Riders looking to put crushing defeat behind them

After a crushing defeat at the hands of the Montreal Alouettes, the Saskatchewan Roughriders hope to put the past behind them.

But it won't be easy for the green and white as they head into Calgary to face its western conference rivals.

At Monday's practice in Regina, head coach and general manager Chris Jones said his team is going to have to make drastic changes on the field if they hope to stand a chance against the red-hot Calgary Stampeders.

• Alouettes throttle Roughriders with complete team performance on Ben Cahoon's special night
• Stampeders win in OT after furious late comeback against Lions

The Stamps are coming off a wild overtime win over the B.C. Lions, capturing first place in the western conference.  

"We're playing a good football team, they're very well coached. They have a great quarterback and a really good defence and I look forward to seeing how we match up against a very good football team," Jones said after practice.

No doubt Rider Nation awaits Jones' decision on whether or not Darian Durant will be back under centre Thursday night, but he's still waiting to see how the veteran quarterback recovers from his ankle injury.

After the first practice this week Jones said Durant's mobility looked good, but there's still a few more days of practice before game time.

"I thought he had a really good day I haven't spoken to him to see how he feels but I evaluate what I see on the field and he did a pretty good job today," Jones said.

In the locker room after practice Durant said it was tough to watch last week's game from the sidelines, but he's taking it as a lesson, and something the team needs to move on from if they're to have any success against Calgary.

"As a team we have to put it behind us. I've been part of games that have gotten out of hand and you have to give Montreal credit they played a great game, but we have to make sure we come back against a western opponent," Durant said, adding the early deficit forced Saskatchewan to throw the ball more, relying less on its running game.

Durant said that's something that needs to change if the team plans on turning around its season.

"We have to continue to get into situations where we can run the ball a little bit more. That game got out of hand so we had to throw the ball a little bit more than we'd like to," he said.

The 33-year-old said the first stop in Calgary is always exciting and he hopes to make his return Thursday to face the team's greatest rival.

"The Calgary game is always special," Durant said. "I'm looking forward to getting out there against the guys I've competed with for years and like I said, it's been two years since I've played them."

Kickoff for Thursday's game in Calgary is at 8 p.m. CST.