Riders vs. Bombers: Labour Day Classic 2024

It’s Labour Day! The biggest regular season game on the schedule. The only time the stadium sells out. It’s big. It’ll be packed. It’ll be loud. The stakes couldn’t be any higher unless they were BC’s payroll.

Since 2005, when we appeased the football gods (and a certain robed prognosticator) by benching Nealon Greene, we have absolutely dominated the annual classic. We haven’t really lost unless you count the Dickenson years (asterisks) and the Jones blow it up year (double asterisks). We have won with the like of Brett Smith, Michael Bishop, Rocky Butler and most recently Jake Dolegala. If you don’t believe in Labour Day magic after reading that list of winning QBs then you must believe in the inherent talent and winning nature of those 4 (and likely be a product of the Manitoba education system). 

History aside, this is an important game. A month of not winning has eroded our lead in the West. We win and we take the season series with the Bombers and move 3 points up on them. We lose and they jump ahead a point and the season series will come down to Banjo Bowl… a game where we fare about as well as Shawn Lemon’s legal defense.

Lost of talk about the “resurgence” of the Bombers after a 2-6 start. I think their winning has masked the fact that they still have a ton of issues. Also I would add that their 3 game winning streak has included beating the worst team in the CFL (and almost losing) and beating Nathan Rourke on 3 days practice after a year and half out of the CFL (and won by just 9 despite dominating every aspect of that game). Not exactly the toughest schedule. Its true that their defense is playing very well. But their offense remains awful. Like, so awful that they couldn’t score if they were an attractive cousin at a Manitoba family reunion. They have the least touchdowns and least points overall of any team. 

“But Prophet”, you say “Sure the offense sucked at the start of the year but they have been doing much better since turning it around”. To that I say, in their 3 game winning streak they have a total of just 4 TDs and that is offset by 6 turnovers over that period. Any player not named Brady in that offense has not been very good.

So let’s start on defense. Our #1 run D goes up against their #2 rushing attack. Their #8 passing attack goes up against our #12 pass D (yes I realize there are only 9 teams but I stand by that rating). Stop Olivera, stop the Bombers. We did it when we played them Week 7. The Bombers are digging deep into their OL depth and we need to take advantage. Micah and Carney should have big days in the trenches. They should be able to elicit a category 5 Collaros temper tantrum. What worries me though is that pass D… or at least what should be pass D. We are currently very heavy on the pass and very light on the D part of that. With Lawler, Demski and Wilson, I expect yards. The key (and we struggle here) will be limiting the long passes. Force Collaros to string together long drives and the drive will either stall or he will throw a pick. I know we want to be super aggressive but we can’t let them behind us for easy yards. And if they spent anytime watching film that’s what they are going to try. 

As mentioned, while the Bombers O sucks, their D does not. They are #1 against the pass. They are second worst against the run (they are like the bizzaro us). So with Harris coming off one of the worst games I’ve seen him play, make it easy on him by feeding Hickson. Attack the one primary weakness in a very good D. Adam Bighill checks back in so that means we need to target getting him iso’ed on receivers doing short crossers. Tyrell Ford is becoming a problem so we should avoid him unless guys are wide open. Most of all Harris needs to make smart decisions (i.e. the opposite of whatever the hell he did last game). Bane and Ajou on crossers. Baker on seams. Spread it around be aggressive but not reckless. This will be Harris' first LDC... hopefully it brings out his best.  

I thought it was worth noting that the Bombers have the worst kick return game in the CFL. I’m sure it has nothing to do with letting Janarion Grant walk in the offseason in favour of paying Streveler a ton of money to plunge 3 times a game (side note, Streveler is going to fake a dive and throw in this game… it will end in an INT though). Castillo is also struggling a bit. 

This will be a close low scoring affair. 2 solid defenses. 2 not great offenses… check that, 1 not great offense and one god awful one. I’ll give you two reasons why I think things slant in our favour. 1 – The Bombers are 1-4 on the road and average 16.2 points in road games. 2 – They lead the league in giveaways and we have 10 takeaways more than the next closest team. There will be turnovers (plural) in this one. After weeks and weeks of failing to have any kind of finish, we finally play a strong 4^th quarter fueled by an electric Labour Day crowd.

Riders by a Hickson TD. 

Side note: if the final thing on the Maxtron prior to Bring Em’ out is not a clip of Ken Miller saying “What do Riders do?” we have failed immensely. 

Other side note: You will hear a lot of Bomber fans quoting the “4 Cups in 100 years stat” this weekend. First of all its 4 cups in 114 years, I know math is hard when you run out of your 9 remaining fingers to count on but please try to get it right. But second, did you know that in the past 30 years the Bombers have the exact same number of Grey Cups as the Riders and twice as many Grey Cup loses?

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Blame Harris… and Mace

Riders 19 – Argos 20

(In my best Chris Farley voice) Remember that time we used to win game? That was awesome.

But those days are gone. And not because of the rouge but because we once again crapped the bed. At the start of the year we were notorious for our slow starts but furious finishes. Now we have upgraded the starts to pretty good but any semblance of an ability to finish has disappeared like the guy who tainted Andrew Harris’ supplements. 

