Rider Prophet

On This Day In Roughrider History: Good Old Inflation

2009-11-27T07:30:00.000-06:00

As Rider fans clamour to snap up the last remaining Grey Cup tickets, I thought it would appropriate to look back on an interesting bit of Grey Cup ticket history.

43 years ago Rider fans were doing the exact same thing in preparation for the 1966 Grey Cup to see the likes of Ron Lancaster and George Reed attempt to win the first Grey Cup in franchise history. While you know how that story ends, what you might not know is the great financial lengths fans had to go to to get their hands on those tickets.

On this day, back in 1966, Grey Cup tickets could be purchased for the exorbitant price of $10… 43 years later the Rider Prophet would pay a heck of a lot more for such a ticket. In fact, I could have bought an entire section at the ’66 Grey Cup for what I paid and still had money left over for a post-game prostitute… err… I mean post game pros…perous trip to the casino. (Ah, I covered that up nicely).

Inflation, an unfortunate part of our Grey Cup heritage.

Rider Prophet on TV

2009-11-26T18:19:00.001-06:00

Be sure to check out CBC's The National on Friday. Your friendly neighbourhood Prophet will be featured in one of the stories.

Grey Cup 2009: Any Given Sunday

2009-11-26T18:17:00.000-06:00

The CFL season has 77 games. 76 of those have came and went. Some we remember, some we’d like to forget, others we’d like to remember but can’t due to alcohol related amnesia. The 77^th game is greater than all of the others combined. When it kicks off on Sunday afternoon the results of the previous 76 games will become as valuable as my Akili Smith rookie card. It’s one game for the top prize in Canadian Football.

This time around is a weird feeling as a Rider fan. Normally, Rider trips to the Grey Cup come decades apart and as such seem like a brand new event those rare times they come up. This time though, we are but 24 months removed from hoisting the Cup in Toronto... it almost seems like business as usual this time around. If history is any indication this Grey Cup appearance is about 8-10 years earlier than expected.

Of course all the talk so far this week has centered around how good the Alouettes are. They are 15-3, they have the top offense in the league, they have the stingiest defense, Calvillo is robotically efficient in picking apart defenses, they beat the Riders twice, their sweat has been reported to cure rare blood disorders in underprivileged kids, and their linemen donate their back hair to make winter coats for hairless dogs. The way the picture is being painted, it would take 7 simultaneous miracles for the Riders to even be competitive in this game. And while much of the hype in well founded. There are plenty of reasons for optimism as Rider fans…

- This “top offense” only scored one more TD than the Riders and relied on FGs for the rest of their output.
- This “top defense” was torched by Durant for over 300 yards the last time we played and Durant has improved greatly since that game.
- Calvillo is not as good as last year. He threw for 17 less TDs and 1000 less yards compared to last year. He was a better QB last year and couldn’t win the big one, why are his odds suddenly better this year?
- In our last meeting we held AC under 200 passing yards and sacked him 4 times. If not for some costly turnovers and a bad punt return TD we had a chance to beat the Als.
- This is essentially the same Alouette team that lost last year at home but instead of the friendly confines of Olympic Stadium they get to experience Mosaic’s Stadium new temporary location… which is anything but friendly.
- This decade the Calvillo led Als are 1-5 in the big game. They're like a French Buffalo Bills (well except the Als at least managed to win once and the Bills likely bathe once in a while).

Don’t get me wrong, the Als will be extremely tough to beat but the odds are nowhere near as impossible as they are being made out to be. The Als are the best team in the CFL and admittedly a better team than us on paper but when it all comes down to 60 minutes, anything can happen. Sports history is littered with highly favoured teams who came up short when it mattered most: the ’76 Riders, ’89 Eskimos, the ’02 St. Louis Rams, the ’07 Pakistan Cricket team, ’75 Chess Grandmaster Nicolas Rossolimo. Most famously remember the ’08 Patriots. They were shattering scoring records and treating their opponents like speed bumps on their way to eventual perfection and seemed unstoppable… until one fateful Sunday when they dominance was abruptly halted by a supposedly inferior team. Sound familiar?

Two things will have to happen for the Riders to emerge victorious. #1 – Darian Durant will have to be our MVP. He has to play turnover-free football. He’s proven before that he can beat the Als through the air, so he needs to step up and do it again. I think Bagg and Fantuz will have big games. #2 – Our secondary needs to play the game of their lives. They need to make Calvillo hold the ball long enough for our pass rush to get there. If the short passing game is there for AC and his cast of talented receivers, he will pick us apart without even coming close to taking a hit. We need to hit him hard and often. That will require good coverage in the secondary to give our line that extra second to get to the QB.

Special teams will also play a big role in this game. Both teams feature returners capable of taking one back at any time and I predict we will see a return TD on Sunday… I just pray that Armstead is the one to do it.

Montreal has the advantage in terms of skill but I think the Riders bring an emotional edge which will be heightened by a raucous home crowd… not to mention the presence of their very own Prophet who will lead them to the promised land. It will be a high scoring, closely fought battle that will be decided late in the 4^th quarter. Calvillo may hoist the league MOP tonight but on Sunday the Riders resiliency will shine through and they will be the ones to hoist the Cup for only the 4^th time in franchise history.

Riders by an Andy Fantuz TD.

If you will be one of the thousands of Rider fans joining me in the streets of Calgary on Saturday or the stands of McMahon on Sunday let’s get ready for a crazy weekend culminating in the biggest game of the year (which will likely coincide with the biggest hangover of the year).

Monday Morning Sentimonies: West Division Champions!

2009-11-23T17:40:00.000-06:00

Riders 27 – Stampeders 17

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

If you are like me, you are still shaking with excitement following last nights win (you are also tired, have a hoarse throat and wish you were currently riding an ostrich). The Riders turned in a tremendous team effort and outplayed the Stamps in every facet of the game. Most notably, our QB played like a champion while their QB… well he played like Henry Burris.

The crowd was outstanding. It was so loud that no one could hear the entrance music and the intensity did not diminish.

The start of the game was eerily similar to last year’s playoff game… defense busting their asses and offense offering no support. Fortunately Durant’s struggles, unlike a certain moronic QB that preceded him, didn’t included a bevy of INTs and were only short lived. The defense did their part to keep things close until the offense could get things going. And once they did, we never looked back.

Our defense was ferocious. There were times when all the Stamps linemen could do was hold us because our pass rush was powering through them. Rey Williams was a beast notching up 10 tackles and 3 sacks. And how about James Patrick? He’s finally being the difference maker at safety we all hoped he could be. I was also impressed at how they were able to limit Reynolds. To be fair, the main way they did so was by flustering Henry Burris and making him try and be a hero and win the game by himself… but hey it worked.

Offensively, you gotta like Durant’s poise. Even when we are trailing he never seems to get flustered. When we weathered that poor start and tied it up before the half you just knew momentum was swinging our way. That momentum was given a giant push in our direction by a huge return to start the second half by Armstead. If it weren’t for the fact that none of our blockers can keep up with him once he gets in the open field. That return and the ensuing Fantuz TD were the TSN turning point (though oddly enough TSN disagreed).

With the energy in the crowd and in the team you just knew we were not going to be denied.

Other random thoughts:
- Our receivers are no longer just good Canadian receivers… they are just plain good receivers.
- I’d be interested to see what Jyles’ conversion rate is on 3^rd down. Actually on second thought, I’d be happier not knowing.
- I love seeing the supremely overrated Brandon Browner take an objectionable conduct penalty
- I was hoping that Dwight Anderson would take one too. He came dangerously close to picking up a penalty flag in the first quarter.
- That may have been one of the worst onside kicks in a while. DeAngeles somehow managed to boot it 15 yards farther than he was supposed to (maybe he was just trying to add to his list of “records” by kicking the longest onside kick attempt in playoff history).
- I love how Wes Cates remembered how to run for like 4 plays late in the game (apparently they weren’t lying when they said we were saving him)
- Speaking of saving things, we were evidently also saving a strong 3^rd quarter for the playoff run too.
- I feel sorry for any bosses who require productivity from their workers this week.

An outstanding team performance lands the Riders as West Division Champions… well beyond what most people thought they would accomplish this season. There may be better players in the league but I don’t think there is a better team out there. Guess we’ll see come Sunday.

We came to the conclusion last night that the Rider Prophet should be there in person to lead us to the promised land so me and the entire Rider Prophet team will be making the trip this weekend to witness the Grey Cup first hand. We still have some minor travel arrangements to work out such as tickets and accommodation (and if you can help us out on either of those please let me know).

This will be one of the longest weeks in memory, but it will be worth wait for the chance to see the Riders compete for their 2^nd Grey Cup in 3 years.

It All Comes Down To This

2009-11-19T21:29:00.000-06:00

The wait has seemed endless at times. It’s already been 12 days since the Riders last played and there’s still 3 more sleeps to go (or 2 sleeps and 1 passed out drunk, in my case - not necessarily in that order). But the West Final is definitely worth waiting for. Besides, we already waited 33 years, what’s a few more days?

Over 4 months of football, 18 games, struggles, successes, wins, loses… all become about as meaningful as the MTV Russia Music Awards (I, like most people, assumed that communists weren’t allowed to listen to music… though I guess the likes of Sergey Lazarev can hardly be considered music). It all comes down to 60 minutes of football. The winner goes to Grey Cup. The loser will be cleaning out their lockers on Monday.

Home crowds play a very important part of this game for both teams. The Riders get to play the biggest game of the year in front of a capacity crowd at home. The Stamps are playing for a chance to play for a 2^nd straight Grey Cup in front of their home crowd (to be fair though, it will essentially be a home game for the Riders should they win too).

The fact is that Calgary failed to beat us in three attempts this season but lots of people keep telling me that means the Stamps are due. Sorry but I call BS to that logic. The Riders were “due” for another Grey Cup for 18 years, the Blue Bombers are still “due” for another Grey Cup after 19 years and counting, the Maple Leafs have been “due” not to suck for so long that most people can’t even recall a time when they weren’t “due”. If you believe in being “due”, then I guess that means Megan Fox is due to return my 7,000^th phone call after shutting me out on my previous 6,999 attempts and that she's also due to drop the pending lawsuit she filed against me for spying on her through her bedroom window and rummaging through her garbage because her lawyers finally buy my “its her fault for having windows and garbage cans that aren’t locked" defense. "Due" is something that people too stupid or lazy to apply actual logic come up with for lack of something useful to say.

