush eight times for 51 yards against the Elks.
When the ball is handed off, it’ll go to the league’s second leading rusher in Morrow, who has carried the ball 104 times for 530 yards and two touchdowns. He’ll need to add to those numbers if the Riders plan on picking up their sixth win of the season.
Stopping Rourke may be unrealistic, but the defensive front must find a way to slow him down to have a chance.
The defence will get a huge boost, according to the team depth chart, defensive lineman Pete Robertson is expected to return. Robertson has seven of the Riders league leading 32 sacks despite playing only five games due to injury.
In the Week 8 meeting with BC it was defensive linemen Anthony Lanier II who got to Rourke for a sack. The Saskatchewan lineman says the Riders will be coming into the game feeling good after a win last week.
“It’s nice to go in with one and start to stack on,” Lanier told Riderville.com. “That’s the foundation, we got one, now we need to add on. We need to execute and we need to get to Rourke.”
Defensive backs Mike Edem, Nick Marshall and Rolan Milligan, who had an interception last week, will need to lead the secondary. The Riders have 11 picks on the year and will look to add to the eight that Rourke has thrown.
The Lions sit in second place in the West Division with 14 points, two back of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers with two games in hand. With a win, Saskatchewan can pull within two points of the Lions.
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