This one is mostly on Trevor Harris (and the guy calling his plays). Clearly it’s my fault for praising his Montreal performance too much because he came out and looked like the second coming of Nealon Greene (but like when Nealon had a broken leg). While some passes were a thing of beauty, he mostly just threw bad picks, incompletions and generally failed to muster anything resembling an offense. Toronto was beating us in the trenches and the pressure impacted him big time. I know he’s far from a mobile QB but we needed to move his launch point. Him just standing in the pocket makes life too easy for the D-line. A rollout would help. Or some more running. It was tough sledding for Hickson but he had 79 yards. The issue was that he only touched the ball 6 times in the second half as opposed to 10 in the first. Pass game was struggling, maybe lean more on what works. What has happened to Bane? He burst onto the scene this season and has almost disappeared. Should he not me making more of an impact? Bottom line is the offense was not only useless after the first quarter but often times counter productive. 1 TD will not cut it in pro football. 

Defense was very bi polar. At pretty much any part of the field they were softer than 3 ply toilet paper. But dammit once we let them get to the 1 we had them right where we wanted them! 3 goal line stands is unreal!!! But it masks that we yet again gave up over 300 passing yards. We are the victim of our own aggressiveness. Toronto ran a couple screens and I outright said “they are setting us up for a deep shot”. Sure enough a few play later, they pump and our DB gets beat deep. If its that obvious to me, you know opposing OC’s can see it. Nice to see CJ Reavis step up and have a monster game. He hasn’t played bad this year but hasn’t really had the impact I was expecting after that season. Malik Carney also continues his upward trajectory. 

Its tough enough to win when your QB shits the bed. But compounding that with bad coaching is not a good combo. If Mace had any sense of clock management, we would have made it to OT. I don’t often like playing not to lose. But in the shadow of your own goal posts you need to understand the situation and just kill the clock. Instead we went sack (damn near safety). Timeout negating a completion and incomplete, managing to kill next to no clock. It was bad coaching and it cost us. They did the same dumb stuff to end the 1^st half. 49 seconds left in the first half and we have the lead on the road.  Run it and hit the lockers. Instead we stupidly decide to throw. It ends up being a pick and costing us 3 points… in a game we lost by 1 point I’ll remind you. We aren’t good enough to overcome bad coaching decisions like this.

I feel the need to comment on how we lost. Is a missed FG a dumb was to lose? Yes. But I love the rouge and will defend it until the day I die. Its Saskatchewan’s fault for gifting Toronto field position and time on the clock. Now I would support a rule tweak to align FGs and punts with kickoffs. Kick out the back gets you nothing, you only get a single if its downed in the endzone. That would keep the spirit of the beloved rouge. 

After starting 4-0 we have been 1-5-1 since. That’s not a great summer. We have all the tools of a contending team but until we learn to play 4 complete quarters it won’t matter. Honeymoon is over. Its time to start seeing some damn results.

Other random thoughts:

-        On the play just before the first Patterson 3^rd down plunge I swear we were a mile offside.

-        Until they change the rule, I fully support Dalke and any hair pulling of opposing returners.

-        Korsak had a great game.

-        After being the talk of the province it was nice to see Lauther go out and quietly take care of business.

-        Did Marcus Sayles sleep with ref’s wife and/or daughter? Because he could sneeze on a receiver at this point and get called for PI. They calling everything on him not matter how incidental or not his fault.

-        That one play where Schaefer got tackled for a loss looked like he was supposed to throw it. But he bobble it a bit and the pressure came too quick. But the call was definitely for him to throw.

-        I like how Kelly tried to sell that he got hit in the jaw when it was clearly to his chest. Probably not getting much sympathy from the refs this year.

-    

 

Riders vs. Argos: Deja Vu Thursday

For an amazing 3^rd time in 5 weeks, the Riders will travel for a road game on a Thursday against a team coming off a bye. Apparently they should have just tried to cover up sexual assault as an organization… CFL seems to not punish teams that do that.

Look… we need a win. It’s been a month now. It definitely feels better than the losing streaks of the past 2 years because we have been competitive in every game but at some point being competitive is about as meaningful as an apology from Chad Kelly. We need some wins. Thursday is a winnable game and a chance for the Riders to get back on the right track. In a rare occurrence, fans from across the league will be Rider fans in this one, hoping purely that we sack and intercept Kelly innumerable times. Spite makes for strange bedfellows but we’ll take it. 

I didn’t realize until now all the Rider connections on that Argo staff. Obviously there is Rider legend Ryan Dinwiddie who held a clipboard like no other and personally helped deliver us the 2007 Grey Cup. Fellow Rider QB legend Drew Tate is an offensive assistant. Grey Cup winning centre Dom Picard is their RB coach. Former Rider Demetrious Maxie coaches the D-line and OL coach Kris Sweet was here in 2012. Though with how small and incestuous the CFL is I could probably find connections on pretty much any coaching staff.

On to the game…

The Argos have had a weird season. They have beaten both the Lions (with a healthy VA) and Alouettes. But lost to the Ti-Cats. Cameron Dukes was being touted as the next QB sensation until the Riders broke him in Week 5. Now they are welcoming back Chad Kelly fresh off being suspended for a whole bunch of bad stuff the Argos didn't unsuccessfully try to sweep under the rug. Will they get MOP Chad Kelly? Will they get East Final Kelly who made Ryan Dinwiddie look like a competent playoff QB by comparison? Or will they get temporary Chad Kelly because the second he gets on social media he’s apt to do something dumb enough to jeopardize his employment? 