Lots of focus is being put on Henry Burris heading into the game. We all know how dangerous he can be with his legs and his arm but quite frankly Burris is the least of my worries (what with the recession, flu pandemics and a pending lawsuit). In 3 games against us this season, Burris was quite average. Mid 200s in passing yards each game and only 3 passing TDs offset by 2 INTs and 2 fumbles overall. Even last week, when Burris was given the relatively easy task of beating the worst secondary in the CFL, he looked very mediocre. If he couldn’t light up that group of failures then I can’t see him torching our vastly superior secondary (featuring a returning Eddie Davis) with great ease. The man we need to worry about is the man we always need to worry about - the Western MOP, Joffrey Reynolds. He has run for over 100 on us every time this year. He’s a lot like the rash on Man in the Bush’s inner thigh… you can’t stop it, you can only hope to contain it. This is the way I look at it… Reynolds will probably run for 100 but the key will be keeping him out of the endzone. In our 2 victories he didn’t find the endzone. In the tie he scored 3 times. Stop Reynolds, stop the Stampeder offense.

For the Riders, it’s all about Durant. As important as the play of our defense is, it’s his play will dictate the outcome of the game. The Stamps play a very aggressive D but thus far it hasn’t fazed Durant. He’s thrown for over 250 yards/game and 7 TDs with only 1 turnover against the Stamps this year. If he can keep up that level of play and receives some defensive support, the game should be very similar to the regular season finale. His methods may seem unorthodox and at times down right scary but he has an unstoppable will to win that pays off in the end more times than not. He instills confidence in his team and the fans.

This is a battle of 2 of the most potent offenses in the league and the winner will be determined by which defense steps up more in the face of that adversity. We have a boat load of talent on defense and though they have struggled at times this year, I fully expect them to be up to the challenge.

I can barely contain my excitement/nervousness. Even just typing this, my hands start shaking and my heart starts racing. We are so close to the Grey Cup. The stakes are the highest they’ve been at Mosaic in decades. As fans we need to make sure our intensity matches the intensity we are expecting out of the players. Mosaic should be literally shaking from the player entrances to well beyond the final whistle (unless of course we are on offense, then absolute silence is a must… yes I’m talking to you morons in the back rows of the upper deck… shut up or I will punchasize your face so they have to wire it shut!!). The energy should be beyond anything we’ve seen this season. If you can speak on Monday morning you are not a true Rider fan.

Much to the detriment of my heart and physical well being, I expect an extremely close game that will not be decided until the dying minutes of the game. A late Burris INT to Lance Frazier leads to a game winning drive by Durant, capped off by a TD to the “Stampeder Killer” Chris Getzlaf.

Riders by 4

In other news…

Though I expect the Alouettes to easily handle the Lions, I secretly hope Casey Printers leads the Lions back to the Grey Cup only to have Wally bench him for the big game in favour of Buck Pierce (who goes out and loses the game). It seems the only fitting end to his Cinderella-type return story.

Lastly, the Riders announced that they have re-signed CB Donovan Alexander to a 2 years plus an option contract. This is great news for a couple reasons. First, we are locking up a very talented young Canadian who exceeded all expectations in his first year starting on the corner. Second, since we are re-signing guys like Congi, Fantuz and now Alexander it likely means we are under the cap and have extra money to spend on signing bonuses. Hazah!

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Semi-Final Thoughts

2009-11-16T22:07:00.002-06:00

Since the Riders were on I bye, I was hoping to sit back and relax and just enjoy watching some good football without any stress… unfortunately, save for a few moments, it was hardly what I would call good football.

It started out East where Casey Printers finally turned a good performance in Hamilton… unfortunately for Ti-Cat fans it came over a year too late to earn a return on the ridiculous $500K investment they made in him. Simply put the Ti-Cats D had no answer for Printers. Admittedly they did not have an easy task as it seemed someone coated Printers in Crisco before the game but still across the board the defense was no match for the Lions. On the other side of the ball, it took Kevin Glenn over half the game to figure out the Lions’ D. He made it an exciting finish when he did, forcing OT with a 2 point conversion (at that point I was hoping that Printers would throw a game losing INT in overtime again... but alas it never happened). I guess this will teach me for thinking that Bellefeuille could beat Buono… in retrospect, I of all people should have known better.

In the end, this game didn’t really matter as the East-Semi is a lot like the March Madness play-in game between the 64th and 65th seeds. Really they are just playing for the privilege of getting eviscerated by the top team in the nation and being nothing more than a footnote on the annals of history.

Then it was on to the west, which is traditionally considered the stronger division but you wouldn’t have guessed it by watching that game. I am by no means cocky about our chances this coming Sunday but the way both the Esks and Stamps were playing it had me convinced that even if the Riders showed up with a half assed effort, they would still be able to compete no problem with their opponent. The Esks offense struggled and Burris had trouble despite facing the atrocious Edmonton secondary. As per usual, Joffrey Reynolds was the quiet workhorse that made the difference. The rest was pretty boring unfortunately. I still get a kick out of the Scott Gordon blitz that Richie insists on running… it hasn’t worked since well before we traded Gordon to Hamilton in ‘06 but Richie the faithful person that he is, has stuck with it and one of these days it just might work (though I’m pretty sure for that to happen, all 5 O-linemen would have to simultaneously suffer blown knees and fall to the ground… and even then there’s a good chance Gordon would just disappear into that pile too).

So now that that disappointing display is out of the way we can move on to what really matters… a Sunday showdown with the arch-rival Stamps with a spot in the Grey Cup on the line. The excitement and the tension are starting to grow and by the weekend will be at a fever pitch.

6 more sleeps until the biggest home game in 33 years!

Carefree Mockery

2009-11-12T21:36:00.001-06:00

It’s been a long time since Rider fans haven’t had to care about the outcome of the division semi-finals… and you have to go back even farther to find a time when are reason for not caring didn’t involve an embarrassing season that was mercifully already over. That’s definitely not the case this time around. The Riders are on a bye week after finishing in 1^st for the first time since the Fonz ruled the airwaves. Eeey!

With the Riders off this week awaiting the winner of the Stamps and Esks (and me really not caring about who wins this weekend), I get to devote more space then usual to mocking other teams. So let’s get right to it…

We’ll start in the east where the Ti-Cats host the Lions. The Lions and their winningest coach have gone from perennial lock to win the West to being relegated to squeaking into the playoffs via crossover. Meanwhile, the Ti-Cats have gone from perennial punch line to half decent team, which in the atrocious East, is good enough to coast to second place… unless of course you’re stupid enough to repeatedly start Quinton Porter. But seriously who would be that dumb? … Oh wait… awkward.

The way things are going for the Lions, they may have to spend this week’s practices implementing an all-wildcat offense… they certainly can’t count on anyone being able to actually throw the ball. Apparently Printers will start (despite his injured thumb), backed up by Lulay (despite his injured should), backed up by Champion (who must really suck to be healthy and still only the 3^rd option behind an injured thumb and bad shoulder). I really think the Lions are covering up the severity of the injury to Printers’ thumb. Their whole QB situation reminds me a lot of this. I expect bad throws and repeated fumbles (much like when Printers was a Ti-cat). In a cruel twist of fate, the man who is famous for finding an endless supply of future all-star QBs will be done in by a QB stable that is either too injured or too stupid (and in some cases both) to salvage his season.

I never thought I’d see the day where in a battle between Buono and Bellefeuille, I would be favouring Bellefeuille and mocking Buono… it’s like I’ve stumbled into some sort of Bizarro world. What’s next? A “Bring Back James Johnson” post on my blog? (*Rest assured that the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Lions will win championships in the same year well before I consider writing such a post).

We then move onto the battle of Alberta, where the Esks take on the Stamps for the right to lose to the Riders next week. Henry Burris will no doubt be near tears over being passed over for both team MOP and Western All-Star nominations and we all know that when Burris doesn’t feel he’s getting enough respect, he goes out and tries to make himself look like a hero, which leads to the ball ending up in Reynolds’ hands very little and the defender’s hands quite a bit. It also leads to embarrassing displays such as this.

As for the Esks, I haven’t been sold on them from day 1. I just don’t think they are that good and their .500 record is very flattering. If their final 3 games of the season hadn’t been the Argos twice and the QB-less Lions, they would probably have missed the playoffs. Their pass coverage is as useful as Jesse Lumsden’s shoulder and that’s a concern when facing Burris. Not to mention that if you take away Fred Stamps, the Esks have a pretty sad looking set of receivers. Arkee Whitlock is a very lucky man. Any other coach would have cut him on the spot after his atrocious debut but Richie Hall (being the good guy that he is) stuck with him and is reaping the benefits of his decision. The Esks now have a credible running attack for the first time in the Maciocia era.

I picture this game being an offensive shootout with less defense than most All-Star games. Ray gives the Esks a legit shot at winning any game but I’m going to stick with my belief that the Esks just aren’t that good of a team and say I expect to see the Stamps back here next week.

And of course no mockery of other teams would be complete without talking about the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Their season may be over but the hilarious news just keeps flowing. Mike Kelly got an early start on pissing away next season by announcing that he wants to bring Michael Bishop to training camp next season. Look, we all know that I highly favour the move because Bishop is pretty much a lock to do something hilariously stupid on a weekly basis and making fun of those occurrences is way easier than putting effort into writing something else that is funny… but come on Mike Kelly, this is dumb even for you. If the season filled with interceptions that were only outnumbered by incompletion or completing only 8 passes when the season was on the line weren’t a red flag that maybe you should look elsewhere if your future plans involve winning… maybe the time he knocked himself unconscious on his own blocker should have been!!

The only thing that would make this situation funnier is if Kelly signs Bishop to an extension then turns around and announces the signing of Kerry Joseph the same day.

Enjoy a stress free weekend because next week is going to be off the charts as we head into the West Final in Saskatchewan.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: We’re #1!

2009-11-09T07:00:00.000-06:00

Riders 30 – Stampeders 14

In honour of finishing first in the west for the first time in 33 years, I decided to celebrate by also doing something that hasn’t happened in a really long time… posting Monday Morning Sentimonies on a Monday in the morning (lately it seems I settle for one or the other). I blame the chronic procrastination and laziness I’ve developed. Fortunately, in this day and age of non-discrimination and human rights, you’re not allowed to discriminate against me based on a medical condition.

