Saturday night Mosaic
Stadium will play host to a big time event, something that will be remembered
for ages. I’m talking of course about our last chance to hurl insults at Wally
Buono (assuming he actually stays away from coaching this time). There’s also a
pretty big football game going on as the 11-6 Riders take on the 9-7 Lions. The
Riders are looking to clinch a home playoff game and keep their slim chances at
first place alive. BC is looking to keep their chances of a home playoff game
alive. The stakes are higher than people who tried marijuana for the first time
this month.
Lots has changed since
these 2 teams met back in week 11. After starting 3-6 the Lions have gone 6-1.
They were the early favourites to miss the playoffs but now have a shot at
second. Much like the Riders they have been powered by their defense.
Mid-season acquisitions of Sutton, Posey, Lemon and Coleman strengthened them. Offensively
they pose a challenge but then again 12 stuffed animals strewn about the field
would prove challenging for our offense. It starts up front. We need to be able
to keep Lemon and Willis from getting to Collaros. BC now leads the league in
sacks so we need another strong showing from our OL. A strong run game would
help. BC ranks 6th against the run so we need to attack that. After
last week’s showing give me more Cam Marshall. When we pass Collaros needs to
make good decisions. Keep leaning on Lambert and spreading it around to the
rest. Roosevelt will be back which is a big boost. Rose and Orange have
combined for 10 INTs this year so Zach can’t be reckless with the ball. (Side
note: I just found out that Anthony Orange is just AJ Jefferson with a changed
name. Who knew?). 2 TDs, no turnovers and a ton of FGs seems to be our recipe
for success so that should be the target. I think we’ll need 25 points minimum
to win this.
Defensively while BC has
certainly been playing better of late they aren’t among the top Os in the
league (ranked 5th overall). Since they started playing Terrell
Sutton two games ago he has had 22 and 16 carries. So, its no secret that he is
going to get the ball a lot. He’s fresh from woeful underuse in Montreal.
Priority 1 is stopping him. BC’s O-line is so-so so if we can take away the run
and turn up the pressure on Lulay, good things will happen… at least for us, no
so much for Lulay and is achy-breaky body. Hughes will play and you
can bet he will be fired up to get back to football. We need to keep Burnham
and Posey from making the big plays in the pass game (easier said than done
with the catches Burnham can make). If Lulay is forced into extended drives I
think our defensive strength will win out. BC also turns the ball over 3rd
most in the league and we will likely need a few of those.
Normally we would need to be wary of Chris Rainey on returns but he will not play so that's less of a concern (still we have allowed to many of those this year). It would also be nice to add
some big returns of our own. We got close last week with both Marshall and
Purifoy. I’ll predict Moore takes a punt to the house in this one.
This will be a tough
match-up. BC is playing their best ball at the right time. But here’s the
thing… the suck on the road (a younger Prophet would have found a way to spin
the term suck on the road into an inappropriate joke but I’m far more mature these days).
They are 2-6 away form BC place. They have 5 passing TDs on the road. That’s
bad even by our lowered offensive standards here. They did just win in Calgary
so they aren’t hapless on the road but it is a weakness. While it would be
fitting for the Riders to do things the hard way and lose this game, I think
they will come out strong in front of the home crowd. I expect an early
defensive battle with very few points scored. Things will open up in the second
half but in the end the Riders will take care of their own business…
Riders by 5
Side note: Given that if
we lose this game by 2 or less we can still win the season series and clinch 2nd
there are a number of crazy scenarios that could arise. For example: dying
minute of the game we are driving, down 5. A TD wins it but an FG could clinch
us second. Do you kick and easy FG to lose by just enough? Or risk getting the
TD to win outright? I personally think that Chris Jones plays to win and that’s
how he will coach and let the standings take care of themselves. But if the
Stamps win Friday and first is no longer attainable it then you start to
wonder. I mean this wouldn’t even crack the top 10 list of craziest things
Chris Jones has done.
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