Give Durant some credit, and a break
REGINA — Once again, there is an irresistible compulsion to compose a DuRANT (1,239th in a series).
Darian Durant’s detractors have seized the opportunity to criticize every aspect of his game following a relapse of a collapse by the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
As the CFL team’s most prominent and best-compensated player, he is fair game. Yet, so many of the comments have stretched the bounds of fairness, to the point where all reason is lost.
So here is my plea: Give Durant a break!
Some of the same people who were strangely silent when the Roughriders won their first three games of the regular season would now have you believe that Durant is a hybrid of Nealon Greene, Don Allard and Joe (747) Adams.
Since Saturday, when the Roughriders gassed a 33-14 fourth-quarter lead and lost 35-34 to the visiting Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Durant has been panned by some critics as a turnover machine who crumbles in the clutch. It has been suggested in some forums that Durant should be replaced by his understudy, Drew Willy.
The Durant-bashing was particularly popular during an online live chat that was jointly hosted by this scribbler and the CBC’s Adam Hunter on Monday.
“I believe as long as DD is the quarterback we will be mediocre, hope I’m totally wrong,’’ one participant wrote. “Riders need new starting QB!’’ another fan observed. Perhaps these comments — and others of that nature — are reflective of a not-so-silent minority. Nonetheless, one has to wonder what Durant has to do to appease the Riders fan base in its entirety.
OK, he could always win a Grey Cup as a starting quarterback. But he had effectively done so in 2009, when the Roughriders endured the most infamous collapse in the long and storied history of Canadian professional football.
By all rights, Durant should have been crowned a champion in 2009. Just a reminder: HE wasn’t the 13th man on the field on that painful penultimate play.
Durant did throw an interception late in that game, but his fourth-quarter statistical ledger also included a 16-yard touchdown run that gave the Roughriders a 2711 lead with 11 minutes remaining in regulation time. The Montreal Alouettes ended up winning, 28-27.
The following year, Durant threw an interception on the Roughriders’ final play from scrimmage as Montreal again won the Grey Cup, prevailing 21-18.
Durant’s first interception of this season was also crucial as the Roughriders flushed a 35-18 fourth-quarter lead and succumbed 4138 in overtime to the host Calgary Stampeders on July 19.
Then came the meltdown against Hamilton. A Durant fumble was a key play as the Tiger-Cats overcame a 19-point deficit.
Most telling from this standpoint, though, is how Durant responded to the last two ill-timed turnovers. Instead of buckling, he kept battling in both games.
Against Calgary, he threw a perfect pass to Weston Dressler with the game tied 35-35 in the final minute. That play should have produced a victory.
Instead, Dressler uncharacteristically dropped the ball.
On Saturday, Durant shook off the fumble and moved Saskatchewan into position for a go-ahead field goal, only to lament Chris Milo’s miss from 48 yards away with 1:25 remaining.
Give Durant some credit for resiliently overcoming the turnovers and making plays in pressurized situations.
And, please, give the sta- tistics a look.
The Roughriders are averaging 31 points per game. This does not happen if the quarterback is as mediocre as the anti-Durant faction would have you believe.
The interceptions are often mentioned, albeit much more frequently than they are thrown.
Only two of Durant’s 170 attempts have been picked off this season. His percentage of passes intercepted (1.2) is the lowest in the league.
The most meaningful numbers can be found in the standings. With a 3-2 record, Saskatchewan is tied for first place overall with the Tiger-Cats, Toronto Argonauts, Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions.
In other words, the Roughriders are on the same plane as teams quarterbacked by Henry Burris (Hamilton), Ricky Ray (Toronto) and Travis Lulay (B.C.), and ahead of a 2-3 Alouettes squad that employs somebody named Anthony Calvillo.
Are improvements warranted? Certainly. What should have been a short touchdown pass to Jock Sanders on Saturday ended up being underthrown. The first pass of the Riders’ final possession — an incompletion in the direction of Chris Getzlaf — should have been aimed toward Dressler, who was open by a couple of steps on a deep route. Efrem Hill, meanwhile, was wide open on the left sideline.
By and large, though, Durant made the right reads and threw with accuracy on Saturday. He did not amass 380 passing yards by accident — unless, of course, you pay heed to his critics. The yardage total would have exceeded 400 if not for a dropped pass by Getzlaf, who was open in the end zone on a corner route in the second quarter.
Getzlaf will make far more good plays than bad over the course of a season. So will his quarterback. Yet, in the case of Durant, it seems that his failings are accentuated while his accomplishments are minimized.
Perhaps the time has arrived to take a deep breath, relax, and infuse some much-needed perspective into the discussions regarding Durant.
Among quarterbacks in the West Division this season, who is discernibly better than Durant? His efficiency rating of 98.3 is comparable to that of Lulay (98.4) and Calgary’s Kevin Glenn (99.3), and well ahead of the Eskimos’ Steven Jyles (79.3).
Sure, Durant has thrown a forehead-slapper of an interception in recent weeks, but the same can be said of Lulay and Glenn.
Mistakes come with the territory. But it is a far greater mistake to fixate on Durant’s errors and overlook everything he brings to the Roughriders.
Alas, Durant is not the first Roughriders quarterback to be excessively maligned. Ron Lancaster was booed during his final home game with the Roughriders. Kent Austin was also subjected to unrelenting dissection while amassing single-season passing totals that are unlikely to be surpassed.
Now, in the case of Durant, it seems that history is repeating itself.
Although Durant has yet to emulate Lancaster or Austin by piloting the Roughriders to a Grey Cup victory, the 29-year-old Roughriders quarterback does figure in a conversation that includes those iconic passers.
In 2009, Durant became the first person since Lancaster (circa 1976) to quarterback Saskatchewan to first place in the West. The following year, Durant led the league in passing yardage, becoming the first Roughrider to accomplish that feat since Austin (1992).
A case can be made that Durant is in select company. His fiercest detractors will, of course, vehemently disagree.
One is left to wonder how they survived the Nealon Greene years.