With all the discussion of “sparks” this week with the Saskatchewan Roughriders, it feels inevitable that some of kind of explosion is going to erupt on Saturday.
The Roughriders will host the Calgary Stampeders, in a game that will have some kind of playoff implications, to what extent, will be determined following the Hamilton-Ottawa game on Friday.
On Wednesday, head coach Craig Dickenson announced the Riders would be making a change at quarterback as Mason Fine will get the start ahead of Cody Fajardo, who has been demoted to second on the depth chart.
The news came after Tuesday, after the Riders head coach said Fajardo was having a “vet” day when asked about the QB’s status at practice.
Dickenson was a little surprised by the firestorm that ensued following his announcement a change was coming at quarterback.
“But then again not, it is the most important position on your football team and we know how much this team means to the province and really to the country.”
The Riders head coach added that he shouldn’t have used the term “vet” day since Fajardo was capable of taking reps with the team on Tuesday.
The decision to make the change at quarterback was something that looming for some time according to Dickenson.
“We had debated after the second bye, but also the next game after was at Winnipeg, we just felt that wasn’t the right game to make a move, we wanted to go with Cody as long as we could.”
By waiting an extra day before announcing who his starting quarterback was going to be against Calgary, Dickenson felt it would give his opponents this week, the Stampeders something extra to think about.
Even though Fajardo is the backup quarterback, Dickenson does see a scenario to have him back on the field.
“I got him penciled in for some plays, he’s certainly our short yardage quarterback and we feels like he does a great job at that and if we want to change the tempo of the game we might use a little bit more.”
At practice, Dickenson felt that the spark that he was looking for at practice didn’t occur on Wednesday but the team had a much better response on Thursday.
“Day 3, we put a lot of emphasis on being sharp, we call it a no repeat work day like they do on the radio, no repeats today, we didn’t want to repeat any plays, we’re moving one play to the next, and it was a good day and I usually know cause I can check my watch and if we finish early, I know that we’re pretty sharp.”
Receiver Kyran “Swerve” Moore says it’s part of the receiver’s responsibility to make sure Fine is comfortable as he makes his first start.
“For Mason starting and the magnitude of the game, I just want to make sure he is comfortable, give him words of encouragement anything to help. ”
On Wednesday, Fajardo said that the only way a football team could create a spark was by changing the quarterback of the team, Dickenson disagreed with that idea but added that a change at QB is the most obvious way to create a spark.
“I think a spark can happen a lot different ways, a big return to open the second half, a blocked punt, a defence sacking the quarterback and ripping the ball out, the reality is there a lot ways to get a spark, we’re hoping to get a few of them on gameday.”
620 CKRM will have full coverage of the game, beginning with Countdown to Kickoff at 2:00, opening kickoff at 5:00.
