June 22, 2017

Turn The Page: Durant ready to usher in new era in Montreal

“I think that all the hype and drama, so to speak, is from the outside. For myself and my teammates, it’s the first game of the season and an opportunity for us to get off on the right track.”



MONTREAL – On the eve one of the biggest games of his career, arguably since the 101st Grey Cup, Darian Durant isn’t taking the bait.

Constantly pressed with questions about his old team, the storyline is that he is starting his new chapter against the team that he is synonymous with and beginning anew with a franchise that has been waiting for a new starting quarterback since their meal ticket hit the deck one last time – ironically at Mosaic Stadium, the place where Durant carved his legacy.

He gets hit with question after question by reporters, as they wait for that one clip, that one soundbite that will stoke an already burning fire that has he and the Montreal Alouettes pitted against the Saskatchewan Roughriders to kickoff the 2017 CFL season on Thursday.

But he says all the right things. He acknowledges the significance but also doesn’t go out of his way to dramatize the fact that he is the centrepeice to what is sure to be one of the most talked about storylines of the season that has already gained traction before the ball has been kicked off.

 

“I think that all the hype and drama, so to speak, is from the outside,” he said after practice this week. “For myself and my teammates, it’s the first game of the season and an opportunity for us to get off on the right track.

“I think all the extra additives come from the outside and we all just want to win.”

Durant spent a decade in one of the most football-crazy markets in the country. He shouldered all the criticism when the team fell short on multiple occasions in years where it was championship or nothing in Riderville. He also took in the hero’s praise received when he finally earned a Grey Cup in a home field scenario that few could have scripted better.

It is for that reason that he refuses to just speak in platitudes and leave the entire narrative surrounding his opponent to fans and media.

“We all know the history,” he told CFL.ca’s Brodie Lawson on Thursday. “Of course it would mean a lot to get this game. At the end of the day, I need to keep my emotions in check. My teammates need me to lead.”

Battle-tested and after nine years as the starter for a team that cannot escape scrutiny when things don’t go right, Durant understands that the game is big but the precedent he sets for his new team is even bigger.

“At this stage of my career, I would say no (it is not difficult to keep my emotions in check). Because at this stage in my career, I have played in some big games. I already played a revenge game in a Grey Cup against Montreal when we felt like we should have won, so I have been in situations where the younger Darian was a little emotionally out of check.”

He doesn’t come out and say it, but it is likely that Darian wants to just win this game and place it firmly in the rear-view mirror. And it is because there is too much at stake. Too much for him, too much for the Alouettes and quite frankly, the Riders aren’t his concern anymore.

There is a new regime, a new head leader on the field and now new pressure to win and restore the Als back to one of the CFL’s more formidable clubs, one that was constantly the thorn in his side.

Durant came up short in one of the CFL’s wildest finishes when the 2011 season opened. Twice he was sent home without a ring at the hands of his now-coach (Anthony Calvillo) and the Alouettes.

He knows what this team was back then and he knows where they need to be in the not-to-distant future.

“I want to be that leader that the guys have been missing and be that belief system,” Durant said. “If guys believe in the quarterback and that they are in every game, there are no heads going down, feeling like you are out of anything. I just want to be that guy that guys look up to.

The key to Durant making his mark with his new team is a mixture of proficiency and staying healthy. Football is result-driven and Durant will need to prove that he can stay healthy after what has been an all-too-frequent visit to the injured list since he won that aforementioned Grey Cup in 2013.

It is for that reason he was limited in pre-season despite needing to adjust to a new team with different personnel.

Durant played only one of Montreal’s eight pre-season quarters but promptly put in solid work in limited time. He was 7 of 12 for 113 yards and had a pair of touchdown passes.

Pre-season doesn’t mean much but it accomplished what the Montreal needed – a starting quarterback who instilled confidence in the entire offence and exited the game healthy while doing so.

“I think he has demonstrated that he can be very proficient in the things that we are doing,” Head Coach Jacques Chapdelaine told CFL.ca Tuesday. “The one thing that will be important is when we bring in an adjustment and start changing things, to make sure that he is comfortable with those changes in our offence.”

His success early (again, only in pre-season play) helps feed the narrative that a ‘new season is hope season’.  Should it carry over into Sunday’s matchup and turn into a win, then Durant has officially gotten the Riderville storyline out of the way… until Oct. 27, that is.