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The 2-1 Ti-Cats are in
town to face the 1-2 Riders for some Thursday Night football. The forecast
calls for warm temperatures, sunny skies, and a high probability of us getting
our ass kicked. I’m not going to try and BS here, the Riders are not a very
good football team right now and they are playing a team that is. Given that we
very recently lost to an awful that doesn’t bode well for our chances.
Any hope we have of
winning hinges on our defense. They are like 95% really good and 5% praying
that pass attempts are just far enough off target for Duron to intercept it.
Hamilton leads the league in offensive yards and Jeremiah Masoli is playing at
an unreal level right now. They present a unique challenge to our defense
because they use max protection so much. According to TSN, they have 7 blockers
on the line of scrimmage on over half their plays. The next closest team is
under 20%. Given that our base D is rushing 3 that may pose a problem. For me
the bigger issue is our secondary having to contend with Tasker, Tolliver,
Saunders and Banks. That’s up there with the best receiving groups in the league.
I will assume that in doing his film study for this game, June Jones was smart
enough to notice that having a short, fast guy run streaks on Duron is a recipe
for success. It just so happens he also has a short, fast guy who can run
streaks. We need to give Duron some help there. Mix in some more zone coverage,
give him safety help over top, something. Right now that’s the glaring weakness
in an otherwise strong D. Hamilton has allowed as many sacks as us (surprising
given their love of max protection) so our D-line should be able to get to
Masoli. They just need to stay balanced in their pass rush as Hamilton has a
good run game and with that many blockers it could cause issues if the D-line
just pins its ears back and rushes. Realistically our D needs to keep Hamilton
under 20 points for us to have a chance in this. Under 15 would be better.
Offensively my
expectations have been so diminished that short of them forgetting their shoes
in the locker room, there’s pretty much no way for them to disappoint me. I
expect nothing of them and am pretty confident they will deliver that. If there
was ever a time for McAdoo to earn his pay cheque its right now. All the
garbage he has been doing over the past 2 games needs to go out the window and
he needs game plan that will highlight the O’s strengths… or at least better
hide their weaknesses. I realize that all the failures of last week aren’t on
Bridge but he still looked like garbage and better come out with a better
performance this week as leader of the O. Even though he was awful last week I
would still look to give a big workload to Thigpen. I would also be willing to
give Messam some love. He seems just pissed enough about not touching the ball
last game to run angry. Clearly Roosevelt is the go to guy in the air but we
need one of the other guys to step up and be a true #2. Last year our O worked
good because we had a top tier 1-2 and then a guy like Grant could excel as the
3rd receiver. Right now we have Roosevelt and a whole lot of 3rd
receivers. I mean we do have another elite receiver but let’s not bemoan that
point. Holley or Williams-Lambert need to step up and take pressure of
Roosevelt. Notice how Roosevelt gets killed on damn near ever catch he makes?
Because the D currently doesn’t respect any other WRs and can focus solely on
him. Be nice to throw less INTs than TDs and given that we only throw 1 TD per
game that means we better no screw up.
Could we win this game?
Sure. Stranger things have happened. People will point to the BC last year when
we suddenly went from written off the relevant. I think we have the talent on D
to keep the game close. And its not like Bridge hasn’t eked out games before. I
just honestly don’t see Thursday being our night. Unlike last year where we
were a talented team that just hadn’t hit its stride, we are currently a team
with some glaring deficiencies in our roster.
Hamilton by 14
I'll try and help the Riders' cause by betting money against them. They tend to do things to me out of spite.
7 comments:
Oh ye, of little faith! Maybe it's time for the Prophet to drop his green robe and put on a pagan loincloth. ;)
Me in a loin cloth can't be a great mental image for most people haha
Carter in a DB uniform ain't a great image either.
Well, I asked for the O to do *something*. They did, barely above nothing. I am still shaking that it somehow was enough.
I've said it before but somehow it feels much more appropriate this year: THE ISOTOPES WIN GAME!!! THE ISOTOPES WIN A GAME!!! THE ISOTOPES WIN A GAME!!!
Also, well done with the prediction that they'd lose by double digits. You've tricked the football gods yet again.
Bryce - The football gods continue their string of spite towards me. Happy to do my part. O was pathetic and embarassingly coaches but somehow did enough. That D was something else though! Shut down a very good offense and won us the game.
Jones brought pressure 51% of the time which threw off the Cats. Cats 0-2 in Red Zone, 3 T/O's. But if defence gives up 420 yds of offence & with the offence we have at present, this isn't a recipe for success. Full credit to them this game. The most important stat was on the scoreboard & got us the 2 points. But let's not assume that this club is a contender all of a sudden. They made plays at key junctures. If we're honest about it, the Riders stole a game last night.
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