It still doesn’t seem quite real. I mean I was there, I saw us win but the idea that we actually managed to win first hasn’t fully sunk in yet. Up until now the idea that we’d ever live to see the Riders finish first again was about as ridiculous as the idea that Michael Bishop was a good QB (more on that later).

Saturday’s game was the biggest regular season game in years and fortunately the Riders realized the importance of the game and came to play accordingly. Durant was the poised leader we needed him to be. He made good decisions and controlled the ball. Not surprisingly that led to a good offensive output. His main target was Andy Fantuuuuz who was a first down machine. Getzlaf continued his legacy of being a Stampeder killer. The run game was even half decent… I didn’t say great but at least it was good for something beyond the 1 yard run up the middle we’ve grown accustomed to.

I was most impressed with the defense. They stepped up against a very potent Calgary offense and limited them to only 1 TD. Yeah Reynolds seemed to run all over us but that will happen against the best RB in the league. We kept him out of the endzone though (which we couldn’t do last time we played the Stamps). Most importantly, they flustered Henry Burris which predictably led to a Stampeder offense that was about as potent as the average senior’s home resident. We didn’t force a lot of turnovers but still kept the Stamps in check. On that note: when did we amend the “illegal contact” rule to mean it is illegal for a defender to contact a ball thrown by Henry Burris and intercept it? Seriously that 2nd INT should have counted.

Another Rider performance that I think deserves mention is Jason Clermont. While he was, as usual, relatively absent from the stat sheet he did get involved in other ways. One was tossing around Burke Dales as he tried to get involved in a punt coverage (and beaking him just for good measure) and the other was inconspicuously joining the Stampeder huddle at the end of the game to figure out what kind of kick they were going to run. Not what you’d normally expect from a receiver but useful nonetheless.

The game had its stressful moments but the fact that we never trailed at any point during the game made things a lot easier on my heart than I expected. Probably a good thing though that it got a light week because I’m going to need everyone ounce of strength left in the old ticker to survive our first West Final on home turf since I’ve been alive.

Rest up Saskatchewan, in 2 weeks time the Riders take to the field, only one win away from a trip to the Grey Cup. Man that sounds good to say!

Around the CFL…
Winnipeg learned the hard way what happens when you hinge your season on the success of Michael Bishop. With the season on the line, Bishop managed to complete only 8 passes to his own players and 2 more to Hamilton players as the Bombers had their season ended by losing big to the Ti-Cats. Granted he didn’t get much help from Adarius Bowman (who played like he way high as a kite… and probably was) but still Bishop sucks. He can now add Winnipeg to the list of football teams whose season’s he has ruined. For the record, when the Bombers saw Bishop put his jersey on backwards while dressing for the game, they should have realized they were screwed.

As a fan of the game, I hope that GMs across the league can finally agree that Bishop is terrible and should never be called again. However as a fan of mocking Bishop, I hope there’s one stupid/desperate GM left out there who will give him one more shot.

Speaking of desperation and QBs… how about those Lions?!? Already having Jarious and Lulay out with shoulder injuries, they had to endure Printers injuring his thumb in the first quarter and Buck Pierce hurting his shoulder (again/still/this is just getting ridiculous) before halftime. That led to Zac Champion (though in name only) getting thrust into action and losing miserably. I love the irony in Wally Buono who has always had a long line of future all-star QBs, now being barely able to find one solitary QB healthy enough to finish the season. Someone should check his cholesterol levels.

Riders vs. Stamps: First Place Showdown

2009-11-05T16:54:00.000-06:00

The year was 1976, Pierre Trudeau was Prime Minister; the first Rocky movie dominated the box office; Iceland and the UK ended the infamous Cod War (that was a relief); Apple Computers, the Toronto Blue Jays and U2 were formed… 2 of the 3 went on to be highly successful while, with the exception of a mysterious 2 year span of success, the other settled into the perennial failure that Toronto sports teams are famous for. But more importantly (and I know you’re asking yourself what could possibly be more important than a war over cod)… ’76 was the last time that the Riders finished first in the West Division.

Saturday night the Riders have a chance to do it again.

The Riders and Stamps square off in a winner takes all showdown on Saturday. For the curling enthusiasts among you, the situation in the west is essentially a page playoff system now. 1^st and 2^nd place square off with the winner advancing directly to the final while the loser will play the winner of the 3-4 game for a second chance at qualifying for the final. The stakes are higher than that airship that Teddy Ruxpin and his comrades used to fly around in. Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about.

The Stamps come into this game on somewhat of a hot streak, having lost only 1 of their previous 6 games. The Riders have lost only 1 of their past 4 games (unfortunately that 1 loss was a defeat about as embarrassing as the time that Man in the Bush violated that poor fan's watermelon helmet in celebration of our last win in Calgary).

Offensively the Stamps are loaded with weapons. Joffrey Reynolds is the top RB in the league, Rombie Bryant is enjoying a big resurgence, Jeremaine Copeland and fat ass Lewis are dangerous and of course Burris is a dual threat under center (by that I mean he can be dangerous to both his opponents and his own team). The thing with the Stampeders is that despite an arsenal of offensive weapons, the key to their success lies with one guy… Reynolds. They have only lost twice when he has exceeded 100 yards rushing but have struggled when he doesn’t. That’s a big concern because a) the Riders aren’t that good at stopping RBs in general and b) the Riders are even worse at stopping Reynolds specifically (he has amassed 242 yds and 3 TDs along the ground against us in 2 games).

Defensively the Stamps are not really that impressive. This is partially due to complete instability. After winning the Grey Cup based on strong defensive play they pretty much replaced every starter over the offseason. Then they realized that that group sucked and replaced most of them by midseason… and seem to have replaced a bunch a people again once more just for fun. They feature 2 of the most overrated defensive players in the league in Brandon Browner and Tim Johnson (who is as useless as Viagra to a unick in pass coverage). They aren’t a terrible unit but as we showed last time, they can be exploited for big yards. Not to mention they rank among the worst in the league in sacks and INTs. Surprising as it may be though they are one of the most penalized teams in the league.

Despite an embarrassing performance last week, the Riders have some things working in their favour this week. Lance Frazier will be back in the line-up to help solidify things in the secondary. Gerran Walker is healthy again and his speed should help open up our passing game. Also the flu bug seems to have worked its way through the team so they should now be able to focus on the game as opposed to the location of the nearest garbage can, toilet or opposing player’s helmet.

The keys to the game are simple. Defensively we need to eliminate Reynolds and keep Henry in the pocket. When Reynolds can’t bail him out and Burris can’t escape the pocket and run himself, he starts to make mistakes and against a defense that is #2 against the pass and #2 in takeways, I like our odds of success. So Etch I’m begging you, please, please, please do something to stop the run… I would suggest doing the exact opposite of what you did the last time we faced Reynolds.

Offensively, we need Darian Durant to show up. At his best Double D makes clutch throws, controls the ball and puts up points. At his worst he makes me wonder when we re-signed Nealon Greene and made him our starter again. He needs to have his head in the game from the first snap and take command of the offense. Other than a couple games that I’ll assume were flukes, the Riders haven’t had a relevant ground game for most of the season so yet again I’m going to go ahead and assume we won’t suddenly discover how to run this week, so it’ll be up to Durant and the receivers to chew up yards. The bonus will be if Durant starts playing well it will make Burris jealous meaning he will quit handing off the ball and try to be the hero (which as history shows, leads to tragically hilarious results).

This is by far the biggest regular season game played at Mosaic in a long, long time. Win and we are only one more win away from getting to the Grey Cup. The energy at the stadium will be off the charts (much like my heart rate). Traditionally, the Riders aren’t a team that does well with seizing opportunity in the regular season but I believe this year will be different. They will come out fired up in front of the home crowd and fight hard for 60 minutes (yes we will even show up for the 3^rd quarter). The Riders have that precious first week bye in their grasp and they will no let it slip away.

Riders by a Luca Congi field goal in the final minute of play. (Hopefully someone sitting near me is trained in first aid and CPR because I will be in absolute shambles if it goes down as I predict).

One last bit of Rider news for you…

It seems former Rider Yo Murphy is enjoying his retirement (and enjoying may be an understatement). Yo has landed himself a job as the head coach of the Tampa Bay Breeze of the newly formed Lingerie Football League. The man played in the Super Bowl, won 2 Grey Cups and a World Bowl and now he is spending his retirement coaching scantily clad hot women… I am insanely jealous. I wonder if he needs an athletic trainer, equipment manager or massage therapist to help him out. What I lack in actual qualifications, I will more than make up for in enthusiasm.

On This Day In Roughrider History: Cheaters Always Prosper

2009-11-03T20:09:00.001-06:00

The playoffs are just around the corner, so for today’s installment of “On This Day In Roughrider History” I though I would take a look back at some Roughrider playoff history.

Cheating is generally something we would expect from the likes of the BC Lions, Chinese gymnastics teams, French judges or a wife who is a dirty, dirty tramp. While the Riders were never as blatant cheaters as the others, they too have on occasion shall we say done things that may not be entirely on the level to win football games.

On this date back in 1956 the Saskatchewan Roughriders won the West-Semi final over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers because an astute Rider waterboy found Winnipeg’s playbook before the game and gave it to coach Frank Filchock.

Now there are 3 lessons to be learned from this piece of Rider lore. The first is that good things happen to those who cheat (write that down kids). The second is that people from Winnipeg are stupid. The third is that, much like movies have taught us, given the chance, a waterboy can single-handedly lead a football team to victory.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Mailed It In

2009-11-02T18:54:00.000-06:00

Riders 6 – Ti-Cats 24

In retrospect there were many signs during Saturday’s game that this wasn’t going to be our day. One could point to the TSN turning point occurring very early in the first quarter when Durant fumbled the ball on a botched play action. One could point to the fact that that was just one of 3 turnovers Durant committed in his first 9 plays. One could point to Chris Jones being our offensive MVP and the focal point of our offense on those exciting 5 yards patterns (he even added a defensive tackle to boot). But for me the biggest sign was that across the board there was a huge lack of intensity and effort.

After spending the whole week assuring us their focus was on the Ti-Cats, I think we can now call BS because you can’t tell me that after turning in a performance like that that the Riders weren’t overlooking Hamilton and thinking about the Calgary game this week.

