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Happy Friday… unless you
happen to be one of those poor bastards who plays against someone with Peyton
Manning on their fantasy roster this week, in which case you are probably doing
a lot of cursing and not very happy.
Sunday the 8-1 (for the
first time ever) Riders travel to a place that likely holds the record for
nicest stadium in the crappiest city (at least until Hamilton’s is done) for a
rematch against the lowly Bombers. About the only thing that is going better
for the Bombers heading into this week as compared to last is that Ed Hervey is
doing a magnificent job of making them not look like the biggest gong show in
the CFL.
Any other year would have me
worried as a Rider fan heading into this game. If there was ever a franchise that
would be likely to lose to the worst team in league or be the first visitor to
lose at a new stadium, it would be the Riders. Hell we’d probably be likely to
throw in some legal troubles as an added bonus. But not this year. This team is
not only laden with talent, it also is laden with veteran leadership,
determination and most importantly focus. They won’t be overlooking the
Bombers, especially after last week. But as last week proved, even if we do
overlook them as long as we show up at some point before the 4th
quarter it should be enough to win.
There will be a few roster
changes on our end. McCullough and Hurl will be back from injury, likely
replacing Newman and Regimbald-Gagne. It’s nice to have some Canadian depth for
a change. Sanders should be back as primary returner, which provided he
remembers how to catch should be a plus. And lastly Pat Neufeld comes off the
9-game and will slot in a guard for Chris Best. There was talk initially of
Neufeld reclaiming his tackle spot and Heenan bumping back inside but quite
frankly that would have been so stupid it would have made the Bombers handling
of the QB position look rational by comparison. Fact: Neufeld was a mediocre
at best tackle last year. Fact: Heenan has been vastly superior to Neufeld in every
facet of the game. Fact: OT is one of the hardest and most critical positions
to recruit. It would have made zero sense to replace a great young tackle with
a mediocre one. Fortunately the Riders agree with this logic. I just hope that
Neufeld doesn’t show too much rust against a tough Winnipeg DL. Then again if
Devin Tyler can come off the practice roster and fill in adequately I assume
Neufeld can too.
Defensively the keys to the
game will be don’t give up the big play. This is not an offense that will be
able to repeatedly work its way down the field (hell there are times we’re not
even sure if they can tie their shoes). Their biggest weapons are Cory Watson
and Goltz’s legs. Those were the only 2 things to really affect us on defense…
well that and penalties but let’s not rehash that.
Offensively, this would be a
good game to start getting away from the slow starts that have been about the
only knock against this Offense this year. If we can get on them early and suck
what little life is left out of the fans then we should be in store for a good
old fashion beat down. An early bomb to Bagg would be perfect. Last week when
we decided to pass, the Bombers just had no answer. So I expect us to pass
early to open things up for the Kory Sheets show in the 2nd half. Just
spread the ball around as we have all season and we should be fine. Given Henoc
Muamba’s aggressiveness (particularly against the run) some option runs, or
zone reads, or play action passes to Hughes/McHenry on the leakout have
potential to be very effective.
Bottom line is there are a
laundry list of reasons why we are 8-1 and they are 1-8. Banjo Bowl is always
tougher than Labour Day to win (2009 aside) but the difference in talent, coaching and execution
are too great for the Bombers to overcome.
Let’s go in to Winnipeg and try and get out as quickly as we can with
the win before we catch some sort of disease. Though to be fair the biggest
health concern in Winnipeg is inbreeding and that isn’t contagious.
Riders by 15.
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