Monday Morning Sentimonies: Random Quasi-Coherent Christmas Thoughts

Just a week until Christmas. Or if airing your grievances is more your thing (and as Rider fans it should be) its just 5 days until Festivus.

I will leave you with a few random thoughts on the smattering of Rider news before the Christmas break.

-        We have made a couple re-signings with Lenius, Henderson and Brown all re-upping. Lenius can’t possibly have worse luck than 2023. A freak preseason injury derailed his season and he returned only to promptly get hurt again. Fully healthy he can be a difference maker.

-        I like Brown. I don’t think he’ll ever be an all-star be he’s a reliable guy at DT who can plug hole and cause some disruption. Perfect guy for a D-line rotation.

-        Henderson is a frustrating player. There are times he looks like a top end HB. And there are times he looks like a top end James Johnson impersonator. If he could ever play consistently, look out. He’s only 26 and essentially has 2 years experience as a starter at  a difficult position. I think he showed enough good things to earn a chance to re-earn his spot under Corey Mace.

-        The fact that we aren’t signing very many people tells me we have next to no cap money left and need to wait until the year rolls over to start spending again, (Hey inflation is making everything more expensive these days, even crappy football rosters).

-        Montreal appears to have the most left over cash to spend because they are busy extending a lot of big names (Fajardo, Sankey, Lemon).

-        Sam Emilus and TJ Brunson both worked out for the Arizona Cardinals. If you recognized that Brunson was a Roughrider then you must be a dedicated fan because I bet few would know his name offhand.  I’ll give my standard “Wish him all the best but selfishly hope he doesn’t get an NFL deal” in regards to Emilus.

-        I hope the fact that Micah Johnson is still doing PR appearances is a sign that we want him back. I mean, it would be weird for him to break his “only sign with the Riders in alternating years” streak but he’s a leader and still busts his ass at 35. I want him back.

-        The schedule came out and its not that great from a Rider perspective. Our home opener is Sunday night (yuck) and we follow it up with a bye followed by a Thursday home game. The home schedule does get better from there with the rest Friday or Saturday nights with the exception of one Saturday afternoon.

-        We play an amazing 4 Thursday games overall. My conspiracy theory is that CFL is trying to boost Thursday ratings in advance of renegotiating TV deals and the Riders tend give exactly that bump they are looking for.

-        At least we are back to the balanced schedule.

-        We should never play Winnipeg before Labour Day… it just takes a bit away from the September matchups. 

That’s it for now. Thanks for hanging with me through another down football year. Helps to ease the pain when you have people to share in your jokes and ranting.

Merry Christmas (to everyone except Micah Awe and Chris Edwards, screw those guys) and see you in 2024.