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CFL Preview - Saskatchewan (9-3) at Edmonton (8-4) (ET)

GAME NOTES: Jockeying for position in the West Division standings continues this week, as the Edmonton Eskimos entertain the Saskatchewan Roughriders at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday night.

Both clubs are still sitting behind Calgary in the standings at the moment, but with an injury to Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, now might be the best time to try and make a move towards unseating Calgary. The Riders are second in the standings with 18 points, two behind the Stamps, while Edmonton has amassed 16 points, even though it is only 2-3 in division play.

Despite playing with backup quarterback Tino Sunseri, the Roughriders still came out on top against a pesky Ottawa squad last Sunday, although the RedBlacks were able to take the meeting to two overtimes before bowing out in the 35-32 final.

Sunseri, who is filling in for an injured Darian Durant, hit on 20-of-32 passes for 260 yards and a pair of majors, one each to Weston Dressler and Will Ford. Dressler finished the meeting with seven catches for a game-high 125 yards.

A one-yard TD run by Anthony Allen late in the fourth quarter brought the Riders back from an eight-point hole, a two-point conversion by Sunseri to Dressler knotting the score and sending the meeting into overtime. After a scoreless first OT, kicker Chris Milo played the hero for the hosts as he knocked through a 22-yard field goal.

Dressler, who has been back in the league with Saskatchewan for just four games after trying to hang on with an NFL team this year, also returned a punt 78 yards for a major during the thrilling comeback. The North Dakota product finished with five punt returns for a total of 103 yards, en route to being named the CFL Special Teams Player of the Week.

Saskatchewan, which dealt with nine penalties for a loss of 70 yards, generated just 345 yards of offense, compared to 405 yards for the struggling RedBlacks.

The victory for the Riders was the eighth in the last nine outings and came on the heels of the squad being embarrassed by Hamilton on the road a week prior, 28-3.

The Eskimos appeared to be well on their way to a much-needed win last weekend, leading Hamilton 15-3 at the break, but then it all fell apart for the visitors as they surrendered 22 points in the second half to the home team. Quarterback Mike Reilly converted 23-of-42 passes for 283 yards and two scores, but he was picked off twice and sacked five times as the Esks coughed up a double-digit advantage and headed to the loss column yet again.

While Reilly was putting up solid numbers through the air, the so-called rushing attack was less than spectacular as the squad generated a mere 48 net yards on nine attempts.

Edmonton, a loser in three of the last four contests, did not do itself any favors by being flagged 10 times for a loss of 85 yards, although that was still better than Hamilton which suffered 11 penalties (86 yards).

Miscues and mistakes have become a big issue with the Eskimos this season, as the team averages more than 11 penalties per contest and has the third-most penalty yards in the CFL (1,155). By contrast, Saskatchewan is one of the more disciplined squad's in the league, ranking second in overall flags (116) and yards assessed (1,025).

However, Edmonton seems to have found a balance between penalties and scoring points as it ranks second this week with 26.4 ppg, not to mention being second in overall defense with 295.0 ypg allowed. Perhaps the most promising stat for the Esks has them first in the league in pass defense, allowing opponents to convert just 56.7 percent of their attempts, while Saskatchewan is next-to- last in that department at 64.8 percent.

With respect to the all-time series between the clubs, Edmonton is on top by a count of 115-90-2 when taking into account only regular-season bouts dating back to 1938. The Esks won the most recent matchup last November by a score of 30-26 in Regina, giving the teams a split of the last six meetings.

Over the final three weeks of this regular season the teams will meet twice, with both battles going on in Saskatchewan.

Still a bit unseasoned as far as CFL quarterbacks are concerned, Sunseri will have to find holes in an Edmonton pass defense that has been on the ball so far this season, tying Saskatchewan for the league lead in interceptions with 14. However, if turnovers are an indication of which one of these teams is moving in the right direction, look no further than the Riders who have the best turnover margin by far at plus-16.

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