By the second quarter of last Friday’s game, The Lions were behind by 17 to 4. Believe it or not, they were able to turn that around as the game progressed, winning the game by 32 to 17.

Lions defensive lineman, Mathieu Betts, had this to say on the matter:

“The vibe was good even though we were down, but the way Number 12 can play, we know we’re always in the game. We really didn’t change anything defensively. We had a couple of tweaks that we had to do and just try to reset and do our best to try to give the offence the ball back and that’s what we did…

Fajardo is a good quarterback in this league. He’s obviously a great athlete, so that’s how I’m treating him . . . If he’s out there, he must be ready to roll and be the guy to give them the best chance to win the game so that’s how we treated him…”

via Global News

Nathan Rourke added these words:

“There was nothing special (to the comeback). They were just there making some plays and we just needed to execute at (a) higher level. We’re very confident that when we execute to the best of our abilities, nobody can get in our way except ourselves…

Credit to Saskatchewan, they made some great plays early on but we found a way. I’m extremely proud of the guys for doing so…They did a great job. They didn’t blink early in the game. It was a rough start and they’d be the first ones to tell you that. But they certainly got together…

That’s a very talented defensive line in Saskatchewan . . . We knew our offensive line was going to have their hands full and they did a really good job handling that and getting better as the game went on. That was a big key to us turning things around…

I think every game that we play, whether it’s East or West, are important (but) the West games are especially important…It’s not easy to beat a team once, never mind three times during a season.”

via Global News (link above)

The direction of the Roughriders’ plummet from a decent start to the season has come under fire since this game was played. Rob Vanstone of the Regina Leader-Post recapped the game and their overall momentum right now by stating quite simply but efficiently: “The Roughriders are playing a hobbled quarterback behind a porous offensive line. What masterful planning! What could possibly go wrong?”

Please note his sarcasm. Of course he isn’t at all wrong. The decision to play Fajardo, who has had knee issues since very early in the season, worried many after we reported on the issues as did other news sources, and all that instead of playing another QB who can, or rather could have not only filled in but shined in the position. Would the result have been different?

Perhaps; we’ll never know. But rest assured, if they play that backup QB (whoever it may be…Mason Fine…Jake Dolegala, who saw game time this season, replacing Fajardo against the Argos, oh and no one else. Would you look at that! They have nobody else waiting in the wings if you look at the official team roster. Perhaps we’ve reached the root of the problem alas!).

Regardless, whomever they find to fill in, he would get better game by game if given the chance, thus the team would then have that necessary backup when needed, specifically like at times like these. You can’t just give up on a guy for one bad game. Give him a chance to get acclimated.

I understand Fajardo wants to be there for his team, but he could be wrecking the team’s possible momentum and not only that, but the rest of his career.

If we can learn anything from pro wrestling, these ignored injuries catch up to you.

An example: Stone Cold Steve Austin did so much for pro wrestling; that’s undeniable, but his career was cut short by a nagging neck injury he ignored and then he had it repaired, but it was all a little too late sadly. He had a 13 year career active in the ring.

This is of course an analogy to show that perhaps Fajardo needs to start thinking of the long run.

The lions are set to take on the Elks on Saturday August 6^th at 10 PM, and the Roughriders, who could certainly use the rest to regroup after all they’ve been through in recent weeks (Covid-19 breakout, multiple injuries, disciplinary issues…) are headed into a bye week. On August 13^th they too will be facing the Elks at 10 PM EST.

*For all your 2022 CFL Season News: CFL News Hub

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