As the Saskatchewan Roughriders fly out to Vancouver Thursday for Friday night’s match up with the B.C. Lions, they know they’re facing a better team than what they saw in a 33-29 win in week one.
After the opening half in that game, the Riders were up 32-9, they hung on for a 33-29 win in front of a rowdy crowd at Mosaic Stadium, who was watching live football for the first time since November of 2019.
Since then, Lions quarterback Michael Reilly, is healthy and playing great football, with three consecutive games of 300 plus passing yards, albeit two of those came against Ottawa.
Both teams are also 4-2.
Riders defensive lineman Keion Adams, who recorded his first career sack last Friday against Toronto, said on the SpotsCage Wednesday, that stopping Reilly is a test the defense is looking forward to.
“He’s (Reilly) been in this game for a long time and is one of the highest paid quarterbacks in the league for a good reason,” Adams said. “I definitely expect him to do his due diligence and have watched film and be better than week one and go out there and play his game that he’s always played, I know he’s a savvy vet,” Adams said.
The Lions will be missing some key assets though, and will have to play without standout defensive back Garry Peters, who has been suspended for one game for, “verbal abuse and unacceptable behavior towards doping control officers.”
Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo spoke after practice on Wednesday, telling the media their win back in week one is not something in the forefront of their minds ahead of Friday night.
“Maybe you watch it once just to see what they did, but for the most part we’re a much different team than we were in week one, just personal wise, players wise and scheme wise,” Fajardo said. “There are some things as the weeks progress you get really good at, and some things you’re not so good at, same goes for B.C. they’re a different team than they were in week one.”
“The guys are prepared for it and ready to go.”
QB1 discusses the upcoming rematch in B.C. this Friday.#BringEmOut pic.twitter.com/5n3VJAj7vP
— Saskatchewan Roughriders (@sskroughriders) September 23, 2021
Game time from BC Place is 8:30 p.m. Friday night, our pre-game coverage gets underway at 5:30 p.m. on 620 CKRM.