With the exception of Armstead, nobody seemed to have their heads the game. Durant seemed to celebrate Halloween by dressing up as Michael Bishop. The O-line joined in the spirit of the season by dressing up as bag boys… they were handing out sacks like their pay-check depended on it. The defense donned their BC Lions costumes and proceeded to make the very mediocre DeAndra Cobb look like an all-star RB. Even the usually reliable Rob Bagg appeared to dress up as Dylan Ching. There was just nothing positive about that performance. It was just plain ugly.

Speaking of ugly, this is of course the perfect segue into a discussion about the Hamilton cheerleaders. Now this group isn’t exactly the most attractive ensemble at the best of times but for some odd season they decided this week to step it up a notch and dress up as zombies. To be fair though while the attire and make-up somehow managed to make the group look worse, in a few cases it actually made a couple of them more attractive (you know, relatively speaking).

Other random thoughts on the game…
- Congi sure has a knack for finding the uprights on long FG attempts.

- Was it “Red Plastic Bag Day” at Ivor Wynne?! I mistook a floating bag as a penalty flag early in the game but it seemed that a new one would waft down the field every couple minutes.

- What ever happened to Neal Hughes?? Last year he put up 7 TDs and was a versatile weapon and an important part of our offense. This year he received his first and only offensive touch on Saturday. We’ve given multiple touches to Szarka so why not show Hughes some love?

- Yes I realize the irony in complaining that a FB other than Szarka is not getting the ball enough. Maybe Hughes just needs to run for city council.

It was a very disappointing performance but fortunately it ended up not mattering much in the grand scheme of things. With Calgary beating BC, we have clinched our 3^rd straight home playoff game. It comes down to this Saturday’s game against the Stamps to determine if it’s yet another West-Semi or the first West Final since 1976.

I am officially placing all first aid personnel at Mosaic Stadium on notice that I’m not sure my heart will be able to take the stress of that game and I will likely require medical attention at some point.

Riders vs. Hamilton

2009-10-29T17:25:00.000-06:00

Saturday the Riders (9-6-1) travel to Hamilton to take on the Ti-Cats (7-9) in a contest that is very important for both teams for different reasons. The Riders can clinch their 3^rd straight home-playoff game with a win, while the Ti-Cats need to win to stay in contention for a playoff spot (and possibly even a home playoff game).

Normally discussion about Hamilton involves heavy mockery of coach Marcel Bellefeuille but for awhile there it looked this year would be different (much to my dismay). After a brutal first game, the Bellefeuille-led Ti-Cats won 4 of their next 5 games and we’re essentially a lock for 2^nd place in the East. Bellefeuille was even being discussed as a potential Coach of the Year Candidate (again, much to my dismay). But just as things were finally looking up for the beleaguered Hamilton fans Marcel remembered just who he was and proceeded to resume coaching as effectively has he had done in his previous coaching stints in the league (i.e. terribly) en route to losing 7 of their next 9 games and ending up in a battle with the Bombers to even make the playoffs.

To be fair, unlike in the past, Bellefeuille only made 1 mistake this time… problem is it was a pretty big mistake. I’m talking of course about Quinton Porter. Anyone who has watched him play this season can tell that he’s played terribly. Anyone that is, but Marcel. Despite Porter’s repeated turnovers, microscopic offensive production and being responsible for 2 of the abysmal Argos’ 3 wins, Marcel inexplicably decided to stick with him. Kevin Glenn must be wondering why Marcel hates him so much. When they were both in Regina, Glenn was kept on the sidelines in favour of Nealon Greene, and now in Hamilton he was benched again in favour of someone who can only dream of playing like Nealon. Simply put, if Bellefeuille had been smart enough to name Glenn as the starter sooner, the Ti-Cats would have clinched a home-playoff game. Then again, smart is not a word generally associated with Bellefeuille’s coaching (the preferred words tend to be laughingstock, brutal, ineffective and failed shot-gun draw on 2^nd and long).

Onto the game…

While much hype has been generated over rookie RB DeAndra Cobb, I happen to think he’s insanely overrated. If you take away his 2 monster games against BC (because let’s face it, other than us everyone runs over BC’s terrible run D), he is averaging only 55 yds/game and has only 2 rushing TDs. Tell me why that is so exciting? A mediocre RB and non-mobile QB mean that the run is not a huge concern for the Riders this week.

There is only one thing to fear about the Hamilton offense and that is Arland Bruce. He is the focal point of their passing attack and a threat to score on every play. If you can control him you’re only left with feared names such as Dave Stala, Drisan James and the scoring machine known as Corey Grant. Problem is controlling Bruce is a difficult task at the best of times… let alone when your most experienced HB is injured.

By now I’m sure you’ve heard that Eddie Davis will have to undergo surgery after suffering a torn meniscus is his knee in the 1^st quarter of last game and is out for the foreseeable future. That is a big blow to the team heading down the stretch. The good news, at least, is that Lance Frazier should be back on the field this week. Chris McKenzie looked alright for his first start so I’m hoping that with Frazier back and a full week of practice for McKenzie that we won’t allow another 300 yards through the air.

The keys to the game are fairly simple. Defensively we need to stop Bruce. The Ti-Cat O-line has given up the 3^rd most sacks so we need to take advantage of that to disrupt Glenn’s passes. Even with Bruce, the Ti-Cats are still among the lowest scoring teams in the league, so if Frazier, McKenzie and the rest of the secondary can step up it will make for a rough night for Glenn (expect Chick and Baggs to add to their sack totals).

Offensively, the key will be ball control. Durant has proven he can put up points so as long as he keeps the ball out of the defenders hands I see another good game for him. The Ti-Cats don’t allow a lot of points but they can be exploited with an aggressive yet balanced attack.

The Riders seem to be hitting their stride at the right time of the season. With a chance to clinch a home playoff game for the 3^rd year in a row I expect the Riders to come out strong.

Riders by an Andy Fantuz TD in a close game.

One last note…

It seems that former Rider Kennedy Nkeyasen has gotten himself in some trouble. He allegedly broke into his ex-girlfriends house and beat up her new boyfriend. Poor guy… whether its covering people on the football field or satisfying women it seems there is always someone who is better qualified than Nkeyasen.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Overtime Again

2009-10-26T13:13:00.002-06:00

Riders 33 – Lions 30

16 games into the season, the decision to play James Patrick at safety finally paid off. Hazah!

I won’t lie, following the Durant pick 6, I wasn’t very optimistic about our chances (fortunately I wasn’t dumb enough to leave the stadium and miss another amazing finish). Even in OT, the Lions seemed to be moving the ball at will and it looked like they were poised to score a game winning TD. Then along comes James Patrick to snag the game winning interception. To be fair I will give the assist to Omarr Morgan on that one as he managed to get away with a level of contact on Geroy Simon that would generally require a home pregnancy test the next morning.

The way the finish unfolded, I think it’s safe to say that no less than 5 years of my life expectancy were lost. I can take excitement, I can take disappointment and I can take anger but it’s the quick back and forths that are killing me. Its times like that when I wonder how Wally Buono manages. What with his cholesterol issues and all.

If there was ever a worse game to lose both our start HBs this was it. Facing the top slotback combination in the league and seeing Chris McKenzie having to get the start for Lance Frazier (who was hospitalized with severe dehydration due to the flu) was somewhat concerning. Then seeing Eddie Davis get hurt leaving us with McKenzie and Tad Kornegay as the guys tasked to keep them in check was scary to say the least. It predictably led to a big game for Simon but all things considered it could have gone a lot worse (though it appeared that any 2^nd and long situation was an automatic BC first down).

It didn’t help that we were facing a QB with an amazing ability to escape pressure and throw on the run (which I warned would be dangerous). I knew before the game that Printer’s was by far BC’s best QB (even if the others were healthy) and he went out and proved it. While that game losing INT was classic Printers circa 2007, the rest of the game was more Printers circa 2004 – mobile, elusive and strong armed. BC is a better team with him under centre heading down the stretch. I wonder if he gave himself one of his famous motivational speeches before the game.

Much like my heart rate, Durant seemed to bounce up and down, flat line and eventually recover. There were times when the offense was frustratingly ineffective but when it mattered most Durant did not disappoint. He seems to be able to drive for a game tying TD and 2 poitn covert at will (now if he could just learn to do this before the 4^th quarter we’d be set). Unlike last year when our QB was our biggest liability heading into the playoffs, this year it appears to be one of our strengths. I have been saying Rob Bagg is a monster for a while now and hopefully you have now joined me as proud Bagg supporters.

Man that Sudoku kid can kick! I will definitely miss the Juggernaut but Sakoda seems to be a more than capable replacement as he was booming those kickoffs. Now I just need to see him punt. If the hype on this kid is accurate (and we all know that’s always the case), he should be able to hit City Hall… with his left foot… blind folded… into the wind… while making pancakes. It appears as though Luca Congi has decided to take over as our overly aggressive kicker in Boreham’s absence as evidenced but the hit he threw on the first return. That last FG attempt in the 4^th was a heart breaker; he had the leg but was just inches too far left. Despite his 2 misses, I’m still confident in his abilities to hit the clutch kicks come playoff time… provided he grows a dirty playoff moustache.

Armstead turned in another fine performance and it feels as though it’s only a matter of time before he finds the endzone. To be fair the refs blatantly missed an illegal block call on the one long return… but that was definitely a make-up call as they also missed a blatant illegal block on BC on the previous kick which led to a long return. Still Armstead has managed to turn a return game where maintaining possession and not losing yards was considered a massive victory to one were we are now expecting good returns every time.

I would also like to give props to our O-line. BC leads the CFL in sacks and had managed 11 sacks in our previous 3 meetings but the hoggies came to play and did not allow a sack. Even the run game was half decent… which is a monumental increase over the normal ineffective we’ve come to expect when we face BC.

It wasn’t pretty but we certainly got our money’s worth and for once the Riders are managing not to choke with 1^st place on the line. For now I will focus on resting my heart because I have a feeling that the November 7^th game against the Stampeders with 1^st place on the line will take its toll on the old ticker.

Riders vs. BC: Here We Go Again

2009-10-23T17:06:00.000-06:00

Saturday the Riders (8-6-1) take on the Lions (8-7) in front of a sell-out crowd at Mosaic Stadium. This will be their 4th and final meeting of the year with the home team taking each of the previous games. Hopefully that’s a good omen because I’m not sure my body can handle too many more Post-BC Loss Rage-Filled Evenings (also the Humane Society is none too impressed at my tendency for punching small animals when I’m in said state).