The Argos desperately need a spark on offense. They are 7^th in points scored. Were they not propped up by the insane abilities of Janarion Grant their record would be much worse. They have the top rushing attack but are dead last in passing and have a league low 5 passing plays over 30 yards. That will happen when you find yourself in a scenario where you determine Nick Arbuckle is the best option you have. They have a couple major injuries on their OL and its been hurting them as they have allowed the most sacks so far. I expect Kelly to jump start that offense. But I also expect him to display some rust and no one is better qualified to take advantage of that than Corey Mace. D-line should feast in this one against a weaker OL. The issue will be keeping Kelly contained and not being too aggressive. Amari Henderson is “hurt” (apparently sucking is a medical condition) so thankfully the sure tackling Deontai Williams checks back in. We also get CJ Avery back. Like last time we faced the Argos, priority 1 is slow down that running game. If they are forced to become one dimensional I see turnovers (plural) coming. 

I mentioned on Monday and I’ll repeat it again. Lost in the disappointment of the way we lost last week was how good Harris played in his return against the best D in the league. If he had any other kicker in the league, he would have hung 30 on them. Now he gets back Schaefer-Baker and Ajou squared (cost is Picton, which is a loss but a net gain overall). Toronto has the #1 rush D so things may be slow going for Hickson (though he should still see a heavy workload). But they are #7 against the pass and allow opposing QBs to complete 72.3% of their passes, second worse in the CFL. The caveat is that they are second only to the Riders in takeaways. They have a solid front 4 with Orimolade and Ceresna and guys like Amos in the secondary can make plays. Harris will need to be patient and methodical but that’s right up his alley. Toronto allows 24 offensive points per game. I like Harris’ chance of toping that. 

Obviously lots to watch on special teams in this one. Janarion Grant has 4 TDs this season. Gotta keep him in check. Conversely the Argos have the second worst punt coverage and allow the 2^nd most big returns. Mario Alford will be looking to prove he still belongs in the conversation of the best. Then there is our kicker. I get why Mace is sticking with him and its not like we bothered to bring in an alternative. Hopefully Lauther bounces back. But much like Kelly finishing the season without be re-suspended, I’m not sure I’d bet on it at this point. 

Toronto plays well at home and the Riders are in a slump but that 0-3-1 record over the past month could easily be 3-1 based on how they have played. Look for them to finally finish a game and get back in the win column. In true Rider fashion they will find the most frustrating, complex, swear inducing method to do so… 

Riders by 4^th quarter passing TD.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Blame Lauther

Riders 23 – Als 26

Football the ultimate team game. It takes all 12 players on the field doing their assignment in all 3 phases. So its very rare that you can ever blame a loss on one guy. I’ve lived through games where the kicker misses a game deciding kick but even then you can look at the rest of the team and find where they contributed just as much to the loss as the scapegoat kicker. But this one was the exception.

Brett Lauther lost the game. Plain and simple. The other players were certainly not perfect but had Lauther done his job even mildly competently we win. Instead he missed 4 FGs one of which cost us a return TD. So in a game that we lost by 3, he was single handedly responsible for an 18 point differential. That's about as bad a day at the office as I think I’ve ever seen. To his credit, Lauther was man enough to face the media and answer for his performance (there’s a reason he is a team captain, guy is full of integrity and heart). But the fact remains he sucked and cost us a very winnable game.

Were this only a one game aberration we would probably be quick to forgive and move on based on Lauther’s high level of play over the years. But its unfortunately part of a very troubling trend this season. Lauther simply is not reliable right now. He missed a total of 6 attempts in the preseason and coming into Friday’s shankathon he was already the least accurate kicker in the regular season not named Bede. No one had missed more FG attempts than him. Then he went out and damn near doubled his misses. Some misses we can forgive. He missed a 57 yarder by inches a while back. No issue there, that’s a tough kick. But 3 of his misses coming into Friday were from less that 50 yards.  Friday his longest attempt was 48 yards and he missed one from 30 and 38. I love Lauther and am not calling for him to be cut. But he needs to sit for one game. You can’t preach accountability and then give Lauther a free pass. Can Joe Couch kick? I don’t know. But we can’t trust our current kicker to hit from 30 so would Couch really be that risky at this point?

The missed kicks and the final result overshadow a really sad fact… we drastically outplayed the best team in the CFL. Their defense averages 18 points allowed per game. We hung 24 on them despite Lauther costing us an additional 11. Their offense averages 29 points per game. Our defense held them to 19. We went toe to toe with the best, outplayed them and still somehow managed to lose. That hurts, a lot.

It's amazing how different a game is when the defense has the benefit of film on the opposing QB. In particular our D-line has stepped it up a level over the past few weeks. Carney has upped his play big time. Micah is a flat out stud at the age of 87. At some point we get to add Lanier back to this. Amari Henderson is a frustrating guy to watch. I don’t think I have seen a DB (outside of Milligan) diagnose and tackle on screens as well as him. And I don’t think I have seen a DB be so bad at any other tackling situation. Williams gets beat in coverage now and then but give me his sure tackling at this point over the roller coaster that is Henderson.

