Monday Morning Sentimonies: What The Hell

Riders 10 – Stampeders 24

What the heck guys?!? I go away for one week and everything goes to hell. Team forgets how to play. Game can’t even be played on the right day. Just complete chaos without the Prophet around. And instead of finding out about the result after the fact I was forced to endure listening to it on the radio while driving back hungover. The pounding on the field was equal to the pounding in my head. 

Look, we all knew the Riders weren’t going 18-0. Well I mean I’m sure some die hard out there believed but realistically it was not happening. So a loss is not the hardest part about this to take. Its that the Riders did not bother showing up. They were outplayed, outcoached, outworked and outright embarrassed on their home turf. That’s the part that’s hard to take. The Riders got to sleep in their beds while the Stamps had to frantically try and find a dorm to house them. Watching that game I would have believed the opposite was true. 

Lots is being made of the defense’s failures in this one. Yes they allowed VA to slice through them like a hot knife through butter. He almost had 300 yards at half. Yes there were some major busts in coverage. But simply put, if you think the defense is to blame for the loss you are either an idiot, did not watch the game, or live in Manitoba (which is kinda redundant given the first point on this list). The defense was the only part of this team trying. They forced 2 turnovers in the first 5 mins and 3 overall. They held the Stamps to 24 points despite all their aforementioned struggles. They gave us a chance to win and it would have ben an absolute massacre if not for their efforts. They tried. 

The offense did not. 

Here is a listing of every offensive drive in the first half: 

·        2 and out, FG (7 yards) * after defense got a pick

·        2 and out, Punt (net loss of 7 due to penalty)

·        2 and out, Punt (6 yards)

·        4 plays, Punt (net 8 yards)

·        3 plays, Punt (17 yards)

·        2 plays, Fumble (18 yards)

·        6 plays, Fumble (44 yards)

 It took until the 3^rd quarter before they put together a drive that had more than one first down and didn’t end in a fumble. I know Calgary has a good defense but that level of futility is unacceptable at a pro level. O-line got dominated. Receivers struggled to get open. Harris was not decisive. Mueller looked like he gave his playbook to Calgary before the game and had no backup plan when it didn’t work. We clearly could not run up the middle but the answer is not to ignore Ouellette completely. We should found ways to get him or Carey the ball in other ways. This is not the first time the offense has started a game like they were asleep. We need to find ways to start game better. 

My patience with Brett Lauther is about run out. In 3 out of 5 games this season he has kicked 50% or less. You can’t preach accountability for the team and continue to let one guy repeatedly fail without consequence. I am not saying cut him. But if there is not a second kicker in camp this week to at least push him then O’Day is failing at his job. 

Certainly not the end of the world to lose. It was going to happen eventually. Our 4-0 record had been hiding some of our shortcomings. Calgary is a good team. But this needs to be a wakeup call because that kind of effort can’t happen again. 

Other random thoughts:

-        Fields continues to be a glaring liability in coverage. Teams are clearly seeing it on film and going after him.

-        Brooks had a costly bust but I like his potential.

-        D-line has been very underwhelming  this year. It looks like a line with a lot a good players but no great ones. No one is stepping up to be THE guy. Pressure is lacking and without pressure our zone defense gets exposed.

-        Robustelli was obviously the only positive on offense. If we ever get to a point where every receiver is healthy, we will have some tough decisions to make.

-        For those curious about the results of my scientific expedition, it was a success. I caught fish on 100% of the days I drank beer. So did the rest of my research team. That seems pretty conclusive to me that it does indeed improve effectiveness.