BC comes into this game on a 3 game win streak and look to be finally hitting their stride after struggling out of the gates. Travis Lulay was the hero last week for the Lions. Unfortunately he seems to have taken Buono’s request to step up and play like a starter a bit too literally and has already suffered a shoulder injury like all of his predecessors. That’s the thing about BC QBs, they are either white, talented and ridiculously injury prone or black, dumb as bricks and almost as injury prone. Which is a fantastic segue to Casey Printers…

After spending the bulk of this season promoting himself as a motivational speaker (and by that I mean sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring), Printers will return to the starter’s role in BC for the first time since 2005. The big question is of course which Printers will we see? The 2004 version that was named league MOP or the 2008 version that closely contested Michael Bishop for most embarrassing QB in the league. Personally I’m expecting something somewhere in the middle but closer to the embarrassing side than the MOP side (seriously he was cut in favour of Quinton Porter… that should tell you something). Besides as Rider/Lion history will dictate, we should be more worried about the unknown 3rd stringer than the starter. We’ve made household names out of Printers and Pierce so consider me officially more worried about a breakout performance by Zac Champion than Printers. This is an offense that is #1 in the league in giveaways and has given up the most sacks of any western team. Simon and Jackson are a dangerous combo but only on those rare times when the QB manages to avoid the sack and throw to the correct coloured jersey.

The bigger concern going into this game is Mallett (and to a lesser extent Harris). With a rapidly depleting stable of QBs, you know that BC will try to rely on the run… and Mallett is very capable of chewing up big yards. This is concerning because we’re still not that great at stopping the run. Also, an effective run game will set up play action and I think that’s Printers’ only chance at being dangerous. Also playing into my concern is word that Kitwana Jones will spend some time at DT. We all know I’m a big Kitwana fan but it’s extremely concerning to think that against a strong running team it might be up to him to plug things up in the middle. That’s kinda like hiring a bunch of fine arts majors to serve as your muscle for your loan sharking operation (What are they going to do? Choke someone with their designer scarves?).

For the Riders I’m not quite sure what to expect. Three weeks ago against BC, the defense played like champions but the offense pooped the bed. Last week, the offense turned in their best performance of the season but the defense couldn’t hold up. If they could ever synchronize their strong play we might actually come away with wins on a consistent basis.

Every time we play I mention that BC has the absolute worst run defense in the CFL and every time the Riders seem to go out of their way to disprove my claim. So this week I won’t even bother. I’m just going to go ahead and assume that our running game will be unimaginative and ineffective and hope that Durant can win us the game through the air.

Offensively the key will be to eliminate turnovers. If Darian can play as well as he did last week I see us putting up a lot of points. Defensively the key will be to stop the run and force Printers to beat us through the air… mainly because that is about as likely as a Jackson 5 reunion tour… too soon?

We’ve blown 2 BC games that we should have won, so I figure this time we finally get our act together in front of the home crowd. Let’s hope for a storybook ending where a Paul McCallum shank leads to a Clermont TD.

Riders by 7

Monday Morning Sentimonies: A Tie?!

2009-10-19T20:39:00.001-06:00

Riders 44 – Stamps 44

My poor heart. I already live a lifestyle that is not conducive to longevity but these crazy Rider games that go down to the wire are quickly erasing any remote chance I may have had to live ling enough to start enjoying the senior’s discount. Saturday’s thrilling double OT game was definitely worth the 8 hour drive… even though it ended in a tie. They say tying is like kissing your sister… which would explain why a tie is considered a great accomplishment in the province of Manitoba.

Here are my thoughts on the game:

- Though I must give credit to the residents of Calgary for correctly guessing my costume as Moses (not Santa, Jesus or Rosie O’Donell as I have been mistaken for before), I was somewhat concerned at the number of men that asked me what I was wearing beneath my robe. Guess I shouldn’t expect any different in the town responsible for the homoerotic bobsled celebration.

- The Riders started off very shaky. They were taking multiple offsides on both sides of the ball and didn’t really seem to have their head in the game. Fortunately they got their act together in the 2^nd quarter and started making a game of it.

- Durant stepped up big time and played one of the best games of his career. Big yards, spread the ball around, came through under pressure and most importantly 0 turnovers.

- Luca Congi did a great job on punts and kickoffs. After being called out by the Rider Prophet, Congi responded by proving that given that chance he can be a superior kicker to an unemployed RB, back-up DB and an aged WR. He stepped up big time when we needed him and justified the coach’s decision to stick with him.

- Can we now label our offense “The Great White Hype”? After Walker went down to injury, we were fielding an all white O-line, all white receivers (at times all Canadian) and Foord and Szarka were regulars on the field... leaving Durant as the token black man on our offense.

- Clermont’s still got game and Johnny Quinn has good hands.

- That roughing call on Chick was absolute BS plain and simple!!

- That said if our defense had managed to stop the run once or twice during the game that ridiculous call would not have screwed us over. Reynolds ran the ball at will including 3 TDs so to say that call cost us the game is only part of the picture. No excuse for not winning when your offense puts up 44 points. Defense has to take responsibility for continually letting Calgary drive on them.

- Part of our run stopping problem had to do with Etch’s messed up formations. Numerous times I saw the front 4 line up normally only to have Shologan move out and line up outside of Stevie Baggs. Not surprisingly, Reynolds would often run at the spot vacated by Shologan.

All in all it was an exciting game between to of the top teams in the CFL and the Riders showed a ton of resiliency. With the exception of the overwhelming smell of feces for part of the game, it was an enjoyable road trip for the Rider Prophet crew. This Saturday’s game is just as big so hopefully the Riders can it up.

One last note... I think we should sign this guy as a special teams player

Riders vs. Calgary: HEEENNNNRRRYYYYY!

2009-10-15T14:28:00.000-06:00

Its time for the annual Rider Prophet Team road trip. This weekend Man in the Bush, Media Consultant and myself will be hitting the road to go see the Riders take on the Stampeders in a first place showdown. Normally a good boss would reward his employees’ hard work by covering their expenses. That will definitely not be happening in this case for a number of reasons. #1 – I am not, nor have I ever pretended to be, a good boss. I tend to subscribe to the sweatshop style of management. #2 – my employees don’t work hard. I would be better off replacing Media Consultant with a monkey (and believe me I’ve tried, unfortunately it truly is the blurst of times) and Man In the Bush’s only tangible contribution to this site of late has been being the punch line for my jokes. #3 – This blog currently lags behind buskers, dumpster divers and sweatshop employees in terms of yearly income. But being the generous boss that I am, I will not leave my employees empty handed. They will be offered first choice of items to pilfer from our hotel room. Choose wisely my friends.

Onto the game…

Last time the Riders played in Calgary I had an ominous feeling that we were going to lose… mainly because Calgary looked to be the better team. This time around I have that same ominous feeling but for a very different reason. I’m convinced we have enough talent on this team to go head to head with the Stamps, the problem is our propensity for choking. For as long as I’ve been following the Riders headlines such as “Riders Have Chance At 1^st” and “Riders Control Their Own Destiny” tend to be followed up by headlines such as “Riders Blow It Again”, “Riders Come Up Short” and “Michael Bishop Is A Giant Piece Of Dog Feces”. We always seem to come up short when we get a chance at first place.

The Stamps come into this game reeling from 4 straight lacklustre performances, though there’s no real reason why they should be sucking. Their defense is second best in the league in points allowed and third best in total yards. Their offense has scored the 3^rd most points, has allowed the 2^nd least giveaways and sacks and features the top running game in the CFL. How can you explain their struggles despite this embarrassment of riches? Two words… Henry Burris.

He has three former 1000 yard receivers to throw to, the best RB in the league to take the pressure off, a solid O-line to protect him, a defense that can keep games close and is blessed with 3 of the top offensive coaches in the league… yet he still manages to suck. Good Ol’ Hank, nobody can choke quite like him. In his past 4 games he has only 1 TD and 4 INTs while struggling to complete 50% of his passes. Actually that 4 game span coincides with when Ryan Thelwell went down to injury. Who knew he was the key to this offense?

The problem is you just know Burris is capable of breaking out of this funk at any time. With him struggling, the key to beating the Stamps will be to eliminate Reynolds. If we force Burris to try and win the game by himself by beating us through the air you just know he will self destruct and serve up the patented Burris turnover trifecta. I’m confident in our secondary’s ability to cover the Stamps receivers so it’s up to our front 7 to stop the run and just as important, keep Burris contained in the pocket and knock him on his ass.

Offensively, we need consistent production. We are the #2 scoring offense in the league (and have the most TDs) so we know we are able to put up points… we just need to do it consistently (cough… 3^rd quarter… cough). The Stamps corners are above all else ball hawks, douche bags and overrated as well, but ball hawks nonetheless. Durant needs to make smart passes and exploit the corners with pump fakes and double moves. Strong running by Wes Cates was a key to victory last time around and we will need another strong performance to help keep Burris on the bench crying about his most recent INT. As always, win the battle in the trenches, win the game.

One area that does concern me is special teams. While it seems that our return game is finally kicking into high gear, we will unfortunately have to endure Luca Congi’s punts and kickoffs on the other side of things. Just so you're fully aware of how bad Luca is when it comes to kickoffs, he is currently dead last in the league in that department and has thus far been bested by the following “kicking sensations”: BC backup DB Tad Crawford, Hamilton receiver Dave Stala and currently unemployed RB Jarrett Payton. Hopefully Luca will step up his game a bit because if not that could put immense pressure on the cover team and defense.

Calgary will come out strong and if I were a betting man (which I most certainly am) I’d say Nik Lewis will reach the endzone for the first time this year. However, I think the Riders’ resiliency will shine through in the end and Rob Bagg will be the hero as he fills in for Weston Dressler.

Riders by 3 in yet another game that takes years off my life expectancy due to immense stress.

In other news…

Huge news is breaking today that Andy Fantuz has agreed to a contract extension with the Riders. We are still awaiting official confirmation but this absolutely awesome news!