Offensively the return of Harris had an impact. Reminder, that the context of this game is playing the stingiest defense in the CFL. Harris led 2 TD drives and 7 FG drives. I would have preferred a few more of those FG drives led to majors but he moved the ball, put us in scoring position frequently and did not turn it over. Its not his fault “scoring position” for our kicker in this game happened to only extend 7 feet from the goal posts. Give me all the Dhonte Meyers. I have been on his hype train since the preseason and he continues to deliver. Johnson also stepped up big time. When he wasn’t being damn near decapitated by the defense he showed sure hands and an ability to find the open space. It would be nice if some of our veteran WRs could learn to catch like the newbies (cough, Bane, cough). Would also be nice if our coaches didn’t do stupid things like decide not to do a routine plunge and stupidly try to draw the defense offside only to attempt a longer FG then we had to (bold choice on any day let only based on how the kicking game was going).

Been a while since I left a game that mad. I’ve left disappointed. I’ve left disillusioned. I've left inebriated. But Friday I was mad (and maybe a little inebriated, but mostly mad)! We had the defending champs on the ropes and pissed away the opportunity. The way the West is heating up, every point in the standings is going to be important and we gave 2 away. It’s almost as disappointing as the sheep not escaping at halftime this year. 

Don't look now but after starting 4-0 we have managed a 1-4-1 record since. We've hung in there with any team but "hanging in there" won't get you a playoff spot. Need some wins.

Other random thoughts:

-        Sayles was jobbed on that PI call. Haven’t seen a dive like that since the Olympics ended.

-        I’m torn on the “was Alexander out of bounds?” call. Initially I fully agreed with the call, there were a couple shots that showed a sliver of green between the sideline and his cleat. Obviously now a shot as surfaced that disputes that. But we are almost the victims of our outrage there. After last week’s incident people were calling for quicker reviews and the booth not over officiating. That’s what we got.

-        Once again Gainer took prizes away from fans in the Flip a Card sideline fan promotion by winning. It’s quickly becoming my favourite thing to watch. Screw the fans, Gainer needs to pad his stats. Also in this economy it’s a great way for the Riders to keep this promotions budget low.

-        Speaking of contests, the “Where are they?” promotion has been so dumbed down its sad. Friday the question was essentially “this POOL is located in WASCANA park. Is it Saskatoon? The WASCANA POOL? or Egypt?”. Its approaching Celebrity Jeopardy levels. Next game the question might legitimately be "Where are you right now? A) Here B) Not Here C) Somewhere Else". Save us Sean Connery and Turd Ferguson.

Riders vs. Alouettes: Le Retour

Ever since the end of the 2022 season people have been eagerly anticipating the Harris vs. Fajardo return match-up. In the two years since we have got Fine/Dolegala vs. Evans; Patterson vs. Evans/Alexander and now Harris vs. Alexander. So maybe not the storybook match-up people had envisioned but it’s a Friday night tilt between the top teams in their respective divisions. No reason not to get amped up for this. 

The big news is the return of Trevor Harris after a 6 game absence. Patterson did well under the circumstances going 2-3-1. We would have been elated if a back-up QB in past couple years could have done that well. But Harris is back and that will definitely boost our offense. Just how much you might ask? Well Patterson’s drive’s have ended in TD 13% of the time. In Harris’ time as starter 23% of his drives went for majors. So it’s like the difference between PC Cola and Jolt Cola (remember Jolt?)

So let’s start on offense. Harris makes our offense far more potent but we are still playing the stingiest defense in the CFL (allowing less that 19 offensive points per game). They are second only to us in takeaways. They are loaded with playmakers. But Mueller figured out how to move the ball on them last time we played, and with an inferior QB at his disposal. For all their strengths, the Als struggle to stop the run. (See Hickson, Frankie). They are 7^th against the run. Again, let’s not over think this. Ouelette is fresh and raring to go. Turn the man loose! You also need to be patient and take what the Als give you. They have allowed just 4 pass plays over 30 yards this season. I think that suits Harris’ strengths well. He can make quick reads and get the ball out to his playmakers. In the first 3 games, it was Bane and Sterns who Harris leaned on. Bane is still there but Sterns has been benched in favour of Meyers (something I predicted in the preseason). I just hope our receivers catch better for Harris than they did for Patterson. Slow methodical dives with a heavy dose of running is our best plan of attack. 

Defensively we get the benefit of actually studying game film on the QB we are facing. Alexander caught us by surprise last time. With the benefit of experience and film I expect Mace to be prepared. Alexander is still a good QB. Philpot is out which is a major hit but receivers like Rambo and White can be dangerous. Same as last time we played the Als, priority 1 is shutting down Fletcher, both running and in the quick pass game. We were up to the task before. We should be again. Last game we tried blitzing Alexander a lot and it didn’t work. He gets the ball out quick and the blitz simplifies his reads. I would play a lot more coverage and force him to read the D. 

Last time we played them, we were on the road, with a back-up QB on a short week and had them on the ropes until we fell apart in the second half. Even a small semblance of offense in the final 30 and we win. Now, we are at home, with our starting QB and film on their QB. I don’t think it will be easy but this is definitely a winnable game. Minus that anomaly against Edmonton, our defense has been dominant. We held Montreal to 20 points and only 1 other team has managed that. If Harris can give us any kind of offensive spark then we should be able to go toe to toe with the best team in the CFL. Edge to the home team in this one. Win it for the sheep. 

