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Riders 30 – Stampeders 25
Now that’s the Rider
team I like to see. Sunday’s game was far from perfect but they proved that if
they do the right things they can hang with and beat good teams. What are those
“right things you ask” well: run the ball a lot, take shots downfield, protect
the QB, don’t turn the ball over, make your best receiver the focal point of
the offense, show a little creativity on offense (i.e. something that isn’t a 7
yard pattern), stuff the run, pressure the QB and force the QB to try and beat
us through the air with little time to make his throws. They are all simple and
painfully obvious but in our loses all year we have failed to do some or all of
these. When we do these things we win. That and overtly threaten people’s
employment, we can’t forget about that.
Now we’ll never know
who Chamblin was planning to fire if Cornish hit 100. Don’t get me wrong I’m
happy about that but I’m still mildly curious who it would have been. But given
how fired up the guys on D seemed to be take stuff Cornish maybe next week he
can make a similar threat to a receiver not named Dressler. We made Cornish our
bitch all day, so much so that by the end he was taking off his pants and just
offering us his backside.
I have been highly critical
of our OC and offense in general this year but I have to give credit where credit
is due. They played/called a good game. Durant played a solid game, unspectacular
but he made smart decisions, moved the chains and didn’t turn the ball over. It
was probably the most effective I`ve seen him without him using his legs. I
really liked the call and execution on the Dressler TD. As I mentioned before
stretching the field (even though we didn’t always connect) and leaning on
Dressler were huge. Really liked how we used Sheets and Sanders (not sure if
Sheets is hurt or the team just realized that he won’t make playoffs if we ride
him too hard... there`s a Willy joke in there too but I’m sure you can figure
it out on your own).
When will we learn?
Bad things happen when you throw to Getzlaf! I honestly can’t believe we won
after starting like that. Sadly, Taj Smith made Getzlaf look like an all-star
by comparison out there. It’s becoming painfully obvious that we have no
reliable receiver above 4 feet tall. We better figure out what the hell we are
doing with Carr (and no I don’t consider one pass for 9 yards figuring it out)
because it won’t be long before Dressler starts getting octupled. Big congrats
to the O-line for a job well done.
It was nice of the
defense to finally show up before giving up 2 TDs like in previous weeks. And
they showed up looking to inflict pain, no only on Cornish but on Kevin Glenn
who was harassed all day back there. It should come as no surprise that it took
Calgary next to no time to remember that Milt Collins was an awful HB (decent
corner but terrible inside, just ask
Chris Getzlaf, a large part of his Stampeder killer fame is thanks to the
coverage skills of Collins). Russ looks to be out for a while so hopefully we
come up with some other option to replace him. It was sure nice of Glenn to
throw that perfect hook route to Lobendahn (world`s easiest pick). Maybe someone
should remind Glenn that Lobendahn hasn`t been a member of the Stampeders since
training camp... he must have missed the memo. We also did a great job shutting
down Lewis, which is hard to do... I mean seriously it would be easier to keep
him away from the buffet table than keep him from making catches.
It wasn`t pretty... I
mean we did fumble twice in the first 2 possession, endure Taj Smith dropping
balls like he was going through puberty and attempt an awfully executed gamble
in a punting situation. But all 3 phases of the game made plays when they
needed to and the end result was a much needed and deserved win.
Other random
thoughts:
- I love Odell Willis
at the end of the game... `You call that roughing the passer?
I`ll show you roughing the passer!`` Poor Kevin Glenn.
- It was
obvious that Durant`s hip was not 100% when we expanded Willy`s short yardage duty
to include 2nd and 3.
- If all
we were going to do was run on that fake punt why not just stay in punt
formation and direct snap rather than giving the Stamps time to read and react
to a non-punting formation?
-
On
that Sanders fumble I think whatever the call on the field was was going to
stand, evidence was not conclusive either way, lucky for us the refs sided with
us first.
-
Wow
did that one Stampeder coach send his headset flying after that failed 3rd
down attempt!
10 comments:
To be fair I don't think anyone likes Rider fans but Rider fans... and even some of them don't like Rider fans, so you are in good company.
It was a good game .. a nice win. I like your analysis of the whole deal. I want to add just one thing. The inconsistent, tentative officiating in this league simply has to be mentioned. Here we have in the CFL a multi-multi-million-dollar operation with bush league /Pee Wee style ref'ing.
I'm getting sick of it. The refs affect the game far too much. I'll raise just 1 of the many officiating errors that I saw yesterday. There seems to be this tendency among the officials to NOT call 'roughing the passer' calls when Durant is hit after ball release simply because of his scrambling style.
Good point about the officiating. My biggest beef is the inconsistency. Good or bad at least if the calls are consistent you know what to expect and its a level playing field. But I've seen a QB getting sneezed on called and blatant face masks not.
I'm glad Durant doesn't cry for his calls like Burris but sometimes I think maybe he should.
Funny after a year or so of being teased about dressing in women's undergarments they picked yesterday to work on their 'badass skills...at least Cornish did.
A good win by the Riders but I still think they were a little conservative near the end of the game when the Stamps turned it over on downs and the Riders sent in Willy to run a couple hand-off plays to set up the field goal. A little killer instinct would have been nice to see - at least try for the TD and put it out of reach. The Riders are one Weston Dressler injury away from complete offensive disaster. Taj Smith would not even make the practice roster of most other clubs (Effrem Hill 2 )
Pat
I don't even want to think about how awful our offense would be if Dressler went down. It would be like the Chicago Bears last year where every play went to the running back.
Given how closely Smith resembles Hill, can we even be sure it isn't actually just Efrem Hill.
Taj Smith reminds me of another "butter fingers" receiver the Riders used to have named Dwight Edwards, at least Hill could catch the ball. Get rid of this guy, he is useless. American receivers are a dime a dozen, Tamen needs to get off his ass and find someone else. Maybe Carr is the answer, but I doubt it plus we paid to high a price for a guy who caught 1 ball for 9 yards.
American WRs are a dime a dozen but everyone Taman brings in isn't worth a cent. Nunn, Wheelright, Hill, Smith, Harper, Moss... the list goes on. If he could just find one we would be in good shape but alas we are still waiting
Dwight Edwards ! There's a name I remember with a shudder . Ahh the "glory days"
Pat
I think it is unfair to include Moss, who is injured and not playing in that group. Just saying. Sometimes it takes a while for receivers and the QB to get on the same page. I noticed on one play that Carr was running into the end zone and it looked like a midget following him.His height and speed will be a big target for DD.
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