Riders play rope-a-dope in West semifinal, and Darian Durant takes fan’s advice to heart

It may have been more "The Wonder On The Tundra" than "The Rumble In The Jungle," but the Saskatchewan Roughriders' performance in a frigid29-25 West semifinal winover the B.C. Lions Sunday thoroughly recalled Muhammad Ali's 1974 strategy against George Foreman. The Lions were all over the Riders for most of the first three quarters, piling up points, yards, and time of possession, but Saskatchewan made just enough big plays to hang around and hang around before busting the game open down the stretch as B.C. faltered. Curiously enough, too, perhaps the biggest factor in the Riders' win was the rushing ability of quarterback Darian Durant, who took great offence earlier this year when a fan on Twitter told him to run more. Durant used his legs to great effect Sunday, though, picking up massive yardage time and time again and particularly icing the game with several key runs on a late drive that led to a lead-extending Saskatchewan field goal and killed enough clock to force the Lions to get desperate down the stretch. It was a huge win for Saskatchewan, and those unlikely elements were crucial parts of why it happened.

Through the first three quarters of this one, most things were going B.C.'s way. The Lions were consistently finding success on the ground thanks to the backfield tandem of Stefan Logan and Andrew Harris, and quarterback Travis Lulay was making big throws and rushing well himself despite the cold. However, while the Riders' offence wasn't clicking well in general, they made just enough big plays to hang in this one until the fourth thanks to a couple of spectacular grabs from Taj Smith, a nice touchdown from Weston Dressler and a few Chris Milo field goals. B.C. only led 17-16 at the half despite dominating the early stat sheet, and they were only able to put up 8 further points in a third quarter that was all Lions. Then, Saskatchewan came alive down the stretch, getting key defensive stops, finding massive gains on the ground from Durant and Kory Sheets and scoring 13 straight points en route to victory. It's not necessarily the Riders were trying to save their efforts for the fourth, of course, but what was crucial here was how they made just enough plays to stay with B.C. even when things weren't working. When the offence finally started to click consistently in the fourth, they were able to pull away.

A large part of that was thanks to the rushing ability of Durant. That ability has long been present, but it hasn't always been used; Durant's average of 8.8 yards per carry during the regular season was the best in the league amongst anyone with over 10 carries, but he only ran 42 times for 369 yards. That explains why he took criticism from fans for not using his legs more, and although that fan made his point crudely (and Durant reacted in kind), there was a point there. We saw that Sunday, particularly late in the game, where a vastly-more-mobile Durant than usual showed up, evading pressure, slipping out of the pocket to make throws and taking off for massive gains when there wasn't a receiver open. He finished the day with six carries for 97 yards (16.2 yards per carry), including one incredible 35-yard pickup, and his rushing down the stretch was crucial to Saskatchewan sealing the win.

Will this work going forward? Well, the Riders might be better served to play a whole game than to rope-a-dope again, but they can take confidence from this that they can get some big plays even when not everything is clicking. They also saw here that they can count on some lesser-known receivers to step up, particularly Taj Smith (four catches for 126 yards on the day), and that they can win games even if Kory Sheets (17 carries for 68 yards) is relatively contained. The biggest revelation Sunday was Durant, though, and not just for his legs; he also was extremely efficient through the air, completing 19 of 23 passes (82.6 per cent) for 270 yards and two touchdowns. While his legs helped him get away from pressure and pick up yards on the ground, his arm made defences respect the pass, and that in turn opened up further holes for the ground game. Durant and the Riders might want to thank the fan who criticized him way back when, though. Regardless of if that was in his mind or not, Durant was more mobile and more effective outside the pocket this week, and the way he turned his play on in the fourth quarter was crucial to this being a successful rope-a-dope strategy for Saskatchewan.