Riders by a Lauther FG

Monday Morning Sentimonies: A Tie?

Riders 22 – RedBlacks 22

They say a tie is like kissing your sister… a great accomplishment in the province of Manitoba but considered a disappointment anywhere else. 

That game was… something. There was not a lot going on for most of the game and then it suddenly devolved into the most ridiculous ending to a game I can recall. I am always amazed at the ability of the Riders to leave me disappointed in a game I fully expected to lose. Its a gift. 

As disappointing as the end was, to escape that game with anything but a loss is an accomplishment. On a short week, with a depleted roster, I was very impressed with the effort the team showed up with. Well let me clarify that. I was very impressed with the way the defense showed up. The offense was the source of much cursing for me. Still they managed to dig deep and recover when it mattered. 

I don't think the defense is getting enough credit for what they accomplished. Five sacks, one interception, turnover on downs, one forced fumble and 2 blocked kicks. They did everything in their power short of scoring to keep us in that game. They played so well I am even willing to forgive Marcus Sayles’ hands of stone. Hell, I actually witnessed Nelson Lokombo make a play! Obviously the injury to Dru Brown impacted things (Dustin Crumb remains a poor man’s Streveler) but even the short time that Brown was in he wasn’t doing much except overthrowing his receivers deep. CJ Avery played well in the middle (hopefully his injury is just minor). D-line made their presence felt. Sure there was a couple blown assignments and many missed tackles or tackles where we hit them but got dragged for 5 more yards. But allowing 13 points in regulation speaks for itself. Defense had a bounce back game despite missing some key parts. 

My god can someone please catch for Patterson! You could likely double his stats this season if the beautiful passes he threw that his useless receivers dropped counted. So many bad drops. Obviously Patterson had a rough go of things and needs to own a lot of the reasons why, but some sure hands would help the guy out. His passes were all going too high and often to the wrong coloured jersey. Thankfully Patterson figured out that the only sure hands on the team belonged to Mitch Picton and Dhonte Meyers. I’m sure you got sick of me pumping Meyers’ tires since the preseason but this guy delivered in game 1! Sure hands, big time catches. My only concern is that after seeing his halftime interview I’m not sure he’s of legal working age and we may be committing labour standards violations by employing him. Bane to his credit also had a pretty impactful game despite a bad drop. O-line looked exactly like you’d expect. They struggled. Lots of pressure on the QB, no push in the run game. About what you’d expect given who we were fielding out there. I honestly thought Nick Jones was less of trainwreck than expected. He has no ability to stop an inside pass rush move but was not awful for how quickly he was thrown into a starting role. 

Special teams did their job. Lauther turned up with a perfect game when we needed him. Cover teams were strong. We punched out fumbles, we blocked kicks. We won that phase of the game against likely the best special teams unit in the CFL. 

Ok… now lets get to the finish.

 First is the PI on Bane. Many are saying there is no difference between the PI on Bane taking away what Ottawa thought was a victory and what happened to us. That is just plain wrong. The booth did not insert themselves on the play. Mace challenged (as he had the right to do) and the call was correctly overturned. I will readily concede that the booth has not called more blatant PI that was challenged this season but that was definitely PI. The TD pass to Emilus that followed was a thing of beauty.

In the second OT, holy hell did our D dominate the trenches. We just kept pushing Ottawa backwards. Then we forced and recovered a fumble that everyone in the stadium believed ended the game. Refs waved the flag, hands were shaken, players were in the dressing room. But CFL Command Centre would not let the game end without making their presence felt. Now in fairness to the Command Centre it was a turnover so they were obligated to look at the play. I have no issue with that. But their review should have been limited to whether Crum was down by contact or threw a pass prior to fumbling. Quite clearly neither happened. Should be an open and shut case. But Tom Valessi said “F$*& Them” and decided that a very marginal contact by McClain on Crum somehow met the definition of “clear and obvious” and that someone the fact that the only reason said marginal contact occurred was because he was cut blocked by the offense was irrelevant. To decide that was someone so egregious that the game had to be restarted was beyond ridiculous. The Command Centre overstepped pure and simple. For my full thoughts on the command centre check out my Saturday post (yes, I was so enraged I was motivated to an unplanned post this week). 

As disappointing as getting jobbed out of a win was, to salvage a tie is still a pretty good outcome. The odds were way stacked against us and we went toe to toe with Ottawa despite lacking rest and healthy bodies (fully healthy I think we stomp Ottawa). One point is better than a loss. Credit to the Riders for fighting hard. 

Other random thoughts:

-        There was some outright power on display in that game. On one play Baldonado took out 2 blockers and a returner. On another Sanders bull rushed an O-lineman straight back into his QB.

-        “Colonel” Sanders is turning into a hell of player.

-        Amari Henderson has his weaknesses but dammit is he good at diagnosing those WR screens and making the tackles.

-        Not a Rider observation but I can’t see TSN putting live mics back on the Stampeder sideline anytime soon. Whole lot of very clear F Bombs were picked up in their game.

The Command Centre Complication

In the hours and days since the end of the Riders/RedBlacks game Thursday, there has been a furry of opinions and thoughts on the command centre expressed online. I was initially going to resist adding my voice to the yelling masses but dammit if I don’t love a good rant. And if you can’t rely on the Prophet to lead you, what can you rely on? (Editor’s note: Relying on the Rider Prophet for literally anything is not recommended and undertaken at your own risk).

