Monday Morning Sentimonies: Playoff Victory!

Riders 29 – Lions 25

Well, my head is pounding, my voice is shot, my liver hates me and I’m still happy… must mean we won last night.

I’ll be perfectly honest, the way that game was shaping up I was thinking I would be writing an epitaph to the 2013 season. Fortunately the Riders had other ideas and the drinks that were poured last night were celebratory not mournful.

In a stunning change of pace, our normally outstanding defense were made to look like a second class unit early in the game. Couldn’t get in the same area code as Lulay, mix ups in the secondary and bad run D. Part of the troubles were a well-designed offensive attack by the Lions. They used screens and short passes to keep the pressure of and complimented it was strong running by Harris and Logan. It looked like we had no answer for a while. Fortunately the locked things down in the fourth when it mattered most. Certainly not their best effort but they did enough to get the win.

In a refreshing change of roles, it was our offense that had to step up and compensate for the other side of the ball. Darian Durant stepped up and was the leader we needed him to be. I was concerned early when he forced a couple passes into double coverage… one ended up being caught by Smith of a BC bobble but the pass had no business being attempted. But other than that Durant was dialed in, completing over 80% of his passes for 270 yards, 2 TDs and no turnovers. But the icing on the cake was how he used his legs to exploit a weakness in a very good BC defense. With the exception of that god awful shot gun run on 3^rd and short I was very happy with the play calling. It’s amazing what happens when we pull out the screens and the draws I have been calling for weeks. With Getzlaf out and Dressler facing tight coverage all night Taj Smith stepped and was the rock solid receiver we needed. Actually, with respect to Dressler that he was covered all night, except in the endzone. How do you leave him that open wide open in the endzone…. Twice? Bottom line is that if Durant is going to keep playing at that level then we are going to be very hard to contend with… especially if our D can get back to playing their game.

The playoff train is rolling on the prairies… buckle up we are in for a wild ride over the next two weeks.

Other random thoughts:

-       I was so cold that if you didn’t finish your drink within 5 minutes, it was turn into a booze slushy… 6 minutes and it was solid

-       There needs to be an award for most goal posts hit… another post for Milo!!!!

-       At least he recovered with a long FG.

-       Man did Dwight Anderson drop boom on that hit!

-       A close second was Brackenridge leveling Harris!

-       God I love playoffs at Mosaic!