There are some new faces appearing at practice this week. DE Willie Evans was added to the practice roster. The Riders also traded a 5^th round pick in 2010 and conditional 2011 pick to Toronto for OL Cliff Washburn. More importantly they brought in a pair of kickers to hopefully help out with punting and kick offs. First was Ryan Elaschuk of Edmonton Wildcats fame (well okay, fame is probably not the right word) and second was Louie Sakoda of Utah Utes fame (and in this case fame is an accurate word since he was one of the top kickers in the NCAA last year). We actually acquired Sakoda’s negotiation rights from Winnipeg in exchange for the neg rights to QB DJ Shockley. Hopefully one of these 2 can get up to speed quickly because our only other option is to teach a horse to kick and that is apparently against the rules anyway.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Belated Liberty Bird Weekend Edition

2009-10-13T17:32:00.002-06:00

Riders 32 – Argos 22 (Exactly as I predicted for the record)

Despite the fact that I was way warmer and paying far less for booze (well at least per beverage. I’m pretty sure when it comes to total expenditures on the night I still somehow managed to surpass you all), I’m still very jealous of those of you who actually got to go to the game. Don’t get me wrong weddings, are fun but there’s just nothing quite like game day.

Anywho, here’s some random observations after watching the replay of the game:

- Holy return game Batman! It has been so long since I’ve seen the Riders consistently get good returns that I was starting to assume that it would never happen.

- Those gains in field position were even more important given that Luca Congi wasn’t gaining us much position on his punting and kick-off attempts. Attempts is actually a good way of describing them since they definitely weren’t successes. I love Luca but he punting and kick-offs definitely aren’t his forte.

- Darian played an unspectacular yet effective game. Ran well, controlled the ball and found the endzone repeatedly. No surprise that those 3 things led to a victory.

- In the spirit of the early winter season we’re enduring, the Riders were visited by 3 ghosts on Saturday. The ghost of failed 3^rd quarters past, the ghost of presently can’t stop the run and the ghost of future 9 game injured list occupants with broken legs.

- Seriously, anyone but Dressler!

- Did I seriously see Antonio Hall field a kick-off return?? … upon further review, yes, yes I did.

- Pass defense was good with the exception of all those pass interference calls. Aside from penalties never being a good thing, I’m really not sure why our DBs felt the need to interfere with Toronto’s receivers. That’s like buying an expensive dinner for a hooker... you know they are just going to end up sucking so why go through the trouble.

- How do you end up be left with a choice between someone who just got concussed and someone who just tore their oblique as your only option at QB?

- And how do you end up opting for the concussed guy?

We might not have finished the game as strong as we should have but at the end of the day we won when we should have so you gotta be happy with that. Next up is a first place battle in Calgary. And you know what that means... ROAD TRIP!

Riders vs. Argos: Send My Regards

2009-10-09T17:22:00.000-06:00

Saturday the Riders (7-6) take on the Argos (3-10) at Mosaic Stadium. The timing of the game is just further example that the schedule makers are just trying to piss off the fans. After enduring afternoon games in the scorching summer heat, those geniuses now offer us up evening games in the chilling cold of winter. Maybe it’s just a conspiracy by the league to drive up sales of team blankets, jackets, and toques.

Unfortunately the Rider Prophet will be unable to attend Saturday’s frigid affair because I have to attend a wedding. Believe me I am none too impressed. Given that the bride and groom are both from Saskatchewan, they should have known better. In the hopes of preventing others from encountering this unfortunate wedding inconvenience, I have developed 3 guidelines for scheduling weddings in Saskatchewan that I feel should be enacted into law:

1 – Every attempt should be made to schedule the wedding between December and June. The first 2 Saturdays in September are also acceptable.
2 – Failing #1, two tentative dates for the wedding should be scheduled. That way if the first date happens to conflict with a Rider game, a quick switch to the second option can be made.
3 – Don’t get married. Seriously… poor life decision.

Bold prediction for Saturday… Prophet spends excessive amounts at the toonie bar and ends up offending at least one member of the bridal party’s family.

Anywho, given that most of you will actually be able to attend/watch this one I suppose I should at least make an attempt to break down the game.

Toronto is terrible, there’s just no way of putting it lightly. Personally I’m shocked that a head coach with zero CFL experience who hired a coaching staff also with zero CFL experience is failing so miserably. It seemed like such a great idea at the time. Under the direction of Count Andrus-ula, the Argos offense has been atrocious. Here’s a list of reason why the Argos offense does not scare me…
- they are last in points scored
- they are last in rushing and second last in passing
- their top receiver is a guy they signed partway through the season and he wouldn’t crack the top 3 on most other teams. Their #2 receiver is the running back
- close to half of their entire offensive output comes from Jamal Robertson
- they have the worst giveaway-takeaway ratio at -16
- the only thing they lead the league in is sacks allowed and penalties.
- they can’t decide which of their QBs is crappier at this point
- their head coach is most likely a vampire only instead of saying “I want to suck your blood” he tends to drop the last 2 words.

That list is by no means exhaustive.

Defensively they actually aren’t all that bad. They have allowed the 2^nd least yards and have the #2 best run D in the league. They have a pretty solid front 7. While they are good at playing defense they are even better at taking dumb penalties. Couple that with a weak secondary and an offense that couldn’t sustain a drive if their life depended on it and you can see why the Argos have given up more points than any other eastern team. Though if you ask the Argos defensive coaches (who like Andrus) are new to the CFL, their struggles on defense are due to their inability to force their opponents into 4^th down situations.

The Riders will be without the services of Jamie “The Juggernaut” Boreham who suffered a neck injury while turning Grice-Mullen into a human carousel. So for the foreseeable future Luca Congi will handle all the kicking duties. Congi is a decent enough punter but hopefully he’s improved his kick-off skills since the last time I saw him because otherwise we might as well just go for the onside kick every time since his actual kick offs historically haven’t gone much farther.

The keys to the game are fairly simple. On defense, shut down Robertson. There is no way that the Argos will beat us through the air. We also need to take advantage of a weak O-line and repeatedly hit whichever QB they decide to serve up. Offensively we just need to control the ball. A couple big defensive plays from the Argos could swing momentum to their side. If we can just control the ball and sustain drives our defense should be able to easily keep them out of the endzone.

Toronto will fight hard and it won’t be the blow out many are predicting but in the end even if we turn in a mediocre performance it will be more than enough to defeat the lowly Argos who have yet to beat a western team this season.

Riders by 10

Around the CFL…

The Riders are taking advantage of the expanded practice roster to take a look at a couple prospects who have been cut by NFL teams. RB Marcus Thigpen, DT Vaalyn Jackson and WR Jeremy Gilchrist (who was supposed to be here for training camp but had passport issues) arrived in town this week. Sadly, the additional players on the practice roster came at the expense of another player. Justin Beaver was released to make room for the new trio. When asked about the move, Rider staff said the decision was not an easy one but in the end it was in everyone’s best interest to trim Beaver from the roster. Personally, I don’t think it’s that hard of a decision. Cutting Beaver is always a good decision… much like cutting Bush was.

In Winnipeg, my old friend James Johnson had his season ended when he was placed on the 9 game injured list. While I’d prefer to be able to watch him join Michael Bishop in embarrassing himself for my viewing pleasure, I guess you can’t always get what you want. JJ kind of had a rough go in Winnipeg this season though. When he arrived he was determined to be the second best J Johnson at on the corner and saw Jovon take the starters role. Then they put him on kick returns but before long he was yet again the second best J Johnson at that spot and had Jovon take that role away from him. I think the only suitable ending for this story would be if Jovon suffered a season ending injury and ended up rendering James as the least talented J Johnson on the 9-game.

Lastly, does anyone else find the parallels between BC and Winnipeg amusing. In BC, Buono told Paul McCallum that he was old, crappy, had no place on the team and should pursue a trade. A few days later Buono abruptly changed his tune when he realized Sean Whyte was terrible and offered McCallum his spot back. In Winnipeg, Kelly told Barrin Simpson that he was old, crappy, had no place on the team and should pursue a trade. A few weeks later Kelly abruptly changed his tune when he realized Joe Loebendahn was injured and offered Simpson his spot back. Personally I hope both these players are still pissed off at their respective head coaches and look to screw them over. Just imagine McCallum lining up for a game winning FG, intentionally shanking it and flipping off Wally as he walks off the field and into retirement. Or Simpson squaring up for a tackle that would prevent a game winning TD by the opposition then suddenly turning around and spearing Mike Kelly through the trainer’s table instead. Maybe I just watched too much wrestling a kid.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Friday Night Failure

2009-10-05T19:13:00.000-06:00

Riders 16 – Lions 19

Today’s letters of the day are the letter F and the letter U. And I would like to dedicate these letters to the Riders’ offense. Generally speaking, when your defense comes up with multiple goal line stands and holds your opponents to 13 points heading into the 4^th quarter you should have a pretty good chance of winning the game. That is unless your offense decides to give them about as much support as a dead beat dad.

BC has the worst run defense in the CFL. They made a star out of DeAndra Cobb. They allowed Fred Reid to break a record. They have allowed an average of 147 yards rushing per game. Everyone seems to run over them at will… everyone, that is, but us. There is no excuse for only managing 44 rushing yards against a team that consistently gives up over triple that amount. That’s like managing to only get to second base with someone that’s been rufied. Part of the failure has to do with Wes Cates running like he’s auditioning for the ballet and part of it has to do with extremely unimaginative play calling. The run up the middle for a 1 yard gain didn’t work the first 10 times, what made you think it would magically start working if you kept trying it?

While I was happy to see the offense finally do something late in the 4^th it was a matter of too little too late. Football games have 4 quarters and you won’t win too many when you only put in effort in one of those quarters. Especially when you consistently serve up INTs… yeah I’m looking in your direction Durant. As much as I like Durant it’s getting harder and harder to support a guy who leads the league in INTs. Michael Bishop was regularly insulted in this space last season for his propensity (big word for a Monday) for throwing picks, and somehow Durant is managing to throw more than his retarded predecessor. 18 picks over 13 games is completely unacceptable. Learn to control the ball or learn to hold a clipboard.

It’s a shame that a very gutsy effort by the defense had to go to waste. By no means am I saying that the defense was perfect (they did allow a heavily concussed Buck Pierce to throw for over 300 yds on them) but they allowed only 1 TD and gave the offense every opportunity to take control of the game. If stuffing our opponents repeatedly from the 1 yard line doesn’t fire up your offense I guess nothing will. They missed tackles and seemed to have no answer for Simon and Jackson but at the end of the day they did their best to keep the Lions out of the endzone so I give them full credit for a game well played.

