*** I originally had this typed up and ready to go for Monday thinking this would be a great bye week post but then the damn Riders had to go and make headlines and force me to do work and type up a whole other post. Anywho, the end result is you get a bonus post***
Last year around this time I did a comparison of where the 2017 Riders were at in comparison to the 2016Riders after 7 games . Given the bye week, I thought I would take the opportunity to do something similar and compare where the Riders are at this season after 7 games in comparison to where we were last year at this time.
Last year around this time I did a comparison of where the 2017 Riders were at in comparison to the 2016Riders after 7 games . Given the bye week, I thought I would take the opportunity to do something similar and compare where the Riders are at this season after 7 games in comparison to where we were last year at this time.
After 7 | 2017 | 2018 | Difference | % Change |
Wins | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
Offense | ||||
Points | 197 | 151 | -46 | -23% |
Offensive TDs | 20 | 8 | -12 | -60% |
Passing Yards | 2228 | 1407 | -821 | -37% |
Rushing Yards | 514 | 823 | +309 | +60% |
Sacks allowed | 16 | 10 | -6 | -38% |
Turnovers | 9 | 16 | +7 | +78% |
Defense | ||||
Points allowed | 172 | 175 | +3 | +2% |
Passing Yds allowed | 2041 | 1796 | -245 | -12% |
Rushing Yds allowed | 678 | 536 | -142 | -21% |
Sacks | 15 | 16 | +1 | +7% |
Turnovers | 12 | 15 | +3 | +25% |
Special Teams | ||||
Punt Return Avg | 11.1 | 11.7 | +1 | +5% |
Opponent Punt Ret Avg | 9.4 | 10.6 | +1 | +13% |
Kickoff return avg | 25.5 | 23.1 | -2 | -9% |
Opponent Kickoff Ret Avg | 20.6 | 19.6 | -1 | -5% |
Net punt avg | 35.7 | 34 | -2 | -5% |
Penalties | 50 | 57 | +7 | +14% |
Players Dressed | 60 | 55 | -5 | -8% |
The results should not be
overly surprising. In very general terms, the defense is playing much better
and the offense… well they are offensive. While we have the same number of wins
as last season, I would say we got there in very different ways. We started
very slow in 2017 losing our first 2 and going 2-4 before starting to right the
ship. In many respects our offense had to compensate for our defense, which
struggled out of the gate. This year we have essentially been playing .500 ball
all season and it’s our defense compensating for our offense.
Let’s dig deeper into the
numbers…
Offensively the thing that
stands out (other than the fact that touchdowns have become an endangered
specifies) is that we have actually improved in 2 surprising areas. Our run
game is vastly improved. As someone who has devoted more space on this blog to
bemoaning McAdoo’s staunch opposition to running the ball than pretty much any other non-ostrich related topic, I do have to
acknowledge that he’s changed this year. And while the “run up the middle a
million times” philosophy is not what I had in mind, we are running more and we
are gaining more yards per run than last year. The second surprising area is
that sacks are down. Our O-line scared the crap out of me coming into the
season (and for the first few games they proved me right). But they have been
steadily improving and as a unit are ahead of last year. Obviously running the
ball a lot more plays into this as you can’t give up a sack on a run play… well
I’m pretty sure I have some teams that could but it is a lot harder.
The bad news (and more
important news) is that scoring in down, TDs are way down, passing is down (in
a league that now revolves around passing) and turnovers are up. Hopefully with
a healthy Collaros and all our receivers actually playing receiver we can build
on our run game and improved protection as the season progresses.
Defense is unsurprisingly
better across the board. Points allowed is up a tiny bit but when you consider
that the offense is turning the ball over more (creating short fields) and
offering next to no offensive support, I would argue that even holding points
allowed consistent is an accomplishment. Biggest improvement is in our run
defense and to me that is clearly a product of the emphasis we put on improving
our front 4… particularly the interior of the line. Last year Steele was our
best DT. This year he is our 3rd best DT. That’s helping stuff the
run and helping keep Hughes and Jefferson free to pressure the QB. The fact
that the D is generating more turnovers is a big reasons we have 3 wins, as is
their ability to contribute to scoring. Last season the D scored 5 TDs all season… we have
3 in just 7 games so far. Just imagine how much better this D could be if they
got some offensive support?
Special teams is a bit of
a mixed bag, though we are generally around where we were last year. When you
consider that we are without our top 2 special teams tacklers from last season
(Denzel Radford and Glen Love) and guys like Francis have missed time, it’s not
entirely surprising to see some struggles here. Young guys like Gagne and
Chevrier are being leaned on in their place. One area that’s not on my table
that I do want to note is our surprising improvement in the kicking department.
I think we were all expecting a drop off from Crapigna to Lauther but thus far
he’s been 5% more accurate on his kicks and (in an underappreciated but
important category) averaging close to 5 yards more on kickoffs.
Looking at the last 2
lines we see that penalties are up, which is not a good trend. We also see that
our roster is continually getting more stable. In year 1 Jones swapped players
in and out like they were playing cards en route to dressing a record number of
players. Last season we got more stable and this season we are even better. It
shows that Jones has pretty much identified his core group and is now making
changes mostly for injury sake.
While our offense has been hot garbage, I would argue that as a whole team we are likely slightly ahead of last season. Remember that we got hot in the second half. Jones may be unconventional (to put it lightly) but he's been winning games. With Calgary, BC and Winnipeg x2 on deck,it would be a great time to start that second half surge.
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Great stuff on the numbers. I think the defensive improvement is even better than the points and yards indicate. I only recall the Hamilton pick 6 as a return TD allowed early in the year last year. So far this year we have had 1 pick 6 and 2 punt returns against, and the numerous short fields you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the 2nd half TD Calgary scored 2 games ago was the first TD the D had given up where the other team started on their half of the field since the long bomb to Williams vs Montreal.
Great stuff. Sometimes numbers lie. Is our O-line better? In Bridge's last game 37% of his passes covered 2 or less yards. In essence, the chance of getting a sack on those plays is ZERO. It's well known that the shorter than usual passing game was designed to compensate for the poor QB'ing we have. Should the Riders open up the passing game & throw longer passes, then maybe we can say the O-line has improved. Even vs Edmonton, Collaros threw I believe 1 pass over 15 yards. In comparison look at Reilly in Edmonton who goes deep & stands in the pocket longer than anyone. The O-line has to actually hold blocks for awhile. Interesting stat on the CFL.ca website in the detailed stats is sacks per dropbacks. That tells a different story although it doesn't account for short vs long passing plays. The Bombers were tops in fewest pressures last year BUT 22% of their passes went to Harris who, after YAC, had passes that averaged about, you guessed it, 2 yards air time. Greatly helped Nichols' completion % & the O-line stats. I still see our guys as average, definitely a notch below the other prairie teams & the Lions have the personnel to be very good with excellent bookends at tackle.
ReplyDeleteGreat work on the breakdown which makes a great conversation starter. The short pass offense is the ideology of our OC when he was in Edmonton, they never had a great offence it was all Def and Reilly.
ReplyDeleteHopefully our offence picks up in the second half of season and we make some more noise.
Definatley like that the airlift of players is slowing
Thanks
Dom aka Sasso in YEG
Gov - Hadn't heard that half field stat. Pretty amazing
ReplyDeleteAnon - I fully agree that our play calling makes our O-line look better. I'm under no illusions that they are a great line. Average like you says seems accurate but given that I expected them to be awful, I'll take average at this point.
Sasso - Yeah, having the best QB in the league will mask some issues.