Riders vs. Alouettes: Be Legendary

The 10-2 Riders look to officially sew up a playoff spot when the 5-7 Alouettes roll into town on Saturday for Legends Night. Back in August a relatively healthy Rider team rolled into Montreal and laid such beating on a decimated Als team that it could almost be considered a criminal. This time a relatively healthy Als team rolls into Regina looking to return the favour to a Rider roster in need of the upcoming bye week. 

The Als’ season is pretty easy to summarize. They are 4-0 when Davis Alexander starts and 1-7 when (insert crappy QB not named Alexander) starts. Its that simple. They have a pretty solid defense but no semblance of an offense. Unfortunately for Als’ fans once again they will be forced to start (insert crappy QB not named Alexander). 

Don’t in any way expect a repeat of what happened in Montreal. They had no receivers in that game and no secondary. Last time Mack, Philpot, Fletcher, Decoy and Mustafa Johnson did not play. They will this week. The script is flipped as I have legit concerns about our ability to roster 5 DBs let alone an emergency 6^th. They are getting healthier. We are not. We have a bye coming up. This could have trap game written all over it. 

But there is one massive factor that rebalances the scales. That being McLeod Bethel-Thompson. After basically benching him with an “injury” the Als have had to come crawling back to him out of desperation. Problem is that while he will have vastly better receivers at his disposal. He remains as likely to be a good QB as other Thompsons such as Kenan, Charisa and Hunter S. On passes over 20 yards he has as many completions as interceptions… that being 1. Those 6 points he produced in the last meeting (at home) are pretty telling. He a major reason why the Als have the least TDs in the CFL… 8 less than the next worst. The Als are not great at running the ball so its all on MBT’s arm against our patchwork secondary. D-line will need to have a big game to help out a secondary missing 2-3 starters against actual receivers. 

Offense is healthy but will face a much stiffer test in the Als D this time around. They are 3^rd in points allowed and 2^nd in yards allowed. Honestly bet the under on this game because scoring will be at a premium. The Als do allow the second most yards per carry so we need to lean on Ouelette early and often. We also need to find a way to get Myers going. Johnson is the key guy for second down conversions but Myers is the big play guy. When he has a big workload good things happen. Als are second in sacks so O-line will have their work cut out keeping Harris upright. After a rough game 2 I think Ajou will have a bounce back game and make a couple big catches. 

If the Als had a mildly competent QB, given the state of our secondary and the looming bye week I would be picking the Als. I think we are better than them but timing is not on our side. But for the life of me I can’t see this team losing to MBT. I just can’t. We are going to lose at some point but its going to take an actual starting QB to do it. 

I hope in a fitting tribute to Alex Smith (one of the greatest and most underrated assistant coaches we have ever had) we see Thurman, Allen and Reavis put on a show.  

Riders by a Lauther FG because they love to put me through agony.