Monday Morning Sentimonies: Big Step Forward

Riders 20 – RedBlacks 13

Look, I know many of you wanted a far more resounding win given that we were playing the worst team in the league. To you I say boo-hoo. We won. Do you remember how good we played in game 15 of 2024? 2019? 2013? No you don’t. The end result of the season is all that matters and Friday’s win helped us take a massive step forward to our end goal. Sure, I would have preferred we dominate them more but that’s like saying I would prefer an 18oz steak over a 12oz one… if you offer me a 12 ouncer I’ll still be happy.

For me there were a lot of positives in that game. Are we where we need to be to make a strong playoff run? No. But we took some positive steps forward on a lot on fronts. After 2 straight loses, finding a way to win on the road was big. After a month of mediocre to bad performances I finally saw Trevor Harris show flashes of the guy who was briefly in the MOP conversation earlier this season. We actually scored a major in the quarter… something that is about as rare as the RedBlacks eclipsing 5 wins in a season. The offense showed up for more that their usual 1 quarter (yes it was only 2 quarters they were useful in this time but we are focusing on the positive progression). Defense managed to close out a game with minimal drama (there was drama but it was due to the offense). All in all lots of positives. The biggest being that we are 1 win away from clinching first. 

Now its not all roses and sunshine. The kicker brought into solve our inconsistent kicking was consistent… unfortunately it was consistently awful. Like it looked as though Lauther paid him off top make him look good by comparison. The punter brought in to solve our mediocre punting made us long for the return of our mediocre punter. And if our secondary suffers any more injuries Micah Johnson may legitimately be lining up at corner soon. I am fairly sure that Marcus Sayles is only being held together by duct tape and horse tranquilizers at this point. So other that having no useful kickers and injuries to pretty much anyone who plays DB, things are just fine. 

Defense was fairly solid last week but they were difference makers this week. It helped that Dru Brown did his best Harris homage and forgot that linebackers existed. Each LB had a pick and Sapp damn near had a fourth. You can still see inexperience in Sapp but I actually like what he brings to the table so far. Brooks just finds ways to make plays when he gets to start. Front 4 were disruptive. Overall a solid effort. 

Offense was finally able to put yards up. They needed a lot more points for what our defense was gifting them but Harris eclipsed 300 yards and could probably have hit 400 if not for drops by guys like Baker. He hit 8 different receivers. Most importantly no picks. The fumble was not on him and 9 times out of 10 that ball just falls to the turf rather than directly into a defender’s hands. AJ Ouelette is the player of the game bar none. His stats will only show 50 rush yards and 20 receiving but each one of those yards was important and hard earned against a very good Ottawa run D. He handled short yardage with Tommy out (I don’t love his style as he tries to go high rather than low but he was effective). And he saved the game by chasing that Ottawa defender down the field. That kind of effort and refusal to give up is what champions are made of. Ouelette has been quietly killing it for a month. Good things happen when we get Dohnte Myers the ball. He took a simple slant and turned it into our best offensive play of the day. Getting him involved needs to be a priority. 3 of our 4 losses have occurred when gets under 50 yards whereas we are 5-1 when get over 75. Feed him and let the man make plays.

With Friday’s win, we now sit just one win away from clinching first. Not only would that give us a first round bye but if we manage to win next week that makes our last 2 games meaningless and gives us 3 full weeks to gets healthy (or at least as close to healthy as you can get in November) something that is desperately needed as our defensive injuries mount. The only thing standing in our way now is a home game against a team that was just eliminated from the playoffs and will be starting their 3^rd string QB who was just sacked 9 times and threw 4 picks. So I guess what I’m saying is, Friday’s obsidian game is definitely somehow coming down to the last play of the game as we find some ridiculous way to almost lose. 

Other random thoughts:

-        Not a great day for TSN. Dustin Neilson repeatedly called our punter Joe Couch (no Dustin, we only wish it was Couch… as sad as that statement is to write) and Claire Hanna spent post game congratulating our players on clinching a home playoff game (we have not). As Jay Onrait would say "Ya Blew It"

-        In addition to awful kicking our cover teams were not great. Pimpleton almost busted it a few times and we were saved by a block in the back on the one he did break.

-        Can we put some respect on AJ Allen’s name? Consistently makes impact plays on defense. GO compare his stats to Cam Judge and tell me he at least should not be in the conversation for top Canadian. He damn well better be our nominee.