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Riders 13 – Bombers 25
Ok,
this post comes to you without the benefit of me re-watching the game as I
normally do or a night to sleep on my thoughts so if it comes across as more
abrasive or incorrect than normal that’s why. I’ll preface this by saying I’m
still very happy with our 8-2 team and am not calling for anyone’s head… well
ok I’m only calling for a couple minor heads. But I still believe in this team.
That
said... seriously Riders, hang your head in shame. That was a game we had no business
losing and we found a way not only to lose but look generally embarrassing in
the process. Admittedly the Bombers ramped up their effort and defensively played
one hell of a game but if we can’t overcome a crappy team that shows a little
heart then October is going be a long and painful month.
Obviously
pressure was the story of the game. The Bombers brought it non-stop and we had
no answer. Not coincidence that the last time our O struggle badly it was against
the relentless blitzing of Montreal. It’s a weakness of this offense, opposing
D Coordinators take note.
It
was a perfect storm of a lot going wrong simultaneously. First was Patrick
Neufeld. Good lord was he terrible!! Put Devin Tyler back in, put Tyler Seguin
back there, hell put a Gatorade bottle back there. Can’t do much worse. Neufeld
wasn’t the only one who struggle as we flatly lost the battle in the trenches. There
were times when I’m sure Durant was praying for Edmonton’s OL to be blocking
for him. The second was Durant… for all the progress he has made this season
and all the great things he brings as a QB, the hot route remains his Achilles heel.
He struggles mightily. His only real hot route is using his legs. Which is
great once in a while but eventually you need to master the hot route to be
effective as a QB. I am not laying this all on Durant or our lack blocking…
which brings me to the third problem: play calling. This was the first game
where I was not impressed with Cortez’s plays. We were just unable to adjust to
the pressure. How you don’t even attempt a screen facing that much pressure is
beyond me. Blame goes to everyone for a terrible offensive performance. Gotta
be better. Gotta figure out pressure.
Defensively
we actually played a great game but just became a victim of no support on O and
mental mistakes like penalties or breakdowns… not to mention just nice catches
like that Kelly one. They held Goltz to 12 passing yards through a large part
of the game… 12! Hard to be mad at that. I will say this about D though, people
will talk about Rey Williams getting hurt as a reason D broke down but honestly
the guy has been invisible for many weeks now and even in this game was making
wrong reads multiple times. Not sure if he’s nicked up but we need him to be an
impact player not just existing out there. Overall though, D held up their end.
Special
Teams have gone from a shining point of pride to a giant liability. Another fumble
and the kick return. To their credit they got a nice fumble recovery by Black
but overall they also need to be better.
The
Bomber O was so bad all we needed to do was not make mistakes but we did. We
did on special teams, we did on O. We let a terrible team dictate the pace of
the game to us in their home park and that is not a good recipe for success.
Can’t
dwell on this though. We are 8-2 and still in great position for the second
half of the season. Gotta learn from this and make adjustments so that this
doesn’t happen again.
My
Riders lose, my Vikings lose… guess all I have to hope for now is my beloved
San Francisco Demons of the XFL to not disappoint me. … wait what did you just
say about the XFL??? Noooooooooooo.
2 comments:
Rider Prophet (profit!) has trouble taking a loss. Understandable. That was brutal. But the boys simply could not match the intensity of the Bomber defense. They wanted it more...even more than the pathetic Bomber offence. To be honest, I think it was quite inspiring to see a defense WILL a victory. Well deserved.
As for singling out anyone on the offense, I think it simply came down to poor play calling. They should have responded to the relentless pass pressure with dumps off to Sheets. He was the only one out there matching the Bombers intensity and was screaming for the ball in the open often enough. Heck, they should have called a lot more running plays to give the O-Line a chance to assert themselves. I think the result would have been much different if they had an ALL-SHEETS approach.
Also, I think you're being too hard on Neufeld, just like you were too hard on Heenan at the beginning of the year. A good Prophet knows that all good things take time. Patience. No need to trash a Canadian O-lineman (granted Neufeld has never been impressive in his starting roles). We need Neufeld for import ratio flexibility.
That's my two-cents. Looking forward to a much better performance at home against the depleted Argos.
I give Neufeld that it was his first start at guard but I have just never been a fan of him starting. His calling in life is the 6th OL as he can back up everything. But as a starter I have just never liked him. He is not a rookie, its his third year.
Agree fully that the play calling should have been adjusted... it didn't work the first ten times what makes you think it will this
time?
Also agree that we will bounce back against the argos at home
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