I still can’t believe that Buck Pierce was still able to stand at the end of that game. He was battered and tossed around about as bad as Kimbo Slice but still somehow stayed in the game. He’s dumber than this guy but I’ll give him credit for being tough.

The loss is by no means apocalyptic (despite what my alcohol fuelled ranting on Friday night may have indicated), but I’d be lying if I said I’m not somewhat concerned about the trend that is forming. We are currently in 2^nd place ahead of Edmonton and BC. Problem being so far this season we have a losing record (1-2) against both teams. Not exactly the most comforting thing at this point.

Bottom line the Riders have yet to show the ability to consistently play at a high level. Hopefully we use the upcoming Argo game as rebound game.

Random thought of the day….

The NFL season is only 16 games long yet they do not require tie breaker games… Baseball’s season is 483 games long but still somehow needs an additional tie breaker game to decide things. How ridiculous is it that?

Riders vs. Lions: Cloudy With 60% Chance of Death

2009-10-01T18:00:00.000-06:00

It was just 2 months ago that a Rider team fresh off a narrow victory over a western opponent travelled to BC to face a Lions team fresh off a disappointing loss, on Friday Night Football. With any luck the parallels with our last game against BC will stop there because I’d rather not have to endure another disappointing loss and league issued apology for a blown call. Actually if you look back on Rider history, there’s a surprising number of situations that lead to a disappointing loss and league issued apology. But I digress.

The Lions are probably also hoping that history will not repeat itself. Over the past few years it has been pretty much a certainty that the Lions lose a QB to concussion during the course of a game with the Riders. That doesn’t bode well for Buck Pierce. He already has 5 concussions in the past 11 months and the way he’s been playing, a 6th can’t be far behind. Nor can death. I mean seriously, that many head injuries in a lifetime would be concerning but cram them into a one year period and there can’t be much functioning brain left amid all the mush that surrounds it.

Though you gotta give credit to Wally Buono for breaking the all-time win record, I am getting really tired about how every reference to Buono is prefaced by “The CFL’s All-time Winningest Coach”. You can stop now, we get it. You don’t see every reference to Noel Prefontaine prefaced by “CFL’s All Time Leader in Punting Average” (didn’t know that did you?) or Diamond Ferri prefaced by “CFL’s All-time Most Effeminate Name”.

Only 3 Lions players worry me heading into this game. 1) Martell Mallet – he’s the league’s #2 rusher and was a big factor in the last game. 2) Ryan Grice-Mullen – he may not be much of a receiver but since taking over the kick return duties he has looked very dangerous. 3) Ricky Foley – BC leads the league in sacks and he’s the driving force. Outside of those 3 though there’s not a lot of good to be said about the Lions. They have surrendered the most giveaways, have the worst run defense in the league (allowing 147 yards per game) and as I mentioned before, their passing attack relies on a guy who's one hit away from losing to Michael Bishop on an IQ test.

For the Riders there are 3 keys to victory. 1) Stop Mallett. If we can force Pierce (or his eventual replacement) to beat us through the air BC won’t be putting up many points and it will also lead to increased pressure on the QB. Conversely we actually need to exploit BC’s terrible run D this time. 2) Win the battle on special teams. Lions have very good special teams and last time a gaffe by Walker on teams proved to be the difference. We have been improving lately in all areas of special teams and we need that to continue. 3) Eliminate turnovers. Odd stat for you – Durant is 3-1 in games that he throws 3 INTs. While I commend his ability to overcome adversity, I’d prefer if he could just do it the easy way.

On paper there’s no reason we shouldn’t beat the Lions. Practically speaking though, it never seems to be as easy for the Riders to beat the Lions as it should be. That said I still can’t help but feel confident when matched up against a QB who boasts more concussions this year than wins.
Riders by 7

Around the CFL…

One Lion who won’t be dressing is Paul McCallum. Although he’s ready to return from an injury after a 9 week hiatus, he has been informed by Buono that his services are no longer required as they are happy with his replacement Sean Whyte. While it can never be easy for an aging veteran on the downside of his career to be replaced by a younger, cheaper player, the news must be especially hard for McCallum to take given that Whyte isn’t all that good. He’s hitting only 74% of his FGs and his punting average is among the worst in the league. Ouch if you’re McCallum. Maybe him and Troy Westwood can form an “I’ve Been Replaced By A Really Crappy Kicker” support group.

On the topic of kickers, it was a good week for Luca Congi. He was named Special Teams Player of the month and also signed a 2 year plus an option extension with the Riders. The only way this news could have been better is if Luca had shown up to the press conference in overalls, a green hat and a moustache, enthusiastically saying “Itsa me, Luca Congi!”

Lastly, it was announced this week that a regular season CFL game would be played in Moncton next year. Even though the game will likely feature 2 of the crappiest teams the Easy Division has too offer this is still the most exciting thing to happen to Moncton since the 1992 Canadian Figure Skating Championships.

Sadly though, much like the skating championships, this event is likely to be ruined by the presence of Rod Black.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Tuesday Afternoon Edition

2009-09-29T19:55:00.000-06:00

Riders 23 – Eskimos 20

I won’t lie, I was a tad worried about our chances in this game. We were in a stadium that we always struggle at, we gave up a pick 6 early, we took a too many men on the field penalty because someone who wasn’t even on FG formation mysteriously decided to insert himself in the game, we had a touchdown negated because Chunky Adams didn’t report as an eligible receiver, we ended up playing a rookie at corner… yeah things definitely weren’t looking good. Yet somehow we managed to overcome all of that and come away with the win and a share of first place.

Hats off to our defense. After getting embarrassed by Ricky Ray last week, they stepped up big time, allowing him to complete just over 50% of his passes and allowing no passing TDs. They also held Stamps to just 13 yards and Mann without a catch (no small feat). They kept the Esk offense in check all night despite Darian Durant doing his best Michael Bishop impersonation. I was pretty worried when I saw Tamon George out there consistently but I thought he played alright for it being his first game. As for Leron Mitchell, I swear the poor guy is cursed. Last year, he looks awesome on special teams in Game 1 and breaks his leg to start off game 2. This year he looked really good on the corner but ends up pulling a hammy before halftime. He’s becoming the new TJ Stancil… really awesome on those few series when he’s not hurt.

Offense was a mixed bag. Obviously I was less than impressed with Durant’s 3 picks but I’ve come to terms with the fact that this is what we will get from Durant all year: great plays mixed with bad plays. The thing that has always impressed me is his ability to fight through the mistakes and do what’s needed to win the game. I was shocked to see that Cates managed to rush for over 100 yards, it sure didn’t seem like that watching him. He still seems very tentative in his running. If he can put up 100 while running like Henri Childs just imagine what he could do if he ran like he did at the start of last year.

I though that Jamie “The Juggernaut” Boreham was a real difference maker in the game. His running punts into the wind really helped with the field position battle and on one occasion he even ended up extending a drive by deciding to hold the ball and run. He’s the only punter I know whose kicks actually improve when he kicks on the run.

The Renauld Williams touchdown may go down as the worst series of events leading to a TD in Rider history. Luca Congi made a FG but it was wiped out by a too many men on the field penalty. Then 2 of the players went off the field so we had to take a timeout because we now had too few people. Then Boreham punts followed by a series of grown men flailing themselves in the general vicinity of a loose ball (the likes of which hasn’t been seen since Man In The Bush reported on an after party during Gay Pride week) that somehow ended up with Rey Williams in the endzone with the ball. I’ve never seen anything quite like it (and hopefully never will again).

Other random observations…
- Seeing Keith Shologan go in motion to the slot was the funniest thing I have seen in weeks. Nothing like seeing a 290 lbs D-linemen in a full out sprint (though if the play clock were any shorter he might not have made it). The scary thing is that since he was going in motion, you know there’s a play in the book somewhere that involves him running a route and getting a reception. Can you say Shologan streak?

- A close second was seeing an Edmonton defender desperately holding onto Fantuz’s hand as he casually reached the ball in for the 2 point conversion.

- How amazing was it that 62,000 people attended that game? That is unheard of in the regular season and is certainly great news for the league.

- As great as Shologan in motion was, in terms of hilarity it was trumped later that night when I saw Michael Bishop bounce a pass off his slot back while attempting a quick screen to the wide receiver. Just when you think Bishop has found every conceivable way to embarrass himself, he proves you wrong.

It may not have been pretty but it was hard fought victory in a tough road game. Hopefully they can keep up that momentum because we travel to another tough stadium on Friday to face the Lions.

Riders vs. Eskimos: Third Time’s a Charm

2009-09-25T17:58:00.002-06:00

Well after failing twice to beat the Eskimos on our home turf we are now faced with the daunting task of needing a road win in Edmonton to avoid a season series sweep. Commonwealth is a place that we have struggled to win, having only won there once in the past 4 years. And if you’ll remember, the only reason we managed that solitary win was because a questionable holding call negated a game winning FG by Sean Fleming in his final game at Commonwealth setting up an Henri Childs TD (equally as rare as a road win in Edm) in OT to win. The fact that we only managed to beat a Maciocia coached team once in 4 years tells you just how much of an advantage home field is (it certainly wasn’t coaching proficiency that won those games).

I’m really not sure what to expect in this game. In our first meeting we were destroyed on the ground. This past week we got carved up through the air. We're running out of new ways to embarrass ourselves… though logically that leaves special teams as the next aspect to choke and, just our luck, that’s an area that’s been less than stellar all year. Crap.

Actually I’m not as pessimistic about this game as most. I still maintain that Edmonton is not that good. Despite the fact that we didn’t play defense until the 3^rd quarter and despite a stupid play by Patrick and a bad burn on Omarr, we still had a chance to win this game. If Edmonton was as good as people seem to think they are, they would have turned that list of Rider errors into a massive lead.

I would sincerely hope that now that we have some film on Kevin Strasser’s “new” offense that our defense will be able to do something… I’d prefer that it take the form of stopping the Esks O but at this point I’d even settle for the LBs to perform a synchronized Charleston as that would at least entertain me. We have the best pass defense in the league and need to prove it this week if we have any hope of winning. It looks like Rey Williams will return from injury so hopefully that will give the defense an added spark. Alexander is still out so Leron Mitchell will start on corner this weekend. While Mitchell is unproven thus far as a DB, seeing him line up in that spot is far more reassuring than seeing Tamon George out there. The key to stopping Ricky Ray from picking us apart again will be to take away his first read, forcing him to hold the ball a bit longer which will give our pass rush time to get to him.

