Monday Morning Sentimonies: We Won?

Riders 19 – Ti-cats 3

Well that was unexpected. Evidently I overestimated how much the Ti-Cats cared about this game. Turns out they didn’t. Evidently neither did the majority of Regina. Not only did a large chunk of fans decided not to come at all, we also didn’t even bother with the giant Canada flag at midfield (though it did strike me as odd that we sent out a group of people anyway to just stand there.)

Let me just start right out by addressing Ryan Dinwiddie since I have already have people bug me about how we won with him at QB. While that is technically accurate, Dinwiddie had about as much to do with the victory as my decision to wear 2 pairs of socks did. He completed 7 passes… 7! Might as well just direct snapped to West on every play for how useful our passing game was. Also, how many TDs did Dinwiddie score? Oh that right, 0. The closest thing to a compliment that you can say about Dinwiddie’s play is that he didn’t turn the ball over… which is hardly surprising when you don’t pass the ball (though to be fair Durant did accomplish the feat).
As for our other QB, was anyone else as confused about how we used him as me? We just randomly inserted him in the game for token appearances. He got on series at a random point in the first quarter, a QB plunge and was also sent on to run the direct snap to Hughes play… where all he did was line up and then get out of the way (evidently Diniwiddie didn’t get a chance to practice that one). Did Bergquist sleep with Miller’s granddaughter or something? Because he seems to be going out of his way not to give Cole a chance.
Well that’s enough ranting on what I didn’t like now on to the stuff I did like… I mean we did win after all:

- What a punt by Milo! As Media Consultant pointed out, it would taken Boreham 6 kicks to get it that far. Apologies to anyone who likes Luca Congi (Mrs Prophet included)… I think his job security is in a wee bit of jeopardy

- Jerrell Freeman hits 100 tackles and notches another sack in the process. The guy is ridiculous… can’t believe he was discovered in bowels of Div 3 NCAA.

- It’s a pleasant turn of events to see fake kicks benefiting us as opposed to last year when they were killing us.

- Nice to finally, finally, finally see some meaningful playing time for Chris Graham, Patrick Neufeld and Alex Krausnick-Groh. If only we could extend this logic to our QB.

- It may have been due to the fact that we couldn’t pass to save our soul but it was nice to finally witness what can happen when we commit to running the ball. I swear West got more rushing attempts on Saturday than Cates has had since Labour Day. Low and behold good things happened.

- Another game without Sean Lucas, another resounding success defensively. This is so far beyond being a coincidence at this point.

- How funny was Stevie Baggs’ over the top celebration after a tackle in a game where his team was getting embarrassed?

- I initially lamented the fact that we left new receivers Freddy Barnes and LJ Castile off the active roster but since we didn’t really complete any passes there wouldn’t have been any value in having them out there anyways.

- Holy picks Batman! Our DBs almost had as many receptions as our receivers.

- Poor Medlock had no chance on that punt, turned pass attempt, turned embarrassing tackle for a loss. Good work Rowe.

- Notice how much difference a little bit of youth being injected into the defense has made in their overall play?

- I honestly saw some people leave after the first quarter. Why would you just not stay home if you were just going to leave that quickly?

Huge shout out to all the old Rider fans! I noticed that when the bandwagon emptied the majority of the young people left with it leaving being the folks that have supported this team through stretches far worse than the on we are currently on. They are true fans and have my utmost respect.

Was the game a good one? Not really. Did the weather suck? Yes but then I’ve sat through worse. But hey a win is a win. I just glad to see that the players still care. We get one more game this year and I say you should tune in, it may be the last chance you get to see future hall of famer Gene Makowsky in green and white. It will also, god willing, be the last chance to see Ryan Dinwiddie in green and white. (Fingers crossed)

***Edit turns out it will also be the last chance to see Ken Miller as he just announced his retirement. I’ll have more on that tomorrow***