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Friday the Riders travel to… Regina for a… “road” game against the 1-1 Argos. The Riders will be wearing their much-hyped Prairie Blizzard jerseys. The hype was much like me promising my wife an all night love session she will never forget only to give her the standard 2 mins tops. They aren’t bad jerseys, just very meh… they are the same old jerseys with white numbers.
My fashion criticisms aside, if you are a fan of offense you should like this game. It’s the top 2 offenses going head to head. Legitimately could come down to who has the ball last. Prepare your hearts accordingly.
The Argo offense is averaging a ridiculous 37 points per game. It seems whether its on or off the field Kelly has no problem making passes with reckless abandon. I do not love facing a QB throwing 400 yards per game with a stacked receiver group featuring Coxie, Polk, Mital and Ungerer with a 3rd string Canadian playing halfback. The Argos have a strong OL, particularly at the interior. But also on and off the field, Kelly’s reckless passes have consequences. The Argos have 8 giveaways. Kelly has personally thrown almost half of all INTs in the CFL this season. He loves his arm and has the deepest average depth of pass. We need to find a way to get pressure on him and we need to limit the deep shots. We have only allowed one pass over 30 yards so that’s good. We also need to get turnovers… something that we have failed to do even once this season. Mace and Bell have their work cut out for them trying to piece together this secondary. They will need to be as creative as our accountants at year end (“financial loss” my ass!).
We will need Harris’ hot streak to
continue. I don’t like our odds of keeping the Argos out of the endzone. I
think we need 30 points minimum to even have a chance. Ouelette is out. I
expect Hudon to get the bulk of the reps due to his pass blocking. I am excited
to see what Conley can do. Fortunately we match up well with the Argos. They
have the #1 run D but the #8 pass D. Take the over on Harris passing yards. The
Argos do lead the CFL in takeaways so we need to be safe with the ball. If we can
maintain possession and continue leaning on our big 3 receivers we should be
ok. Not sure why, but this strikes me as a big KeeSean game. The best way to help our
D is keep them off the field with long methodical drives.
Hale needs a bounce back game but I have been happy with the punting of Chapman. Though we’d all be happier to not see him on the field much. Last year a big return from Mario Alford sealed the Argo game… be a great time for Letcher to make his presence known.
A key in this game could be second down. Offensively we lead the league with a 62% second down conversion rate. Defensively we also lead the lead allowing just a 44% conversion rate.
This is by far the best offense we have faced on the young season. I have next to zero trust in Edouard, maybe the other 4 guys can do enough to compensate. At some point our mounting injuries will become too much to overcome. This game will be a test but I think we find a way to squeeze out another ugly win.
Bold prediction, Harris to Wiebe on with under a minute for a game winning TD.
Please avoid the temptation of talking
about the power or supremacy of our jerseys.
2 comments:
SK/Tor - Two high powered offences. Argos rated top D on cfl stats. Riders lead CFL in pressures. But DB an area of concern with another Rider down. Ouellette out. My 2nd upset pick this week (Elks were the other). IMO, Argos in a shootout. “Home team” wins
Other games.
Cal/BC - Lions beat up. Small raucous crowd away from Van may be what the doctor ordered. Dicky brothers go 0-3.
Ott/Mtl - another “annus horribilis” on deck for the visitors. Als bounce back.
Hello parity. Lots to unwrap here after the loss.
No need to panic - yet. But this needs to be a wake up call. Yes we have a VG offence, great receivers & QB. But - so does Mtl, Hamilton, Toronto & BC, despite the Lions' injuries. Every one of those teams have the air power to outscore the deficiencies on D. The Riders have given up 104 pts - worst in the league, & scored 105. Not a winning formula.
On Friday, the chickens came home to roost. It's no surprise the Elks are undefeated. They're allowing under 23 pts/game. Mace has to get more out of the defence. Starting with Ottawa, this may be the tonic we need to get untracked. They play Sunday & get the Riders on Friday. Short week for them. Time for the defence to shine.
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