Durant injured again in Riders' third straight loss

The sun came up over Rider nation this morning, but it looks like the forecast calls for more stormy days ahead, at least as far as the football team is concerned.

Another loss Saturday night. Another blown lead. A 23-10 advantage at half-time finished as a 40-27 loss to the BC Lions.

And here we go again. Another sighting of Darian Durant on crutches already has fans on the post game phone-in shows calling the season a write-off. And we're only three games in.

The Riders' franchise player, coming off consecutive season-ending injuries, went down again in the 2nd quarter.

To me, it was borderline dirty.- Darian Durant

Lions' defensive tackle Mic'hael Brooks, who had already been flagged earlier for roughing the passer, came in hard and low sliding into the back of Durant's legs.

The hobbling Durant stayed in for one more play, throwing a 31 yard touchdown pass to Rob Bagg. But by the time Durant got back to the sideline, his left ankle was too sore to walk on.

The sight of Durant being escorted by medical staff down the tunnel to the locker room was reminiscent of the scene in Winnipeg two years ago following his elbow injury, and then again last year in the season opener when he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Those flashbacks ran through his mind too.

"I knew it wasn't my Achilles, I know that feeling for sure. I was just hoping it wasn't a broken bone or anything like, that was my main concern." said Durant to a crowd of reporters following the game.

The x-rays came back negative, but the prognosis is uncertain. Severe ankle sprains can be tricky and can take weeks to heal properly. It's a pretty safe bet number 4 won't be in the lineup against the undefeated REDBLACKS on Friday.

"That's a pretty significant injury." said Riders' Head Coach Chris Jones. "He's going to be pretty sore. We're not going to put him in a situation where he could potentially get hurt worse. I'll be smart and I will protect Darian." 

Jones, likely already has a better idea of Durant's status. He was to meet with his medical people Sunday morning. The rest of us will have to wait until Tuesday when the Riders return to the practice field.

Until then, the debate will rage on, on Durant's durability and the play by Brooks that took him out.

"I don't care who you are, when you see that hit and when people see that hit, it doesn't matter what your situation is you're gonna be hurt from that." said Durant who described it as 'crushing' knowing he wouldn't be returning to the game.

"I don't want to speak on someone's intentions because I don't know that, but to me it was borderline dirty. I didn't think he had to go low and did what he did.  I'm not going to call him a dirty player or say it was a dirty play but I do think it could have been handled in a different way."

Head Coach Jones, never one to publicly criticize officiating, league policy, or rulings, did suggest the play that took out his quarterback needs another look from the league office.

"90 (Brooks) tried to do a good job pretending he didn't mean to hit Darian. We got to take a good look at that I think to make sure we protect our quarterback, they're too valuable to this league."

Jones' next man up is Mitchell Gale who came into the game Saturday in relief of Durant and actually padded the Riders lead to 13 points before the entire team suffered a 2nd half melt down.

Gale has only been with the Riders for a couple weeks. He was picked up in the Shawn Lemon deal with Toronto. He's a professional backup. This is his 5th year in the league and he's only thrown for 347 total yards. He threw 247 of them on Saturday night against the Lions. This is the man who will be leading your Riders for the foreseeable future.

"There's no magic trick I have to do to get ready." I just have be ready to do my job and prepare to be the guy if that's what happens." said Gale who probably has never answered questions from so many reporters at once.

But the coach has confidence in Gale's ability to be ready for whatever comes.

"He's been a backup quarterback for a long time  I know he's a pro. He spends a ton of time in here, sits right there and watches video for hours on end. I feel confident he can do the things we need him to do to back us up," said Jones.

Only Gale won't be backing up. He's now the guy the Riders will be leaning on moving forward.

I think we saw this movie last year, didn't we? And we all know how that turned out.