The bye week was bad news in that there was
no Rider football. The good news was that the Riders didn’t find a way to lose
this week. Since there is no game to talk about as I usually do on Monday’s, I
thought I would take this opportunity to recognize a few players that I think
have contributed greatly to this team even though they may not get the
attention or fanfare they deserve.
Derek
Walker – When we lost Shologan and Evans in the
expansion draft and then let McElveen walk I was pretty concerned about our
ability to fill the DT spot alongside George. Honestly I was just hoping we
could find someone mildly competent oaf to occupy the space. Walker has not only
been competent but I think is an impact player along our D-line. He doesn’t get
the stats or the publicity the other 3 get but the whole unit seems to play
a lot better with him in and his stats are pretty solid for a DT (with 5 sacks and an impressive INT).
I noticed a drop in play in the games he missed. DT is a tough position to recruit so we are
fortunate to have unearthed a good one at a time we really needed it. He will
be our rookie of the year nominee.
Mark
LeGree – This is another one of our new recruits
that I am very high on. He is really excelling in his rotational role in our
defense. He leads the team in INTs despite his part-time playing status. He
provides valuable depth in a number of positions and is a guy who I think still
has potential to develop in a fulltime starter.
Tristan
Jackson – For me Jackson just epitomizes heart.
Amid the 2011 disaster of a season he was one of the few people who
consistently gave his all every game. Last year, he wasn’t on the roster to
start the year but got called back midseason to help solidify our secondary. He
took it all in stride and quietly went about proving he deserved to stay. This
season he is having his best season in green and white by far in my opinion. He has
4 INTs and is one of our most consistent DBs. He has also brought life back to
our return game. He leads the league is kickoff returns and returned a missed
FG all the way to the house. Simply put he is having an impact in whatever we
ask him to do. He should get the nod as our Special Teams player of the year…
and if there were an award for all-round utility he would get that too.
Rob
Bagg – Hands up if you expected Rob Bagg to be our
leading receiver this year… be honest. I have always loved Rob Bagg (yes hahaha
funny man, Prophet loves Bagg). But for the last number of years the best we
could really hope for the guy was that he his knees held up. Well we’ve gone
from holding our breath every time he gets the ball for fear it might be his
last play to hoping the guy gets the ball more often because he is a key
contributor. We had voids to fill in our receiving core this season and unlike
the Taj’s and Getzlaf’s of the world who we expected to step up but instead had
untimely drops both in production and actual dropped footballs, Bagg has upped
his game and really been the only consistent receiving option we have. His
performance this season has been so good that I will forgive him for that
dreadful drop in BC.
Ricky
Foley – Obvious name but I still don’t think he
gets the credit he deserves. Foley would rank among the best pass rushers in
the league even if he was an import (I refuse to use the term international, I
think its stupid and I’m stubborn and change resistant). But when you consider
all that he does on the field AND the fact that he is a Canadian… you have a
pretty special player. This is the kind of impact Canadian starter that GMs
dream of.
Hourable mention to Macho Harris just
because he managed to stay healthy for a whole season… the majority of which
was spent as a starter. I definitely wouldn’t have put money on that. In his 2
previous seasons he managed just 11 total games.
PS – I indemnify myself from all
culpability if my mentioning his durability leads to him getting injured in the
final game of the season.
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