The Saskatchewan Roughriders have a perfect record throughout three weeks of action.
The Roughriders captured their third straight win in a 39-28 affair against the Toronto Argonauts, the defending champions, on Thursday at the Rogers Centre.
"The last two weeks we've played the Grey Cup from last year and Calgary and Toronto were the two best teams in the league,'' said Riders head coach Corey Chamblin to the Leader-Post.
"We won at home versus Calgary and now on the road against Toronto. That's a good step with our team because you want to be measured against those two teams. The last two weeks we have come out successful. Now we just have to regroup and keep moving along.''
The turning point in the game came in the second quarter when James Robinson intercepted a Durant pass intended for Taj Smith for a pick-six. The interception was, however, overturned because Robinson made contact with Smith. Following getting the ball back, Sheets ran a touchdown and Milo kicked the conversion to give the Roughriders a 14-11 lead.
"That's a tough call and it's part of the game," Toronto's Jalil Carter told Yahoo! Sports. "Every call is not going to go your way, period . . . When something like that happens you just got to bounce back, which I feel like we didn't do like we should have."
The Argonauts' biggest concern heading into the contest was whether they could contain Kory Sheets, who ran for 264 yards in his previous two games. In the first half, they limited him to just 49 yards. But the 28 year old ran wild in the final two quarters, finishing the game with 178 yards and two touchdowns on 26 touches.
Sheets was, however, just the tip of the iceberg for Toronto's struggles in Week 3. Darian Durant connected 14 of 19 attempts for three touchdowns and 245 yards. His main targets weren't his previous week's favourite receivers: Weston Dressler, who caught three passes for 22 yards, and Chris Getzlaf, who snagged a lone pass for 14 yards. Taj Smith was his main man, catching three passes for two touchdowns and 141 yards. Robert Bagg also stood out, catching a touchdown pass and 34 yards on three completions.
"We were able to hit a couple of deep balls off the play action,'' said Riders guard Brendon LaBatte to the Leader-Post. "That is really keeping the defence on their heels because they are having a tough time deciding if it's a run or a pass. When we do drop back, they are keying the run a little bit too."
Saskatchewan had trouble stopping the Argonauts' throwing game. Ricky Ray connected 27 of 37 attempts for 334 yards. But they did contain them when they ran the ball, holding them to 79 yards. In addition, their defence landed five sacks on Ray, including two from Renauld Williams.
Durant left the game in the fourth quarter with a leg injury. It doesn't appear to be serious, though. On Saturday, he tweeted his x-ray came back negative; therefore, it's possible he could be ready for Week 4 if his leg heals properly.
Up next
The Roughriders host the 1-2 Hamilton Tiger-Cats on July 21 at Mosaic Stadium.
