Riders drop season opener

A rough first quarter was the difference as the Saskatchewan Roughriders dropped their final season opener at old Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field.

A Larry Taylor punt return and a deep ball to Vidal Hazelton produced two Argo majors in the first seven minutes as Toronto (1-1) went on to spoil the Riders' night 30-17.

An announced crowd of 29,896 had plenty to be encouraged about among the 34 players making their Rider debut Thursday night.

Considering that it was quarterback Darian Durant's first game that he both started and finished in a year and a half, it wasn't a bad outing. But a loss is a loss, leading to many heavy heads in the home team's locker room after the game.

"You know it's tough to give it a grade. We definitely have to be better, we didn't do enough," said Durant after completing his first full game since the Labour Day game in 2014.

Durant's rustiness evident

Back to back season-ending injuries for Durant saw the Riders post a 5-21 record without their franchise player in the lineup.

Durant's rustiness was evident. He admitted his eyes were not where they should have been on occasion as Argo defenders got their hands on too many footballs.

"You can never simulate a game, you know to be tired in the fourth quarter, to have to make the reads when you're tired and when you're sore. I'm glad I got a chance to experience that again, it's definitely going to help me moving forward."

And by early indications, Durant has developed an early rapport with second-year Rider receiver Naaman Roosevelt. The two hooked up nine times on the night for a total of 113 yards.

Durant threw for a total of 310 total yards, completing 31 of his 48 attempts including one to himself.

His only touchdown toss was to former Argo John Chiles, a 7 yard effort in the 2nd quarter. It was the only touchdown the Riders could manage as kicker Tyler Crapigna accounted for the rest of the points, connecting on three of his four field goal attempts.

Defensively, despite some early blips, there's plenty of room for optimism. Of the 12 starters on defense against the Argos, not one played in Saskatchewan last season.

In 2015, A.C. Leonard was a receiver for the B.C. Lions. He even scored two touchdowns against the Riders in a game at Mosaic Stadium on July 17th.

But Riders' Head Coach Chris Jones has a taste for for changing things up, and he turned Leonard into a defensive end. In Leonard's defensive debut, he notched three tackles, two sacks and nearly nabbed an interception.

Linebackers Greg Jones and Samuel Eguavoen were other defensive bright spots.

"It's crazy, it's crazy, this team, we've got a long ways to go and for us to put out a performance like that defensively I mean the sky's the limit. You all are going to see a lot of big plays coming from the defense this year," promised Eguavoen after playing his first game in Canada, following a four-year college career at Texas Tech.

It was also Chris Jones' first regular season game as Riders' Head Coach. On offense, there are reasons for him to be optimistic. Apart from one play— Ricky Ray's pump and go to Hazelton— the coach thought they played pretty solid on defense.

"We looked very fast and athletic, it basically came down to three plays in the first half and that was the difference in the football game," he said.

Jones will now have to get the Riders ready to face the Eskimos in Edmonton next Friday. Jones is considered to have built the Esks team from scratch, and he turned them into Grey Cup champs in only two years.

Now if he can do that in Saskatchewan, we will really be impressed.

Josiah St.John signed

After the game, Jones confirmed the signing of their top draft pick. Josiah St.John was selected first overall by Saskatchewan in May, but stood his ground in contract negotiations and held out for all of training camp.

"He's signed, he's here and I look forward to working with him this coming week," said Jones of the offensive lineman who watched Thursday's game from the Riders sideline.

Jones does not believe St.John will be ready to play next week.