Monday Morning Sentimonies: Is This Real?

Riders 37 – Stamps 28

In the moments following the Riders' win on Friday, all I could think about was Corey Grant.

Now there are only 2 possible reactions to that statement: Who is Corey Grant? And Why in the hell are you thinking about Corey Grant? Bear with me. I’m slowly embracing the desire to tell rambling stories that is growing as I embrace my old man-ness. Corey Grant was essentially Mitch Picton of the early 2000s. Reliable role player but far from a star. More to the point of my story… in one particular game in 2008 he scored a TD and in one of the most honest post game interviews ever he said ““The coach is like, ‘Act like you’ve been there,’ but I haven’t been there before. It had been a while, so I didn’t know what to do.’’ 

And that’s how that very random anecdote relates to Friday’s win. Much like Corey Grant, it had been so long since we won, I didn’t know what to do. We hadn’t won a game since July. We hadn’t won a game after Labour Day since 2021. It has been a long damn time! This was a much needed win. To be honest I still don’t really believe we won. To be honest I spent most of the second half assuming we’d find a way to blow it. 

Offense was the driving force in the one. Well specifically, Ryquell Armstead was a one man wrecking crew. Over 200 yards in his debut. Most dominate rushing performance I’ve seen since Kory Sheets. For once we didn’t overthink things. I said before the game Calgary has the worst run D in the league and Armstead needs 20 touches min. Thankfully Mueller either reads this blog or is smart enough on his own to not overcomplicate something so obvious. Also major props to our patchwork O-line. Armstead was impressive but they were giving him major room to operate. Week in week out Edwin Harrison is proving to be one of the best coaching hires in years. Baker and Johnson led the way for the receivers. Finally our QB was blessed with guys actually making catches for him. Harris was smart with the ball (minus that one he threw directly at Calgary's DB). Biggest factor was scoring majors. Far to often over the past 3 seasons we have had to settle for FGs. Harris delivered 4 TD drives. 

Defense did OK and against a lowly team like the Stamps that proved to be enough. We played pretty solid for 3 quarters then visibly took our foot off the gas in the 4^th nursing a lead. Would have preferred they didn’t do that an make the end so damn nerve-wracking but beggars can’t be choosers.  Keep in mind we were missing Milligan, Carney and Lanier. Arguably 3 of our top 5 defenders. We should get Lanier and Milligan back next week so things may be looking up. I won’t lie when we gave up a 69 yard TD on a 1 yard plunge I all but gave up hope but that turned out to be the only thing we really allowed in the first half. To be fair a lot of our defensive success was based on Calgary being awful and not being able to throw accurately or catch those rare perfectly thrown balls. Given that we only get Calgary once more over the final 4 games we may need to find a new strategy on D but for this week, it worked. 

Look, I will say this very clearly, any team that goes shotgun on 3^rd and 1 particularly with the game on the line deserves to lose. I still think Hamilton should be stripped of their win over Toronto for pure short yardage incompetence in this regard. 

After months of playing well sporadically in some phases but not all, we finally put it all together. We had a run game AND a pass game working. We played defense. Special teams made plays. We found ways to win, not lose. 

Now the massive caveat is that Calgary is visibly the WORST team in the CFL so all this win really means is that we are less awful than the worst. If we want to return to the playoffs we need to establish ourselves as less awful than at least 2 other teams. So enjoy this win because if you last since July you damn well deserve it. But hold off on thinking all our problems are over just yet. One week at a time. 

Other random thoughts:

-        With top special teams ace Milligan missing I noticed both Kosi Oneyka and Jaxon Ford step up and make plays.

-        Can someone tell me what it is that Nelson Lokombo does for this team? At least Dalke hit people. I am going to start calling Lokombo pregnancy scare because all he ever is is late.

-        I know its very illegal but as someone who grew up when it was still allowed/encouraged that Emilus crack back was a hell of a hit! Hell put him at safety… you know Chris Jones woulda tried.