The Command Centre has been an issue for a while but the last 2 weeks have really brought it to a head. The CFL wants people talking about the product on the field, not the refs… and more and more it’s the latter that is dominating the conversation. That’s not a good thing. I do want to be clear here though, I am not talking about the physical refs on the field. They have a very difficult job and as much as we hate to admit it, they do a damn good job most of the time. The issue is the Command Centre.

For me, the issue boils down to two words: Uncertainty and Inconsistency.

Let’s start with Uncertainty.

My inner circle of friends may be degenerates and rarely labelled the smartest people out there but we know CFL football. The fundamental issue with the Command Centre is that not one of us can explain when the Command Centre can and cannot intervene. It’s a giant mystery and honestly could be based on shaking a magic 8 ball for all we know. Whether you like or dislike the current challenge rules, at least there are clear rules for what you can/can't challenge and when you can/can’t. As a fan I can understand that. The Command Centre seems to insert themselves at random and that is not good for anyone. 

Supposedly they exist to fix “clear and obvious” errors on the field. But clear and obvious is pretty subjective. Doesn’t help when one of your primary video review officials is Al Bradbury… a guy who over officiated games to the point that the CFL had to remove him from the field. Somehow he got a promotion out of that. Every minute infraction is clear and obvious to him. Is no yards reviewable? Offside? Illegal contact? Spot of the ball? Punch to the face? The answer is no one knows. Sometimes its yes and sometimes its no. I don’t believe in the conspiracy that the refs are out to get the Riders but I can tell you that the fact that the booth seems to intervene a whole lot when its against us and very little when its for us does not help that narrative. If there were clear guidelines on when and how the booth could intervene you could easily explain it. In the absence of that we are left to assume that Tom Valessi once again decided to say “F@*$ Them!”. 

That leads into the issue of Inconsistency. Just as it appears to be random when they intervene, the decisions coming out of the booth are just as random. I maintain that the PI call on Ottawa was correct (clear and obvious)… but I agree with those who point to far more egregious PI that the booth opted not to call. If all PIs were called evenly people would have a let less issue with the call on Thursday. Last week that fumble recovery seemed pretty clear and obvious but apparently it wasn't. I’ve seen no yards called on the field overturned by the booth. I’ve also seen blatant no yards, not addressed. After Thursday we know the booth feels they need to address roughing the passer. But yet other times they don’t and either force coaches to challenge or it just slides. The primary benefit of a centralized booth is supposed to be consistency of calls. It honestly seems like the booth in its current form has made things much worse. 

The end result of all this uncertainty and inconsistency is fan frustration, needlessly delayed games where no one (not even the play by play guys whose job it is to pump the league’s tires) can explain what’s going on a why. The simplest fix is to just go back to the basics, the booth should have the ability to review coach's challenges, turnovers and scoring plays. Nothing more. Also, when reviewing a scoring play or turnover they cannot look for penalties… unless a coach uses their challenge on it. Simple, clear guidelines that everyone can understand. 

Will this result in some on field officiating mistakes? Yes. But its not like the booth isn’t making mistakes now. I would much rather let the refs on the field call the game and live with their mistakes than be subjected to another mystery booth review.

Riders vs. RedBlacks: Limping To The Capital

Look, I’m not going to go as far as to guarantee a loss. But… in a matchup where one side is playing its back-up QB, back-up RB, 4^th string tackle, 3^rd string guard, backup receivers, a fullback who they literally signed the day before the game, back-up DTs, back-up MLB playing on 4 days rest versus… well versus pretty much anyone, I am probably not betting on the former. 

We are in tough. Our roster is decimated. Our injured lists contain 13 people who dressed for Game 1, 8 of which were starters. Essentially a third of our roster is out. Add to that we have to travel and play on 4 days rest. Add to that our opponent is coming off a bye and is probably as healthy as a team can be at this point in the season. Again, I’m not guaranteeing a loss but Vegas was giving me better odds on the Maple Leafs AND Cowboys winning championships in the same year. 

What sucks the most about this is I think under even remotely normal circumstances, this is a winnable game. I still really haven’t figured out Ottawa this year, but I can tell you their record flatters them. 4 of their 5 wins have come against Hamilton/Edmonton/Winnipeg. Now I realize the same statement is true of the Riders but my point remains. Ottawa is much improved over last year and definitely a very competitive team. But I sense they will be coming back down to earth soon. Just not this week. 

Let’s start on defense where we are now down Lanier and Thurman. Fully healthy and rested, I really think our defense could have let all the air out of the Dru Brown hype balloon like we did to Cameron Dukes. Fact, no one has scored less offensive TDs than Ottawa and that includes the hapless Bomber offense. The RedBlacks are 8^th in offensive points per game. Brown’s completion % is 7^th among active starters and he has just 6 TDs compared to 4 INTs. Is he good for a first-year starter? Sure. Is he anything special at this point? Only compared to the utter garbage RedBlack fans have been subjected to over the past few seasons. If Ottawa watched film they will try and attack us with Armstead and the run game. He’s a hard-hitting power runner. But I actually think we are better suited to stopping that than a scat back like Leake. Brown doesn’t run much so that should ease the pressure on our front 7 to stay with their gap assignments. Brown may not be anything special but he’s decent and has good receivers around him. We are going to need to generate some turnovers defensively. Ottawa has fumbled a league high 7 times so that’s probably our best chance. 

