After suffering their first loss of the 2021 season at the hands of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Sunday, the Riders took one day off to reflect on what happened as they were back on the Mosaic Stadium turf Tuesday morning.
The green-and-white are getting ready for the back half of the annual September home-and-home between the two clubs and this year, the game will be the first away from Mosaic. Centre Dan Clark says the atmosphere will be a complete 180 from what it was on Sunday.
“We go into a hostile environment this week.” Clark said. “It is honestly going from having 33-thousand behind you to having whatever their stadium holds against you. We are in a hostile environment so we have to find a way to go in there and handle our business. ”
Safety Mike Edem says it will be a fun environment and that one thing that will be easier in Winnipeg is communicating. Edem told reporters that on Sunday, he had a hard time communicating with the other defensive backs because of the noise the crowd made to try and disrupt the Bombers offence. He says with it being quiet for the Bombers offence on Saturday, it will be easier to make the calls that need to be made.
Two of those defensive backs did not practice Tuesday as both Ed Gainey and Loucheiz Purifoy were not on the field. Head Coach Craig Dickenson says the two of them were sore after Sunday’s game and that he has no worries about them not being in the lineup Saturday. Dickenson added defensive lineman Micah Johnson is still not 100 percent, but he is hoping to suit up in the rematch.
Game time Saturday is 2:00 p.m. on 620 CKRM with our pre-game show starting at 11:00 a.m..
