Riders come back to beat Bombers 23-17, Chamblin cites it as “tougher than any Grey Cup”

The early edition of the Saskatchewan Roughriders-Winnipeg Blue Bombers rivalry lived up to the billing, with the two sides going back and forth until the final moments. In the end, Saskatchewan came out with a 23-17 road win thanks to Winnipeg quarterback Drew Willy going from the crunch-team hero last week to a late-game goat in this one; Willy threw three interceptions on the night, with two of them coming inside the last three minutes, including a pick-six to Terrell Maze that put the Riders ahead for good. He also fumbled in the third quarter to set up another Saskatchewan touchdown. Remarkably, although this was only Week Seven, the stakes felt high, with Riders' head coach Corey Chamblin saying afterwards this was tougher than a Grey Cup:

At first glance, that seems a little off; after all, this was just one regular-season game, regardless of the rivalry. However, Chamblin appears to have been talking more about how the game went than the stakes involved, and that makes some sense. The only Grey Cup he's been to as a head coach was last year's blowout victory at home, which wasn't in doubt for too long. As an assistant, he was in closer ones, including being on the losing side in Winnipeg's 23-19 defeat against Saskatchewan in 2007 and being on the winning side in Calgary's 22-14 victory over Montreal in 2008, but the former had a lot to do with the Bombers having to start inexperienced quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie (who also threw three interceptions!) thanks to Kevin Glenn's injury, and the latter was all Calgary after halftime (except for a Montreal single). Neither was as much of a back-and-forth dogfight as Thursday's game. Chamblin also was just a defensive backs coach in both of those games, so there wasn't quite as much pressure on him.

This might prove to be a critical win for the Riders too, making Chamblin's comments about this being the biggest win of his career not entirely ridiculous. Saskatchewan entered this game 3-2, but in the basement of the West Division, while Winnipeg came in at a CFL-leading 5-1. The Riders have been very up and down this year, but they've now won three in a row and look more like the defending Grey Cup champions they are than the team that struggled to start this season. Investors Group Field is one of the CFL's toughest places to play thanks to Bombers' fans and its noise-enhancing design, especially if you happen to be there in green and white. A road win there might be a big moment in Saskatchewan's season, especially considering how well Winnipeg's played this year.

While Willy was the obvious goat for the Bombers, there were plenty of heroes for the Roughriders Thursday. Maze and Mark Legree (who had the other two Saskatchewan interceptions) are the most obvious, but a lot of their success came from the dominance the defensive line was able to establish. Willy was sacked five times (three by defensive end John Chick), hit many more and hurried even further, and that certainly contributed to some of his poor decisions and throws. He also didn't get much support from the ground game; Nic Grigsby picked up only seven yards on 10 carries, largely thanks to the Riders' defensive line's impressive play.

Beyond that, Saskatchewan found an unexpected leader in the ground game. Will Ford entered this game with all the hype thanks to playing against his old team and picking up 187 rushing yards and five touchdowns over the last two games, but he only had 39 yards on six carries Thursday. That's a solid average (6.5 yards per carry), but for whatever reason, he didn't see more touches and was benched for most of the second half. It was Jerome Messam (listed as the fullback on the team's depth chart) who got more carries against the Bombers, and he made the most of them, collecting 126 yards on 19 carries (6.6 per carry). That meant that quarterback Darian Durant didn't need to do a ton, and although he only threw for 115 yards, he did so efficiently, completing 13 of 21 passes (61.9 per cent) without a turnover.

The Riders' offence is still far from perfect, but it was in decent form Thursday, especially in the latter half of the game. They'll have to keep up the strong rushing showings and improve the passing game going forward, but there's a lot to build on here. Meanwhile, their defence is starting to look like the unit that was crucial to their Grey Cup win last year, and if they can consistently get that kind of defensive line play in particular, they'll be a very difficult team to beat. It's still early in the season, but Chamblin's comments about this being a huge win aren't wrong. After a slow start, Saskatchewan now looks like a team that's trending up.