Riders vs. Stamps: Quarter-Assed Effort

Riders 15 – Stamps 32

 The saying goes, to be the best you gotta beat the best. Well Saturday quite clearly established who the best in the CFL is at this point in the season. Despite what the standings will tell you, it is definitely not us. The game at points was better than the first meeting but ultimately ended in mostly the same way. 

Here’s what was pretty clear watching that game (and the last one), Calgary is better on both sides of the trenches than us. The Riders have 27 sacks in the 8 games not against the Stamps. They have 1 against them. The Riders have allowed 8 sack in those 8 non-Calgary games… and 7 to the Stamps. There are many more ways to analyze this game but I can tell you the Stamps won because they are better in the trenches. 

I don’t even where to start with this mess. Much like in July it started out with us digging a hole. The good news was we manned up and punched back this time. We had the lead at half and looked to ready to go toe to toe with the Stamps. We apparently assumed that the Stamps would just stay down after we punched back because we seemed to have no answer when they responded with a punch of their own. We also seemed to think the second half was optional. 

There was some good on offense. Ouelette had a good day against a tough front and I like that we kept him involved. 2^nd quarter Harris looked like the guy we all think should be in the MOP conversation. Unfortunately the list of good things was much like our offense for most of the day… 2 and out. Harris tried in the first quarter but his receivers could not catch. Then out of frustration he decided to throw to Calgary instead. You can’t beat a top end team like the Stamps when the offense only puts in a quarter worth of work. 

The defense came into this game having not given up a TD in 2 straight games. As I predicted, they promptly ended that streak on the first drive. D-line couldn’t get within an area code of pressuring VA. Even when we tried sending pressure it looked like we just blitzed 3 versions of Scott Gordon (some of you may be too young for that reference but I assure you anyone who watched the Riders of the early 2000s knows vividly the Scott Gordon safety blitz/vanishing act). No one could tackle. Secondary looked exactly like you would expect when only 2 actual starters are playing their normal position and one of them is Fields. Communication was a mess and there were more missed assignments than a high school math class.

You may be expecting me to now join the mob and turn my anger to Lauther. Much like Lauther’s kicks, you would be inaccurate. I was originally pissed at him like the rest of Rider Nation but a buddy pointed something out. Go back and watch that kick… specifically watch the holder. Odds are you will yell out “Laces out Dan!” as I did. Couch screwed up the hold and Lauther hit nothing but laces.  Lauther is too much of a leader to say but its quite clear that even if its just mental… Couch is not working on holds. Please let Maier or Tommy try and see if it calms Lauther down. That does not in anyway absolve Lauther of responsibility here. He’s been atrocious this season but for at least this game… it was not all his fault. And if we are being honest, Couch is at best a mediocre punter.  

Look, we are still a good team. But Calgary is better. And you can’t make as many mistakes as we did and hope to beat a top team. Johnson dropped an easy TD. Brammer got rightly yelled at by Hardrick because he missed a fairly routine block that resulted in a sack. We missed tackles. We missed blocks. We missed coverages. Harris forced bad throws. The mistakes piled up and Calgary made us pay. The great teams will do that. We on the other hand still struggle make teams pay for mistakes. We had 2 INTs in that game and got exactly 1 point off those turnovers. On the season we average 2.5 points off turnovers. 

With the season series lost and Calgary hot on our heels, our hopes of first now hinge on staying ahead of Calgary in the standings. Once they pass us I don’t see them relinquishing first… unless VA is struck down by lightning or a car or Micah Awe en route to record setting 15th consecutive fine.  

Other random thoughts:

-        Jaxon Ford has potential to be an impact safety but he tackles exclusively with his shoulders. A bad habit he will need to correct if he wants to stick in the starting rotation.

-        If you watched on TSH you would have been oblivious to the fact that Lokombo got hurt at some point in the first half and never returned. TSN either did not notice or feel the need to mentioned that Exume had taken over at corner. They were too busy talking about German soccer for some reason. 

-        We need to start getting some bodies back. We have outstanding depth but are starting to reach the limits of it. Not a Lokombo lover but at this point we can’t afford him to be out any length of time. Guys like Wiebe, Korte-Moore, Hudon, Miller may not be starters but that some rock solid depth that has been taken out.

-        Exume looked like a lot less of a trainwreck at corner this game. Still don’t want him playing defense but he has improved.