This Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time

This blog comes live to you from Calgary. As I type this,  I sit in a hotel room across the street from McMahon Stadium (the jury is still out on whether its named after Vince or Ed). We are in the midst of the annual Rider Prophet Road Trip. Me, Mrs Prophet, Media Consultant, Man in the Bush and a cast of other ne’er-do-wells have made our annual pilgrimage to Canada’s answer to Texas. When we bought these tickets prior to the season this seemed like a far better idea than it does now (I have no comeback for “Riders Suck” other than yes, yes they do).

Actually I’m not as pessimistic about our chances as most are. Yes we did just get beat like a rented mule (where does one rent a mule? And why does one beat it?) in our last game but we are 3 and 1 under Miller. By comparison, the Stamps are 1-4 over the past 5 games... and quite frankly I haven’t been impressed with the Stamps this season other than a game or two.  

The Stamps are an odd team to figure out. They have recently benched their top RB yet they have the #2 rushing attack in the League. They also are tied with us for most points allowed yet they have allowed the 3^rd fewest yards.  They aren’t playing all that great but they do have 7 wins.  Statistically, Burris and Durant are pretty much equivalent... minus the distance between their front teeth which Burris wins in a landslide.  He also leads in embarrassing bra pictures and dirty tweets.

If we have any chance of winning we need to try and start playing sometime before the 3^rd quarter.  Seven times this season we have failed to score in the first quarter.  It’s embarrassing how slow starting we are.  I don’t know if Ken Miller’s Metamucil  takes that long to kick in or what but we essentially give teams a 15 minute head start and that can’t happen... especially on the road.

As with every game against the Stamps, the key will be taking away that read option play and forcing Burris to throw, For how shaky he has looked so far this season I would take my chances with him passing.  With Lance Frazier back and Sean Lucas firmly back on the bench I actually like our chances of being able to defend the pass... unless of course Burris manages to fool Big Poppa Pump Fake Nick Graham.

Offensively, we just need to do something, anything... provided it doesn’t involve snapping it towards the heavens. I think the Stamps’ halfbacks are oeverrated. They have never been that good and they are just the product of people actually not being scared to pass outside on the Stamps this season. If we can make good use of Dressler and Hill underneath, Chris “The Stampeder Killer” Getzlaf should be able to resume his “I only catch TDs” status.  The Stamps have the least sacks of any team so Durant should at least have time to make plays.

Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve already hit the bottle of Weisers, maybe it’s the fact that I had 6 kinds of meat for supper and literally have meat on the brain but I really think we have a good shot at winning tomorrow. And if that happens look out Calgary because I will be beaking the crap out of you... odds of causing a fight would be fairly high.

Riders by a Durant Rushing TD

Watch for the Prophet on camera tomorrow.