Offensively, we played well last week (except for the dying minutes when we failed to get a much needed first down) but they still need to be better this week. The ground game in particular. 45 yards from Cates just won’t cut it. We need to pound the ball down their throat. I’m confident that if our offense can get on the field more this week, Durant will lead a strong passing attack.

If the defense can limit the passing attack we should be able to win a close one in front of the biggest crowd of the regular season. In the words of Grandpa Simpson “Make me proud… or at least less ashamed.”

Riders by a Luca Congi FG.

The Eskimos made a surprise signing this week, landing Reggie Hunt. After being out of football since last November, imagine the look on The Reaper’s face when he showed up to practice and the first thing he saw was Xzavie Jackson chasing after Aaron Fiacconi with a shovel. I’m sure he must have thought “What the hell have I gotten myself into?!” On that note, what the hell was Jackson thinking?! Though there’s no precedent on the matter I’m going to go ahead and guess that assaulting a guy with a shovel during practice will likely negatively affect your tenure with a team… might land you a WWE contract but won’t do much for your football career.

Xzavie never managed to get close enough to hit Fiacconi with the shovel, but we here at Rider Prophet Media think there’s no better way to start the weekend then by watching someone get hit with a shovel (except maybe a piñata stick to the crotch), here’s a computer simulation of what the incident would have looked like if Xzavie had connected…

And this is what it would look like if they were lego men…

And lastly this is what it would look like if the coaches had brought in a bunch of children to do the Mexican hat dance to ease the tension…

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Too Little Too Late

2009-09-21T19:32:00.000-06:00

Riders 27 – Eskimos – 31

I was excited to see Kitwana Jones come through the tunnel. So excited in fact that I sprinted from the parking lot up to my seat in the second deck to make sure I wouldn’t miss it. Fortunately that moment did not disappoint. He came trough the tunnel jacked up, spiked his helmet and started beaking his former team. Unfortunately, that was about the only part of the game that didn’t disappoint.

Despite what the score and late game surge might suggest, this game was over in the first half. While there were errors made in all phases of the game, the blame lies squarely on the defense. When your defense fails to force a punt in the entire first half you do not deserve to win, plain and simple.

I never realized that Donovan Alexander was such an important piece of the defense. He sits out due to injury and everything goes to crap.

I’m assuming that Gary Etcheverry does not have cable or access to a DVD player because he has evidently never seen Ricky Ray play. The methodical short passing attack that Ricky Ray has made a career out of seemed to catch Etch and his defense by surprise. For the entire first half the defense seemed content to stand around and let Ray move the ball at will. Did Etch owe Richie Hall money and see this as a way of working off his debt? I don’t pretend to be a defensive genius but having the defensive backs give a 15 yard cushion when 90% of Ray’s passes were 8 yards or less seems to make about as much sense as women’s infatuation with that grease-ball douche bag from Twilight.

Jerell Freeman looked lost out there most of the time. We still have trouble tackling consistently… check that, we have trouble tackling at all. But despite all the defensive ineptitude we were subject too, we clawed our way back into the lead and were minutes away from stealing a victory… at least until Omarr Morgan came along. Morgan actually managed to break 2 records last night… one for the longest fumble return and another for the biggest failed coverage of the season. Why on earth would you bite on an underneath route when they need to get big yards to have a chance in this game?!? Morgan’s screw up left Maurice Mann more open than Man in the Bush on a Friday night and cost us the win. Morgan had managed to work himself off my hatred list but managed to work his way back on with that disgraceful display of defense.

For the most part, those rare times the offense managed to get on the field, they played pretty decently aside from a weak running attack. My only knock against the offense was their failure to get a first down late in the game to secure a win. Show some killer instinct LaPo. We were facing the worst secondary in the league, our run game was struggling and passing game doing pretty darn good. So what does Lapo, in his infinite genius, decide to do when he needs a couple first downs to guarantee victory? Run 2 consecutive draw plays netting negative yards. Good work. If you are intent on running you should at least get some blockers in there (i.e. Szarka) and run it down their throats. If you are just going to pussy foot around waiting for Edmonton to tackle you, you might as well just bring back Henri Childs because that was his specialty.

To make matters even worse we were treated to the worst half time show I have ever seen. As if the crappy game and crappy weather weren’t enough, the Riders decided to make the game day a completely terrible experience by allowing The Special Olympics Presents Stomp to take the field. That was the worst attempt at entertainment I have ever seen… even worse then the time that the band couldn’t play because the stage was too wet so halftime was silent. The only way to salvage that weird attempt at entertainment would have been to have some sort of sacrificial burning in the middle of all those drummers.

So there you go, another disappointing performance by the most inconsistent team in the CFL. When we’re good, we look like a top team but when we’re bad we look like a junior team. We better work things out quickly because with a tight race in the west a couple more performances like this could land us with a playoff date in Hamilton.

Riders vs. Eskimos: Let’s Try This Again

2009-09-17T07:30:00.001-06:00

Sunday the Riders host the Eskimos in the first game of a back to back series. The Riders (6-4) come into this game on a 2 game win streak with homefield advantage while the Esks (5-5) come in on a 2 game losing streak. Things are definitely shaping up in the Riders favour. What’s that? …. Oh right… there’s that whole “monumental collapse” thing in week 4 when the situations were pretty much identical coming into the game. Almost forgot about that embarrassing ordeal.

Before the game even kicks off you have to think that the Riders will have the emotional edge in this game the moment that the team is led out of the tunnel by… Kitwana Jones!! It will be awesome to see that again and it will surely fire up the team and the fans.

The Esks come into this game struggling to say the least. They have lost 3 of their last 5 and needed last minute heroics to steal the 2 games that they won. Ricky Ray has looked terrible his last couple outings and the Esks still have one of the worst ground games in the league. Problem is that we all know Ray can still be very dangerous and that hapless run game victimized us in the first encounter.

As many concerns as they have on O, they pale in comparison to the ones on D. They are currently the worst defensive unit in the CFL having allowed the most yards and the most points (over 31 per game). Add to that the fact they are the worst in the league when it comes to sacks, interceptions and creating turnovers. About the only thing they seem to excel at is not allowing FGs (among the least allowed in the league)… though the reason they allow so few FGs is that they prefer to let their opponents score TDs instead (most TDs allowed in the league) but let’s focus on the positives here. It boils down to what I’ve been saying since the start of the season about the Esks: Mo Lloyd may be good, but he’s not good enough to compensate for the lack of talent on the part of the other 11 defenders (no to mention the lack of talent in his defensive coordinator).

Last time we played the Esks we got beat by the run, a 3^rd quarter implosion and offensive play calling that was as questionable as that South African sprinter’s gender (though the sprinter had one thing our play calling lacked… balls). Fortunately since that Buffalo Bills-esque collapse we have been steadily improving in these areas. We just shut down the league’s top runner 2 weeks in a row. We have been playing progressively better in the 3^rd quarter and I have been very happy with our play calling of late. If we can keep this up we should be fine.

Offensively the key to the game is the passing game. Edmonton has the worst secondary in the league so Durant has an opportunity to exploit them for big yards. We need a strong running game to keep our offense on the field but passing is where our points will be scored. Defensively, the key will be stopping the run. Ricky Ray may be better than Bishop (talk about the understatement of the century) but if he has no ground game to take the pressure off him he will struggle just the same… okay he probably won’t struggle near as bad as Bishop, but he’ll still struggle. Forcing Ray to drop back and pass plays right into our 2 biggest strengths. 1 being our sack happy D-line and 2 being our pass coverage which is the best in the league at this point (least yds allowed, 2^nd most INTs).

The only thing that worries me coming into this game is special teams. Our foibles (good word) in this area have cost us big on numerous occasions. Tristan Jackson’s punt return TD was the catalyst to the Esks’ comeback last time. Hopefully Kitwana will be looking to knock his former team mates senseless.

Edmonton is not that good of a football team and if the Riders play anywhere close to their potential they should have no problem proving it on Sunday. Look for the Riders to come out pumped up for the hometown crowd and exact vengeance on the Esks for last time.

Riders by 10.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: What Did We Learn?

2009-09-14T17:56:00.001-06:00

Riders 55 – Bombers 10

So apparently Michael Bishop’s vow following the Labour Day Classic that the Bombers were “going to kick their asses” was about as accurate a prediction as most of his pass attempts. Also, Mike Kelly’s claim that “Our team is as good as they are” was about as good of an assessment as the one he made about Stephan LeFors ability to be a starting QB.

But those weren't the only lessons learned during the Banjo Bowl Massacre of ’09. Here are a few more…

Michael Bishop is comically terrible… not that we didn’t already know that but I feel as though his 9 of 20 for 98 yds and 2 picks performance deserved special mockery.
Sadly, Bishop is by far the Bombers’ best QB… as evidenced by Bryan Randall getting picked off on his first pass attempt and going on to complete as many passes to Riders as he did to Bombers.
The Bombers must be kicking themselves for releasing Jason Armstead before the season because he would have been by far their best option at QB (what a throw!)
Andy Fantuz is back. As nice as that toss from Armstead was, it really should have been an INT if it weren’t for Fantuz ripping it out of the defenders hands.
The reverse to Brock Ralph still has yet to work… but I guess they say persistence pays off eventually.
Darian Durant just keeps improving. I really think that him spending the bye week in the film room will turn out to be the turning point of his season.
Turns out we can score in the 3^rd quarter… and we’re still undefeated when we do so
Rob Bagg is awesome… just wish his first name was Travis or something so I could coin the phrase “You’ve been T Bagged!”
Our patchwork O-line seems to have finally gelled. They gave up no sacks and powered a strong running attack by Wes Cates.
Our defense is now firing on all cylinders… in particular John Chick, Sean Lucas and Lance Frazier.
The flash cards that the Bombers used this week were not any more effective than the whiteboards used last week in terms of helping the offense execute plays. Wonder what they will try next? Lite Brite? Spirograph?

The win leaves the Riders in a first place tie with the Stampeders at 6-4. It’s really too bad that Winnipeg wasn’t still in the West because I would love to see Michael Bishop embarrass himself a couple more times. Oh well, you’ve gotta be happy with a dominating win but let’s remember that it came against one of the worst teams in the CFL. The real test will come over our next 3 games, which are against western opponents. For now though continue basking in a strong showing by the Riders and comical embarrassment by the Bombers.