I
won’t lie I’m not taking this whole no Riders thing all that well. I mean sure
there’s still lots of football left but I don’t really care who wins the Grey
Cup now (as long as it’s not the Stamps, oh how I loathe them). I also tried
endure the NFL Thursday nighter this week and would quite frankly that could be
considered a form of inhumane torture that must contravene some international
agreements.
Since
I have nothing better to write about I decided to use today’s post to discuss a
few final thoughts about the 2012 season that was for the Riders. It’ll mostly
be random thoughts (both good and bad)
The Good
Laying the foundation – At the end of last year we were bad
team that was also old and in disarray. New coaches and new players all of
which are young (though to be fair anything would be considered young compared
to last year). At least this year there is hope we are heading in the right
direction.
O-line – Last year we had a line that was
older than the queen and about as useful at blocking. Now we have a younger and
better O-line which should only get better with time. We also have one of the
better OL coaches in the league. They still need to get a lot better but this
should develop into a real area of strength.
Durant – Proved he doesn’t need to run to be
an effective QB. Career low INTs, career high completion %. It seems he hasn’t
peaked as a QB yet as many like to claim. When you look at what he did with a
crappy set of receivers (with the exception of Dressler) just imagine what he
could do with a couple more weapons at this disposal.
Kory Sheets – In the past we would have we been
happy with a ground game that was remotely relevant. In Sheets we have one that
is not only relevant but dangerous as hell. Sheets is ridiculous. How great a
season he had really seems to have gone relatively unnoticed by others because
he doesn’t have a Canadian passport.
The Bad
Youth – A much as injecting youth into this
team was needed and will pay dividends long term, it hurt us this season. Over half of the guys we played had 2 years in
the league or less. I saw rookie mistakes by players and coaches alike. The impact
Joe Lobendahn had shows just how in need of a bit more veteran presence this
team was. I think this will be a case of short-term pain for long-term gain.
Poor Decisions Out Of
Camp – One of the
things that I think really hurt us was how many of the guys we committed to
during training camp ended up not panning out. Nick Graham, Chris Patrick,
Justin Harper, Santana Moss, Efrem Hill, Chris Ellis and Shomari Williams. That
is a significant portion of the roster to be wrong about. While some were gambles
that didn’t pay off (i.e. Shomari) some were just bad decisions (i.e. Graham
and Hill, I mean honestly that couldn’t have even seemed like a good idea at
the time). While I realize that all teams go through changes throughout the
season but I really think if we would have made better decisions during camp we
would have been father ahead during the season.
Too Many Changes Mid
Season – This one was
a product of the last. Some roster tinkering is good but Chamblin went a bit
overboard at the start of the season. Consider this: the Riders made almost as
many roster moves over the first 9 games as the Lions as Stamps combined and
more roster moves by Labour Day than the Lions did all season. The constant
changes led to no consistency in the secondary and gave Durant zero chance to
get in a rhythm with his offense. Once we more or less committed to the same
set of guys our play improved. Hopefully we can build on that for next year.
I’ll
have more later but that’ll do for now.
Yes Prophet - the NFL is just boring as hell , never could get into it. Why the hell would I care if Seattle beats Kansas City etc.
ReplyDeleteRiders have much to look forward to next year - Secondary really needs some talent as well as what you mentioned but honestly - does it get any worse than what they are dealing with in Edmonton and Winnipeg? I'm happy I'm a Rider Fan .
Thanks for the blog - I always have a good chuckle reading it . When will you get a TV show ?
regards, Pat