As I write this, the first of two games that’ll decide the Roughriders fate today is starting in a half an hour. As fans trickle into Mosaic Stadium, they might already know the fate of the Green and White for 2011.
For the Roughriders to make it into the playoffs, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats would have to lose every game from here on out and the Saskatchewan Roughriders would have to win all of their games. Which isn’t going to happen. Hamilton is inconsistent, but they’ve had bursts of greatness thanks in large part to an effective set of running backs. They might not win today against the Montreal Alouettes, but they’ve got a victory somewhere on the horizon.
And then we’d need the Riders to win. It’s arguable that not much has changed for the better in our team since the last time B.C. took to Taylor Field, the September 24 game where they beat us 42-5. Whereas the Riders have not only slipped into a losing streak, but out quarterback, Darian Durant, is suffering from a broken foot. Regardless, he’s still planning on playing, as he told Mitchell Blair:
“We still have a sliver of hope,” Durant said. “We still have a chance at the playoffs and as long as we have a chance, I’ll be out there. We want to make as much as the 2011 season as we can.”
That’s admirable. But the reality is that even if Durant was giving one hundred percent, it’d be tough to see the Riders making this one.
My hope? We see an improvement, some playing as a team that might come back next year. And if we lose, if it’s closer to the 17-1 loss against the Edmonton Eskimos we experience last week and less like our last home game with B.C., that’d be great.