While Ottawa’s O is nothing special, their D is pretty solid (that's what she said). Their front 7 features studs like Mauldin, Laing, Santo-Knox and Pickett plus rising star Bryce Carter. They have the #3 defense. About the only thing they don’t do well is create turnovers. They are second last in that department. I do not like the prospect of Nick Jones (it’s ok if you are currently saying “who”?, he hasn’t even been in Regina a full month) having to block Mauldin or Carter. So let’s make it easy on him. Frankie Hickson’s averaging 103 yards per game since becoming the starter and an eye popping 7.3 yards per carry. In a roster full of uncertainty, he seems like about the surest thing we have. Lean on him. Given our injury situation, I understand a more cautious approach but I’ve been surprised how little Patterson (a noted runner) has actually run. It’s nice that as a young QB he is always keeping his eyes down field and looking to throw (usually need to beat that into mobile qbs) but there’s usually 3-4 times a game where he would be better off to run. With what is approaching a preseason O-line, this may be the game to use those legs a bit more. I can’t see Bane have another game as bad as last week so we need to get him involved. I can see Emilus having another bad game so maybe lean more on Ajou until Emilus shows some level of consistency. Patterson is good at not turning the ball over and we will need that to have a chance in this one. I am actually really excited to see Myers get a chance (just wish it wasn’t because we are literally running out of bodies). He showed speed and the ability to make tough catches in preseason. He’s fresh and ready to go. See what he can do. 

Speaking of Myers. I really hope he is on kick returns. You saw last week that teams started kicking away from Alford (who legitimately is our best chance at a TD). Well easy decision when the other guy is Bertrand-Hudon. Myers has the wheels to make them pay.  

That said I think Ottawa has the edge in special teams. They are very solid in kick coverage. Leone and Ward are among the best at their positions and Ottawa gets the ever dangerous Devonte Dedmon back this game. One of the guy playing on teams for us this week was literally signed yesterday. With how deep we are getting into our depth the odds of special teams miscues goes up. 

Based purely on the schedule this would have been a tough game to win with our starters. I think we would have, but not easily.  But if you showed me this roster with no context, I would assume it was for a preseason game. Ottawa is healthy and rested. We are not. That’s all the analysis you need. I expect we will hang tough with them for the first half but just as Rider Nation’s hopes start to flicker, they will run out of gas in the second half. 

RedBlacks 30 – Riders 13

Monday Morning Sentimonies: This Is The Way

Riders 31 – Elks 42

The Roughrider equivalent of the Mandalorian is Riders seeing a heavily favoured Rider team lose to a winless team, looking at each other and knowingly saying “This is the way”. We have seen this before and sadly we will probably see it again... much like some unknown 3rd string QB picking us apart. 

With a chance to take sole possession of first place and the only thing standing in our way being a winless team coming to our home turf, the Riders choked so bad that PornHub wants to buy the rights to the game film. Though, with the benefit of cooling off and rewatching the game, I must say I have a very different perspective on the game. Don’t get me wrong, that pure rage that was flowing through my veins on Saturday is still there but we were in that game with 3 minutes to go. It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t confidence inducing but we were in it. Now in the final 3 minutes we seemed to go about returning the favour Edmonton gave us in Game 1 and the end result is sadder than a single guy’s browser history. But we were in it.

Honestly would not have picked out defense to be the part of the team who struggled. Yes Tre Ford is a massive challenge to contain but when you let Tevin Jones of all people score multiple times… you struggled. I know Lanier is a massive piece to be missing but his absence alone can’t explain the best run D in the league suddenly trying really hard to double their total yards allowed on the year. As I expected, the defense struggled in the first quarter. But then stabilized in the second and locked it down in the third. I was starting to feel good because the 4^th is our time to shine. But unfortunately they replaced the NE in shine with a T instead. If they could have held on for one more quarter the outcome may have been very different. But they could not stop Leake. It’s like we were so focused on stopping Ford that we forgot about the possibility of someone else running.

Its not all on the defense though. I said, and maintain, that Edmonton does not have a good D. Well, we certainly made them look great. Three key things held us back. 1 – Patterson yet again started so slow I felt the urge to honk my car horn at him. Now after that first TD drive he settled down and was far from the biggest issue with the O but he’s not good enough to only play half a game. So we need him to figure himself out and be ready to play well from the opening kickoff. 2 – Not enough running. Frankie Hickson averaged over 7 yards per carry. He needs to touch the ball 20 times a game. Not a lot was going right on O so to not lean heavy on something that is going well seems odd. But the third thing was the biggest issue: our best receivers chose a hell of time to display all the catching ability of an inanimate carbon rod. Emilus dropped a bunch and added an offside negating a first down. Bane chose solidarity with his cement handed teammate. With 3 mins left and trailing only 4, Patterson hit Bane in stride with the perfect pass for what would have been at least a 20 yard gain. Bane dropped it, it killed the momentum of the drive and was really the point where any chance of comeback died. There was still lots of yards to go but I really think Patterson could have pulled it off… if he only had the ability to trust just one of his top 2 WRs to not be useless. 

