Riders Face Season Defining Game vs Hamilton

Riders Face Season Defining Game vs Hamilton

Published: Thursday, Aug 1st 2019, 2:08pm

Riders Face Season Defining Game vs Hamilton

 

By Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

 

Tonight at Mosaic Stadium, the Saskatchewan Roughriders look to climb above .500 for the first time this season and they face the best team in the East, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

 

Is this a MUST WIN game for the Riders? Nope, not even remotely close. But this is one of those games that can truly define a season.

Sure, Hamilton is without starting QB Jeremiah Masoli for the season after his ACL tear last week, star receiver Brandon Banks is out this week and LB Simoni Lawrence is serving the second game of his two game suspension for his head shot on Zach Collaros back in week one.

Still, even with Dane Evans, this is the best team the Riders have faced all year, Calgary included. The Riders have only beaten the two worst teams in the league this season, Toronto and BC (combined 1-12 record), but could very well be at 5-1 one right. However, they sit at 3-3 and hold a crossover playoff spot after the first third of the year.

 

If the Riders can’t beat Dane Evans tonight, then the team will (to me) be reminiscent of a Danny Barrett club. They will never get consistency and we as fans will be left frustrated. This game is important for the psyche of the team. They HAVE to win this game, right? Starting QB Cody Fajardo is coming into his own and now he has the keys to himself after yesterday’s Zach Collaros trade. This is his team. He needs to go out and bring home some W’s against good teams.

 

Following this game, the Riders play in Montreal (where they rarely play well), have a bye, home to Ottawa and then Winnipeg back to back. Three more winnable games stare the Riders in the face before their schedule gets tougher. Getting to 6-3 would be HUGE for this team, but it won’t happen unless they win tonight.

 

Win tonight, set yourselves up well for the rest of the season. This game will help define the 2019 Saskatchewan Roughriders.

 

Riders 28 Ticats 20