Just five days after losing to the Calgary Stampeders at home, the Saskatchewan Roughriders will head back out onto the field to battle the Edmonton Eskimos on Thursday at Commonwealth Stadium.

It's been a short, but hectic week in Riderville. It started with news of Jerome Messam's release and the veteran running back being charged with voyeurism. The news got better as the week went on with quarterback Zach Collaros and defensive back Nick Marshall both returning to the lineup this week.

Collaros said he's looking forward to suiting up in his first game since Week 2.

"I'm definitely excited to be out there with the guys," said the veteran pivot. "We have a divisional opponent, a very good football team, a team that's on a two-game winning streak and we lost our last one, so just excited to get out there and ready for the challenge."

It's a quick turnaround for the Riders, who lost 34-22 to Calgary on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.

CFL sack Leader Charleston Hughes said the five-day break between games is tough, but they need to show that they're willing to battle through, "The game has to get played, whether you're sore or not sore, you've still got to go out there, show up and play winning football," said Hughes.

The Riders defence will be tasked with slowing down Mike Reilly and the Eskimos passing attack. Reilly has thrown for a league-high 2,063 yards and 13 touchdowns in six games this season.

Hughes currently leads the league with eight sacks in six games and he will be focused on chasing down Reilly while battling Edmonton's massive offensive line.

"It's not much of a challenge really, you just have to go out and play winning football," said Hughes.

Riders head coach Chris Jones was a bit more conservative in his expectations, saying that the defensive unit will be tested by Reilly.

"Our guys know what they're up against," he said. "I showed them a bunch of examples the other day, Kenny Stafford is completely covered to field, you couldn't even see him and I'm like, 'Is this guy open?', and everybody goes, 'No,' and then I showed the ball being released and he stuck it in a six-inch window.

"Mike is one of the best that I've seen, he's a tremendous leader and we've got our hands full in guarding him."

With Collaros back under centre this week and Marshall returning to the secondary, that moves Duron Carter back to offence this week where he'll start at slotback.

Collaros said getting him and Carter back on offence will be a boost, but they need the whole unit to work together.

"It doesn't come down to two players, it's 12 guys working as one and when all 12 guys are clicking then the spark becomes evident," he said. "It's a team game and everybody has to be on the same page to get the results that we want."

The Riders' offence has been held to just six touchdowns through six games this season. Jones said they need to move the ball and finishing drives.

"First and foremost, you've got to stay on the football field and we need to stick the ball in the end zone, so consistency would be the word that comes to mind when trying to find what we need to do offensively," said Jones.

The Riders will try to pick up their first win against a West Division opponent when they battle the Eskimos at Commonwealth Stadium on Thursday night. Kick-off is at 8 p.m.