Rider Broadcast Network Colour Analyst, Luc Mullinder, shares his keys to the game before every Saskatchewan Roughriders game. Luc’s keys to the game are for the KFC Game Day special: $4.95 for a Big Crunch and $7.
Here are Luc’s keys for Saturday’s game against Montreal.
The three keys are incredibly important today, especially now that you are missing two of your best defensive backs.
The first key is to dominate the first down offence and defence completely.
Offensively, Montreal is struggling to stop the run. Trevor Harris, you get him into second down and in between four to six, and he's deadly. We've talked about that at length.
The other thing about dominating the first down, especially against their offence, is that they have not been good at converting second downs. So, you have a team that's really struggling on both sides to stop the run on first down, and they struggle on second downs.
The first thing you need to do today is completely dominate, and you can’t allow the opponent to get into rhythm.
Secondly, you have to disrupt the script. You have to keep their drives short continually. You cannot allow Montreal, and I know we've got a new running back in Travis Thies coming out here. He's getting the start, but you cannot let Montreal start to get momentum by stringing together conversions. Disrupt the script, especially very early on.
Lastly, the big key today is you can’t sleep on special teams
You have a beehive of a crowd in Rider Nation; the Saskatchewan Roughriders are number one in the league. Do you want to know the first chunk they can take out of your shield and armour?
It's on special teams. So, you have to come and be focused. You have to be right on covers, and if we can, let's spring something.
So today’s keys to the game are as follows: You have to dominate first down, disrupt the script, and not sleep on specials. A bonus key, although ball security is always a key today, the bonus key is wet ball security.
