Riders down Argos on road to improve to 3-0

The Saskatchewan Roughriders entered Week Three with the CFL's best record, and they'll be leaving with it as well thanks to an 39-28 road victory over the Argonauts at Toronto's Rogers Centre Thursday night. Saskatchewan came into the game as the only CFL team at 2-0, the first time a single team had been perfect through two weeks since 2006, and they're still atop the CFL standings with a 3-0 mark following this victory. It's a win that came thanks to the play of running back Kory Sheets, who the Argos were focused on but were unable to stop, and one that also resulted from a superb effort from quarterback Darian Durant. It's one that demonstrates their resilience: after falling behind 11-7 by the end of the first quarter, Saskatchewan bounced back thanks to Sheets and Durant, took a 21-14 lead into the half and never trailed again. It's also one that shows that while it's still early, these Riders are looking like the CFL's best so far.

The play of Sheets so far this year has been remarkable. He entered Thursday's game with a league-high 264 rushing yards, 50 clear of nearest competitor Jon Cornish of Calgary, and he proceeded to turn in his most dominant rushing performance thus far. Sheets collected 178 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries (6.9 yards per carry) against Toronto and ran right over the Argonauts' remade defensive line, pulling off a particularly impressive 36-yard touchdown run late in the contest to help seal Saskatchewan's victory. If he keeps playing like this, the Roughriders' ground offence (which was already leading the CFL with 147.5 yards per game before Week Three's action) is going to be incredibly difficult to stop.

Durant's play this season has been a little more under-the-radar, but he's quietly been very good as well. What's most remarkable is the uptick in his efficiency: a career 61.7 per cent passer, Durant was completing 71.4 per cent of his passes heading into Thursday's action. He showed that accuracy off again against the Argos, completing 14 of 19 passes (73.7 per cent) for 245 yards and three touchdowns, and he spread the ball out nicely amongst his receivers (including Taj Smith, who caught six balls for 141 yards and two touchdowns, and Rob Bagg, who caught his first touchdown in three years). When you combine Sheets' dominant rushing ability and Durant taking advantage of the gaps opened up by the ground game, the Riders have a ton of offensive firepower, and the Argonauts weren't able to repel it Thursday. It's going to be interesting to see if anyone finds a way to shut them down.

Of course, the platitudes Saskatchewan has earned thus far should be tempered with the knowledge that it's still very early. Keep in mind that this 3-0 start is far from a guarantee the Riders are going to the Grey Cup, much less winning it: after all, hot starts are nothing new to this Saskatchewan team, which started 3-0 last year before going 5-10 the rest of the way, and three games represent a very small sample size. Still, the Riders have been about as good so far as anyone could have imagined. After three games, they're first in the league in points for (38.0 per game), first in the league in points against (22.3 per game) and first in the standings, and their key players are performing at incredible levels. If they keep that up, it might not be out of the question that they'll raise the Grey Cup in Regina this year and become the third straight team to do so at home.