A painfully familiar scenario for Saskatchewan
Roughriders’ star quarterback is out for the season — again
REGINA — Without even absorbing an impactful hit, Darian Durant has been dealt yet another devastating blow.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ marquee player — the victorious quarterback in the 2013 Grey Cup game — is lost for the remainder of the CFL season.
Incredulously, one has to wonder: How could this happen again?
How often have Roughriders employees or fans heard (or exasperatedly posed) that question, or a variation thereof, since Saturday?
There was the Riders’ No. 4 on all fours. For a change, he was not in the spotlight, and it was easy to overlook the fact that something was awry with Durant.
Most of the 32,228 people who turned out for the Roughriders’ regular-season opener against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers were looking elsewhere when Durant somehow suffered a ruptured left Achilles tendon late in the first half.
Durant had just thrown a rare errant pass — one that was too high for Jamel Richardson — and the Roughriders were preparing to punt.
But the transition to specialteams mode was interrupted as people began to notice that Durant was still on the field — at first unable to put weight on his left foot.
He looked at the Roughriders’ bench, motioning for assistance, before gingerly going down on his hands and knees. After he rolled over, athletic therapist Ivan Gutfriend examined the stricken left foot.
By the time the call went out for a motorized cart, there was utter disbelief.
Durant gave the fans a thumbs-up as the cart drove toward the Roughriders’ dressing room, but everyone — himself included — knew that it was bad.
The 32-year-old Durant was playing in his first meaningful game since Sept. 7, when he had suffered a torn tendon in his right (throwing) elbow during the third quarter of a road game in Winnipeg.
On that occasion, Durant was flattened by the Bombers’ Bryant Turner Jr., who did not hear the whistle after a play was blown dead due to illegal procedure. Investors Group Field was as loud on Sept. 7 as Mosaic Stadium was silent after Durant was felled on Sunday.
In the first case, Durant was gone for the season as the consequence of a play that did not count in the offensive statistics.
He determinedly recuperated from that injury, looking ideally suited for the Roughriders’ Jacques Chapdelaine-choreographed offence during Saturday’s first half, only to have everything unravel as the result of another freak play.
TSN’s replays showed that Greg Peach may have inadvertently stepped on Durant’s left foot — although the Bombers defensive end should not receive even a scintilla of blame for what unfolded — after the ball was released.
The same play could unfold 10,000 times and Durant would be absolutely fine.
But after the flukiest of plays, what condition are the Roughriders in without their legendary leader?
If any positivism can be extracted from the utterly improbable circumstances of Saturday, it is the fact that the Roughriders made a point of guarding against the possibility of another injury to Durant.
Veteran pivot Kevin Glenn was signed as an insurance policy in February. His presence does provide a modicum of hope that, this time, a season can be salvaged sans Durant.
Last year, by contrast, the credits could have rolled on Sept. 7. The Roughriders were effectively finished once the quarterbacking reins were handed to Tino Sunseri, Seth Doege and Kerry Joseph.
This time around, the Roughriders can turn to someone who is eighth on the CFL’s all-time passing-yardage list.
Do not interpret this to mean that the Roughriders can simply flip a switch in the absence of Durant. “Next man up” is far too dismissive a philosophy when the injured party is one of the elite players and people in franchise history.
Even the coldest of hearts have to ache for Durant at this point.
How can someone incur a season-ending injury on an improbable play in back- to-back games against the same opponent? Can anyone cite anything that even remotely resembles a precedent for this?
Sure, the Roughriders have endured other season-openers in which their starting quarterback suffered a serious injury.
In 1991, Kent Austin was hit by a blitzing Edmonton Eskimos linebacker and ended up with a broken collarbone that forced him to miss five full games.
The 2004 season had barely begun when the Riders’ Nealon Greene suffered a broken left leg.
In a contact sport, injuries are inevitable and unavoidable. But at what point does it become piling on and utterly impossible to process?
That point arrived at 14:23 of Saturday’s second quarter, when a previously unimaginable scenario became all too real ... again.
Different year. Different venue. Different circumstances. Different injury. And it all looked so painfully familiar.