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Riders 31 – Als 48
*Editor’s note: You probably should not google Saturday night suckfest. Probably has some other connotations that may have unintended consequences on your algorithm.
In a stunning turn of events, Brett Lauther has quietly moved himself out of the conversation of things plaguing this team. On Saturday he was about the only part of the team that did his job. Defense was awful. Offense was awful. Weather was awful. My dry ribs combo was adequate at best. Just nothing was good about that game. We looked like a team that was a little too eager for a bye week. We rolled into Montreal and embarrassed a beat up Als team last month. They returned the favour om Saturday.
Look, we knew our secondary would be an issue. We had 2 starters (one of them being Fields) and 3 guys who were essentially dressed because they ranked slightly above a cardboard cutout in terms of starting options. In retrospect the cardboard cutout may have outplayed Exume. Montreal correctly identified Exume as a liability and had their way with him. It should not have taken us as long as it did to bench him. I get that we are desperate for anything resembling a Canadian on defense but I think Daniel Johnson or Ali Saad would have been as effective at CB. What I don’t understand is that we spend the entire year playing a soft zone and giving up easy completions underneath but when we get backup CBs in that’s when we decide to jump anything short? The secondary was not a surprise. The front 7 was a massive disappointment. Front 4 was invisible. Linebackers had no ability to stop one of the worst run games in the league. We needed them to step up and help a depleted back end… they did not.
Offense was kind enough to not let the defense suck alone. Interceptions. Fumbles. Drops. Total team effort on digging a hole too deep to get out of. We need to be honest with ourselves. Harris has been mediocre since the Hamilton game. His last few games he has done enough but his name is noticeably becoming absent in MOP conversations. He needs to be better. Play calling was also an issue in this one. In the 1st quarter we had a 2nd and 2 in FG range. All we had to do was run. Even if you get 1 yard, Tommy gets the other on 3rd. Instead we got cute and tried to pass. It was incomplete and we were forced to settle for 3 when it should have been an easy 1st down.
Lastly, let me just come out and say it: Screw the command centre! There is no rhyme or reason for when they intervene. Based on previous weeks we know that obvious face masks are not in their ability to remedy. But apparently procedure calls and illegal blocks are (if Montreal complains enough). Were those both penalties on us? Yes. But there is no consistency for when the booth inserts itself and it almost always seems to harm the Riders whatever they decide. There needs to be clear rules such as major penalties only. The “intervene when you feel like it approach” is not working.
This loss in not the biggest thing in the world. We were injury riddled and looking forward to a needed bye. We are also still in first place. But making a QB has terrible as MBT look like Ricky Ray is kinda like letting a one legged soccer player score a penalty kick on you.
Hopefully this bye week sees a few bodies return to the field. Legitimately we are an injury or two away from me needing to start in the secondary.
2 comments:
Huge mistake by the coaching staff to sacrifice Exume out there. He never should have been forced to start. Terrible depth in the secondary is the fault of O'Day clearly. Start Wiebe at LB and let Reavis play in the secondary even
You had the same thought as me on that 2nd and 2 on the first series. IMO we should be treating all 2nd and 2's the way the Eagles treat 3rd and 2 or less. Fumble aside, just feed Stevens in that situation. People complain about Mueller being too boring. I guess I am advocating for more boring.
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