Riders get third win of season, knock off Ticats 20-18, affect East race

While the Saskatchewan Roughriders are still an extremely long shot to make the CFL playoffs, they managed to have a major effect on the race Saturday night and showed some improvement along the way. The Roughriders pulled off a 20-18 home win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on a last-second field goal from Tyler Crapigna, and while this only improves their record to 3-10, it marked their second-straight win in a row and suggested they're making some progress. It also may have a major impact on the East Division's playoff race.

There were plenty of good signs here for Saskatchewan, on both the offensive and defensive sides of the ball. Quarterback Darian Durant had one of his best outings of the season despite cold and rainy conditions, and he completed 23 of 31 passes (74.2 per cent) for 326 yards and a touchdown. Mitchell Gale also looked pretty good on the plays he was in under centre, completing seven of nine passes (77.8 per cent) for 52 yards, albeit with an interception. Curtis Steele was useful on the ground, rushing nine times for 45 yards, while three different receivers (Caleb Holley, Rob Bagg and Armanti Edwards) recorded over eighty yards. The defence also had a good night, holding Hamilton to 43 total rushing yards and 310 passing yards.

This was a narrow win in the end, and one where at least one controversial call (where the Ticats were penalized on an unusual illegal procedure call based on centre Mike Filer moving the ball) went in the Riders' favour. Thus,  it shouldn't be seen as proof that their issues are all solved. Still, when this is stacked onto their win over Edmonton from last week, it seems that they're heading in the right direction. That's good news for head coach and general manager Chris Jones; while there's still plenty of pressure on him, a couple of wins will at least improve the tenor of the conversations in Saskatchewan.

Meanwhile, this loss is a massive one for the Tiger-Cats, and one that could have a major impact on the East standings. They're now 6-7 on the year, and in second place in the division behind the 6-5-1 Ottawa Redblacks, who picked up a win of their own over the Toronto Argonauts Friday. Meanwhile, the Argonauts aren't far behind at 5-8, and the chances of a crossover team beating out the third-place East team strengthened this weekend thanks to the Edmonton Eskimos beating the B.C. Lions to improve to 6-7. Hamilton would still host a playoff game if the season ended today, but there's still a lot of football to be played. Their positioning certainly took a hit thanks to this one, and this may be remembered as a crucial Ticat loss at the end of the season.