Winless Eskimos pay visit to undefeated Roughriders

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07/13/2010 - Regina, SK (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The highest scoring team in the CFL takes the field at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday afternoon, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders attempt to move to a perfect 3-0 when they clash with the winless Edmonton Eskimos in a Western Division showdown.

The Roughriders opened the 2010 regular season in style when they slipped by Montreal in overtime, 54-51. Living up to the expectations after that momentous victory might be difficult, yet Saskatchewan followed with a 37-18 triumph versus British Columbia on the road last Saturday, making it one of only two teams to begin the season a perfect 2-0.

While the Roughriders defense knocked out BC starting quarterback Casey Printers, the offense for the visitors produced a balanced attack that generated 188 yards on the ground and 252 yards through the air. Quarterback Darian Durant not only converted 18-of-29 passes and hit on a TD toss to Prechae Rodriguez, he also gained 33 yards on four carries and scored once on the ground, keeping the BC defense guessing.

Wes Cates posted a game-high 93 yards and scored once on 16 rushing attempts. Kicker Luca Congi contributed with three field goals.

Brent Hawkins returned a fumble 40 yards for a touchdown late in the meeting for the Roughriders, while the Lions continued to defeat themselves by being flagged 16 times for a loss of 116 yards and had control of the ball for just over 25 minutes.

As for the Eskimos, they started off well enough against the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday night, but then saw their offense drop off and their defense get exploited by Als quarterback Anthony Calvillo. Edmonton was able to come up with 443 yards of total offense in the meeting and controlled the ball for more than 36 minutes, but that just goes to show how little stats can mean to the final outcome.

Quarterback Ricky Ray made good on 23-of-39 passes for 340 yards and a score, but he was also sacked once and intercepted twice, one of which was returned by Jerald Brown 40 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter as part of the Montreal comeback bid. Fred Stamps caught six balls for 119 yards and a TD, while Kelly Campbell turned his nine receptions into a game-high 170 yards. Running back Arkee Whitlock posted a game-high 99 rushing yards on 15 attempts.

If not for kicker Derek Schiavone, who knocked through five of his six field goal attempts and added a single, the Eskimos would never have been in contention in the first place. It was the first game of the season for Schiavone, who was on the sidelines for the opener and watched as Noel Prefontaine handled the kicking duties.

The success of the Eskimos comes down to the play of Ray under center. As someone who threw for more than 10,000 yards and had 48 TDs through the air in the two previous seasons, Ray's efforts help to open up the rest of the offense for guys like Whitlock. However, Ray has seen just one of his 50 completions in the first two games this year reach the end zone. As someone who showed an ability to break out of the pocket and pick up some meaningful yards on the ground the last few years, leading to a total of 11 touchdowns, Ray so far has been credited with just two rushing attempts and has already fumbled the ball twice according to the stats.

Whitlock was huge for Edmonton in his first year when he averaged better than six yards per carry and hit the end zone 12 times. He is off to a similar start in 2010 with close to seven yards per attempt and has already carried the ball 31 times in two games.

Durant is off to a fast start for the Roughriders this season, thanks in large part to his effort against Montreal in the opener when he threw for a career- high 478 yards and five touchdowns, on his way to being named the CFL Offensive Player of the Week. His numbers dropped off considerably in week two, yet the outcome was still the same for Saskatchewan. Durant, who threw 24 touchdowns a year ago but was also picked off 21 times, already has six TDs this season and has yet to see one of his attempts head the other way and that has his quarterback rating at a staggering 125.0 at the moment. The same goes for Durant on the ground thus far, with him having averaged 9.4 yards per attempt and made his way into the end zone twice, compared to just three scores all of last season.

Perhaps Durant's burst in the rushing department will take some of the pressure off Wes Cates who is already averaging better than seven yards per carry and has a pair of TDs on the ground as well.

Last season, Edmonton took two of the three meetings between the clubs, but it was the Roughriders who recorded a 23-20 win in the most recent contest in late September. Nevertheless, the Eskimos still maintain a healthy 106-75-2 regular-season series advantage coming into 2010.

Even though the Eskimos have Ray to lean on, the team had far too many drives stopped prematurely last week, and if Saskatchewan has anything to say about it the same will happen again this time as well.

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