Riders drop season opener

A rough first quarter was the difference as the Saskatchewan Roughriders dropped theirfinalseason openeratold Mosaic Stadium at Taylor Field.

A Larry Taylor punt return and a deep ball to Vidal Hazelton produced two Argo majors in the first sevenminutes as Toronto (1-1) went on to spoil the Riders' night 30-17.

An announced crowd of 29,896 had plenty to be encouraged about among the34 players makingtheir Rider debutThursday night.

Considering thatit wasquarterback Darian Durant'sfirst game that he both started and finished in a year and a half, it wasn't a bad outing.But a loss is a loss, leading to many heavy heads in the home team'slocker room after the game.

"You know it's tough to give it a grade.Wedefinitely have to be better, we didn't do enough," said Durant after completing his first fullgame since the Labour Day game in 2014.

Durant's rustiness evident

Back to back season-ending injuries for Durant saw the Riders post a 5-21 record without their franchise player in the lineup.

Durant's rustiness was evident. He admitted his eyes were not where they should have been on occasion as Argo defenders got their hands on too many footballs.

"You can never simulate a game, you know to be tired in the fourth quarter, to have to make the reads when you're tired and when you're sore. I'm glad I got a chance to experience that again, it's definitely going to help me moving forward."

And by early indications, Durant has developed an early rapportwith second-year Rider receiver Naaman Roosevelt. The two hooked up ninetimes on the night for a total of 113 yards.

Durant threw for a total of 310 total yards, completing 31 of his 48 attempts including one to himself.

His only touchdown toss was to former Argo John Chiles, a 7 yard effort in the 2nd quarter. It was the only touchdown the Riders could manage as kicker Tyler Crapigna accounted for the rest of the points, connecting on threeof his fourfield goal attempts.

Defensively, despite some early blips, there's plenty of room for optimism. Of the 12 starters on defense against the Argos, not one played in Saskatchewan last season.

In 2015, A.C. Leonard was a receiver for the B.C. Lions. He even scored two touchdowns against the Riders in a game at Mosaic Stadium on July 17th.

But Riders' Head Coach Chris Jones has a taste for for changing things up, and he turned Leonard into a defensive end. In Leonard's defensive debut, he notchedthreetackles, twosacks and nearly nabbed an interception.

Linebackers Greg Jones and Samuel Eguavoen were other defensive bright spots.

"It's crazy, it's crazy, this team, we've got a long ways to go and for us to put out a performance like that defensively I mean the sky's the limit. You all are going to see a lot of big plays coming from the defense this year,"promised Eguavoen after playing his first game in Canada, following a four-year college career at Texas Tech.

It was also Chris Jones' first regular season game as Riders' Head Coach. On offense, there arereasons for him to be optimistic. Apart fromone playRicky Ray's pump and go to Hazeltonthe coachthought they played pretty solid on defense.

"We looked very fast and athletic, it basically came down to three plays in the first half and that was the difference in the football game," he said.

Jones will now have to get the Riders ready to face the Eskimos in Edmonton next Friday. Jones is considered to have built theEsks team from scratch, and he turned them into Grey Cup champs in only two years.

Now if he can do that in Saskatchewan, wewill really be impressed.

Josiah St.Johnsigned

After the game, Jones confirmed the signing of their top draft pick. Josiah St.John was selected first overall by Saskatchewan in May, but stood his ground in contract negotiations and held out for all of training camp.

"He's signed, he's here and I look forward to working with him this coming week,"said Jones of the offensive lineman who watched Thursday's game from the Riders sideline.

Jones does not believe St.John will be ready to play next week.