The odds aren't in the Saskatchewan Roughriders' favour to defeat the B.C. Lions when they meet on Sunday night at B.C. Place.
The Riders are coming off one of their most difficult losses of the season last Saturday in Hamilton, whereas the Lions have overcome some early season injuries to win their last three games.
But Saskatchewan has seen some reinforcements of their own come off the injured list this week, and that has TSN’s Farhan Lalji feeling better about the Riders' chances.
Lalji joined the SportsCage on Friday for his Inside Scoop segment and talked about the match-up and how things might not be as clear-cut as it seems when it comes to picking a winner.
“It's far from a foregone conclusion,” Lalji said, adding that the return of the likes of receivers Sam Emilus and James Letcher Jr. along with a handful of veterans on the lines will make Saskatchewan a much different looking team compared to last week in Hamilton.
“There's a lot more key pieces that are available to them right now. I still think B.C.’s defence is playing really well right now, they’re not gonna get hemorrhaged like they did the first game where the big three receivers for Saskatchewan and Trevor Harris just ate them alive.
“I think it'll be a better game this time around that way. So I think B.C. will win, but like it's a coin flip game in my mind.”
Such is the situation is due to a remarkable turnaround by the Lions. It wasn’t all that long ago that B.C. was sitting at 1-5 and in last place in the West Division, but they’re slowly getting healthy after a spate of injuries to start the season. Lalji felt that while getting players like receivers Justin McInnis and Keon Hatcher Sr. back in the lineup has helped, it’s the play of the defence that’s really made the difference.
“A lot of it, quite frankly, has been coaching related in terms of simplifying schemes, putting players in a position to get better,” Lalji said. “They've had a lot of rotating casts on that side of the ball, but they've just kind of been able to plug and play because they haven't gotten overly complicated.”
Becoming more disruptive up front with blitz timing has also been a thing, and will likely also be a key factor against Trevor Harris and the Riders.
“He’s a really difficult quarterback to blitz because he gets the ball out of his hands so quickly and he can diagnose hots really quick,” Lalji said. “So we'll see how that plays out. But they've been strategic with their blitzes, they're tackling better in the secondary, they're simplified in the secondary, and those have been the biggest changes.”
Lalji also had plenty to say about the upcoming NFL season, and you can check it all out in the video below:
