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You’ll have to forgive me not posting on Monday morning. While I certainly didn’t go as hard as the players, I did have a bottle of 2013 Grey Cup Whiskey and a visit to the green mile to keep me from getting to bed at a reasonable hour.
We did it!!! 12 longs year we waited for this moment and man oh man was it sweet. When the clock hit zero (with a brief pause to make sure Bradbury didn’t rain on our parade from the command centre) me and the whole province erupted.
As expected it was the defense that lead the way. Four turnovers, none bigger than the goal line forced fumble by Campbell that Sayles recovered. They held Montreal under 20 points. Other than a bust in coverage in the secondary (cough, Fields, cough) they really did not allow much. Marcus Sayles had a monster game. It’s amazing how good he his when his lower body is not held together by duct tape and horse tranquilizers. Remember that he is a Rider because BC didn’t think he was talented enough and cut him in training camp. Thank you BC. Baldonado is growing into an impact pass rusher in front of our eyes. A fitting way to end the season for a defense that has been so good all year.
The big difference is that offense didn’t leave them high and dry. They scored early and kept scoring and against a stingy D. O-line kept Harris so clean he didn’t even need to wash his jersey. No turnovers. They made mistakes, we didn’t. I was fully expecting a struggling Harris game. And yes he certainly tried to throw a pick 6. But he didn’t. And other than that he was really dialed in. Nice to see us Myers involved (good things happens when he touches the ball) and Emilus is just a flat out stud.
Also credit to the coaching staff. Called a great game, particularly on O. Made great in-game decisions like that challenge of pass interference. Last year we saw a lot of potential but a lot of mistakes from Mace and his crew. This year, they looked like seasoned vets. They also drink beer like seasoned vets, another plus in my books.
This was a really weird year. All season you had the feeling that they were building something special. All season they remained atop the league. But at no point were they dominant or did they feel like they were certifiably the best.
Standing amid hundreds of fellow Rider fans at Albert
and Vic singing song after song in unison is when it really hit me. We won!
Nothing brings this province together more than the Riders winning and Grey Cup
wins here are so special because they are so rare. It’s refreshing to end a season
just feeling content. Not angry. Not disappointed. Not hopeless. But happy.
Drink it in Rider Nation. The Cup came home and we could not be prouder of the
team that put in the work to make it happen.
I would like to point out that in
the 96 years this team existed before the Rider Prophet came onto the scene we
had just 2 total cups. Since my arrival we have won 3, more than the entirety
of before. I know correlation is not causality… but times are certainly better
during the age of the Prophet.
1 comment:
There will never be anything quite like watching that live. We had endzone seats, 21st row, and of course it looked like all the pertinent action was going to occur on the opposite end of the field from us. Certainly during the first half. We then got to witness the awesome drive to start the 2nd half coming towards us. Even saw Lauther knock a shaky one just inside the post on a later drive. At that point it felt like nothing could go wrong, so of *course* things started to unravel in the usual Roughriders way.
Little did I know all the drama was being set up so we could get a 'front row' view of the fumble at the goal line. Wow, what a play. When the ball jarred loose I was on my feet screaming louder than anything I've done in my decades of sports fandom. In real time it wasn't obvious that it was a touchback, but when they started marching upfield for the next play that's when I finally let myself believe this was going to happen. The last play Hail Mary was uncomfortably close, of course, but after scanning the field and yelling NO FLAGS the party was on.
Player thoughts:
Trevor Harris: Ride off into the sunset, you earned it. Or don't, and come back for another year or two. Either way, you're a legend with the fanbase. Enough said.
Samuel Emilus - game of his life. His agent must be thrilled because that man is going to gets PAID on the next contract.
A.J. Ouellete - the fire that kept the team engine running all night. Not even upset at his Unnecessary Roughness call because live, it looked like the Alouette he bowled over could easily have been flagged for Unsportsmanlike (and probably should have, to offset 10 of those 15 yards against us) as he was ripping at our ball carrier after it was obvious the play had ended. Wasn't dirty, just defending a teammate, and a sign of the bonds that tied this team together.
Brett Lauther - Definitely has a deal with the devil that requires a blood sacrifice and one botched kick per game. Keep the faith, he'll have a bounce back year in 2026 (or O'Day will find someone to replace him, not that he's had such luck so far)
Davis Alexander - Credit where it's due. A special talent, a warrior, I winced watching him hobble back to the huddle after his run on the final drive. Just wasn't his night, which was fine for Rider Nation. Montreal has their guy for the future for sure and we're going to be seeing a *lot* of him in Grey Cups to come.
Going to savor this for a long time, finally exorcising the ghosts of 2009/2010. Hopefully this team gets back there in the near future but even if they don't, Rider Nation can banter about 2025 for many seasons to come. They don't ask 'how', they ask 'how many' and now 'how many' is FIVE!
Vive l'age of the Prophet!
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