Can Henry Burris and the Redblacks make some progress against the Durant-less Roughriders?

Sunday's late game between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Ottawa Redblacks (4 p.m. Eastern, TSN/ESPN3) sets up as a mismatch by the numbers. Saskatchewan's 8-3 on the season and second in the West Division, while Ottawa's 1-9 and last in the East. Moreover, the Roughriders are 4-1 at home and 4-2 against the East, while the Redblacks are 0-5 on the road and 0-7 against the West. There's some hope for Ottawa, though, especially as they appear to have the edge at quarterback with Saskatchewan's Darian Durant gone for at least the regular season.

That means that this sets up as a clash of Saskatchewan backup Tino Sunseri and Ottawa starter Henry Burris (who first became a regular CFL starter with the Roughriders in 2001), and on paper at least, that's a matchup that heavily favours the Redblacks. Burris may be 39, and he isn't having one of his greatest seasons, but part of that's thanks to being on an expansion team with plenty of issues on the line, in the ground game and in the receiving corps. On the year, Burris has completed 59.4 per cent of his passes for 2,180 yards and six touchdowns with seven interceptions. That's not great, but it's better than Sunseri, who's thrown for just 240 yards with a touchdown and an interception and a 47.8 per cent completion mark in limited action.

While he was effective in the NCAA at Pitt, Sunseri's only had a small amount of CFL game experience so far, and it often takes a while to adjust to the differences in the Canadian game. Moreover, he didn't look good in his first CFL start, Saskatchewan's 28-3 loss to Hamilton last week; he completed just nine of 21 passes (42.9 per cent) for 88 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. Unless he improves dramatically this week, the aerial game may be heavily slanted towards Ottawa.

That doesn't mean the Redblacks will necessarily win, though. Their passing game has been about average this year (in a down year for offences). but passing yardage hasn't been highly correlated with wins this season. Ottawa also has one of the CFL's weakest ground games, averaging league lows in rushing yards per game (66.7) and per attempt (4.4), and that may get worse with running back Chevon Walker out for the season. On the other side, the Roughriders have one of the CFL's best rushing attacks, picking up a league-high 146.1 yards per game to date. Still, the disparity in quarterback experience may be something that could potentially give the Redblacks a chance to pull off an upset Sunday. If Burris shines and Sunseri struggles, too, it's possible Saskatchewan might try to swing a trade and make the initially far-fetched rumours of Burris' return to Regina come true. A lot depends on how the two quarterbacks play Sunday, but Burris' experience could well give him the edge, and it might create some surprising results.