Riders vs. Elks: Cody Plays

From guy we were not sure was even worthy of being a back-up, to beloved Jesus sprinkling corndog eater, to scapegoat of a failed coaching regime. Fajardo has seen the highs and lows in Saskatchewan. One thing he has never seen is the field as an opponent. It took 3 years but Friday it finally happens. 

Edmonton turns to Fajardo desperate for some sort of offensive spark. Its been another bad year in Edmonton. 1-4 with their only win coming against the team vying with them for title of worst in the CFL. Their offense has been non-existent. Dead last in yards gained, 2^nd last in point scored. 43% of their drives are 2 and outs… 43%!!!! Here is a list of Ford’s that could run an offense at least as effectively as Tre has this season: Tyrell, Doug, Jaxson when he still had a cast and Harrisson. The good news for Fajardo is that the bar is set so low than even the slightest success will make him a hero in Edmonton. 

Fajardo does improve the Elks under centre. The issue is that he does not improve their receivers. With guys like Gittens, Julien-Grant and Dunbar they have a wealth of #2 and 3 receivers… but no #1. By far the weakest set of WRs in the CFL. Led by Rankin (and I assume a decent dose of Fajardo) the Elks have a decent run game. Focus needs to be on shutting that down. I may eat these words but Fajardo with a B-list group of receivers beating us through the air is a risk I am willing to take. We need pressure up front. We want our line to make happy feet Cody appear. The one who won’t step up into the pocket. The one who spins left like its an unstoppable surprise play. That said, at least once I fully expect Carney to get absolutely embarrassed by a left spin as he cheats inside. Last week we shut down Nathan Rourke…a better QB, with better receivers. As long as Cody is uncomfortable in the pocket there will be turnovers and stalled drives. And if a pass happens to bounce off a crossbar, well that would be a delightful bonus.  

Sadly for the Elks, Fajardo also does not improve their defense. In fairness to that group, being shackled with an offense that couldn’t gain a first down if you put them at 2^nd and inches and pushed them forward does not help. Its tough to find a defensive stat that they aren’t the worst at: most TDs allowed (despite playing the least amount of games so far), most points allowed (have yet to hold a team under 31), most yards, least sacks, least takeaways. The best thing I can say about them is that they do not have the worst run D… they have the second worst run D. They have playmakers like Ford, Morgan, Ceresna and Barlow but overall that D is not great. Only thing I do not like going into this game is starting our 5^th different combination on the O-Line in 7 games. This time we lost Fry to a god damn car accident. At this rate it would not surprise me for OL to start dropping off for the same reasons Mr. Burns’ softball team did: Radiation poisoning, helping some lady get things out of a burning house, gigantism. Feed Ouelette to keep us in 2^nd and manageable and then let Harris go to work. Other than Ford not much scares me about that secondary. Look for Emilus to play a bigger role in his second game back. 

In terms of special teams, we all have horrible flashbacks on what Javon Leake can do so we need to not let that be a factor that swings momentum. Lauther is on schedule for an absolute stinker of a game after a perfect game in BC.

On paper there is zero reason the Rider should not absolutely pound the Elks. But we have all been Rider fans long enough to just know that this one will be an absolute nail biter even though it shouldn’t be. 

I grew up in a time where Friday night games and good Rider teams were few and far between… getting both at the same time was as unlikely on the prairies as adopting daylight savings time. Well we have a winning team and a game under the Friday night lights. Let’s get loud! 

Riders by a Johnson TD… most likely KeeSean but if it happens to be Miach I’m taking credit too.