I have always been a staunch Lauther defender but its getting to the point where he needs some competition to get him out of his funk. He missed his 6^th FG of the year. He is now 6 for 12 on kicks over 40 yards this year. When you’re on your back-up QB it would sure be nice to count on a couple 40 yard FGs when yards are hard to come by.

I know we were beat up, I know Edmonton is not a pushover, but that was a winnable game and the team failed to answer the call. For all the hype on the season we have now won just one of our last four. The adversity is ramping up and Mace needs to find a way to overcome it.

Other random thoughts:

-        Never thought I’d live to see the day where the Command Centre intervenes randomly and it goes in our favour.

-        Ajou and Johnson were the only guys with their heads on right at receiver. Ajou is going to be a monster. If the endzone turf was 2 millimeters taller he would have had 2 TDs.

-        I never want to see it again but watching Micah Johnson play O-line is kinda fun. Not technique just manhandling the guy in front of him.

-        Man I hope Sceviour and Brammer aren’t out long term, we are a couple injuries away from Corey Mace having to suit up at OL.

-        Alford is so good.

-        Picton gets the award for the weirdest and most meaningless TD I think I've seen.

-        In the first quarter Tre Ford had to miss a play because Sanders punched him in the dick. Maybe we should have employed that defense on Leake.

-        At some point on Junior Cheer Day can we re-create the greatest Junior Cheer day moment event? Bring Scott Schultz and Spergeon Wynn to the game and honour them by having them stand by an ambulance while the kids dance around them.

Riders vs. Elks: Round 2

Saturday the winless Elks come to town hoping Tre Ford can ignite what little life is left in the team. The Riders will be looking to bounce back after a second half collapse in Montreal last week. It also happens to be Buffalo Days (yes I’ve reach “refused to acknowledge change” old), so on your way out you can get conned in a game, overpay for ridiculous food try not to bear sprayed on the way out.

I’m usually not big on comparisons to historical events that have no actual connection but the collapse in Montreal made me think a lot about 2007. Kent Austin’s team choked away a lead to Edmonton and the team dropped to 2-2. It had people really questioning him as a coach and this team. They rallied and ripped off 5 straight wins. Strikes me that Montreal could be just like that, a down game that is going to happen with a new coach but is just a blip on a radar not a sign of things to come. 

On the surface there should be no reason to worry about this game. We are 5-2 and have only lost to the best teams in the CFL (though I’m watching BC play Winnipeg as I write this and am questioning that label). The Elks are winless, hapless and Jones-less. But there is a number of reasons that my confidence is waning. Obviously there is the Ford factor. But we are also piling up injuries. Now we down Lanier (our best DL) and Brammer (meaning we are on our 3^rd string tackle). Lastly, I think we are quick to forget that were it not for an insane 4^th quarter we could have easily lost to the Elks in Game 1 with all our starters. So this is far from a sure thing… much like the odds of the carnies all having full sets of teeth. 

I am not going to do what many are doing and read too much into what Tre Ford was able to do in garbage time against a Hamilton team that was milking a massive lead. But he did breathe some energy into that offense. And that is an offense that should be much better. They have Geno Lewis, Dilon Mitchell, Kurleigh Gittens and Kevin Brown. That is fire power. Now it does call into question Jarious Jackson’s ability as an OC. He has failed in previous stints as OC (i.e. BC) and the bar in Edmonton was only that he had to be better than Steve McAdoo. That’s a bar that I think most people who have never heard of football could achieve. The key is up front. Easier said than done but priority 1 is contain Ford. D-Line needs to pretty much ignore going for sacks and just focus on keeping Ford in the pocket. Last year Ford’s insertion also opened up Brown in the ground game so we need to keep being stout against the run. Remember that after a furious start last year, Ford lost his final 4 games. 

What gives me the most hope in this game is that while Tre Ford may liven the offense, he does not play defense and can’t fix that. They have allowed the most yards and the second most points. For all the talk of MBT vs. Ford, it’s the defense that has been killing them. I don’t think they have the horses. For all his criticisms as a GM (and there are as many of them as black shirts in his closet) Chris Jones is a good defensive mind. He could not get this unit to not suck. So this is where we attack. Start with a heavy dose of Hickson. Edmonton has better run D than Montreal (somehow) so I expect lower numbers from him but he should still be involved early and often. Quick passes to Bane and Emilus (who if we follow the alternating good Emilus bad Emilus pattern should be due for a good game) will keep the pressure off Council and Patterson. I also think this would be a good game to lean on the size and physicality of Ajou. If we are physical it will wear down a visiting. Above all else we need to continue to protect the football. Mistakes are how bad teams like Edmonton stick around in games. Limit them and force Edmonton to outplay us.

We had a chance to beat a very good Montreal team on the road on a very short week. This week with the benefit of an extended rest and the hometown crowd I once again expect our defense to be flying. Last year, Corey Mace’s Argo Defense held Ford to 12 points and got 2 picks off him. Our offense tends to do “just enough” but they have the benefit of facing a not great defense so “just enough” will be ok. In the first quarter they were slicing through a very good Montreal D… and comparing Edmonton’s D to Montreal’s is like comparing the structural safety of a midway ride to that of an actual building. 

I expect Ford to do Ford things and score on the first drive and the our D will shut him down for the rest of the game.  Offense won’t look pretty but will get the job done. Closer than it should be but…

Riders by a Patterson rushing TD.