Riders vs. Lions: Reinforcements

Sunday the 6-3 Riders travel to BC for a match-up with the 4-5 Lions who are riding a 3 game win streak. These teams last met in the season opener where the Riders emerged victorious in a tight game. After that game the Lions had an extended stay in the West basement due to a combination of a flurry of offensive injuries and a defense so bad they couldn’t stop a team that was all on crutches. It was to the point where it was more a question of when, not if, Benevides got fired as DC. But Pierce stayed his course and suddenly with a win BC is just one game back of the Riders. 

Thankfully we finally get some good news on the injury front. We get Canadians back and good ones at that. We could have Saad, Fry, Emilus and Letcher back. For a team that was not far off asking Coach Mace and Mueller to dress so we had enough Canadians, it’s a welcome turn of fortune. 

Offensively I cannot understate how important getting Emilus back is. I think we are in tough for this one but Emilus’ presence upgrades our chances from “Ottawa’s chance of winning” to “my chances winning at the craps table in Vegas” (odds aren't in our favour but its certainly possible). As previously mentioned, BC’s defense started the season looking like they were auditioning for a job on Ryan Dinwiddie’s team. But in the last few weeks they have improved by leaps and bounds. They have allowed the least yards overall and 4^th in points allowed. They have the #1 run D. So our chances hinge on Harris not have back to back crap weeks. Last week he played QB about as well as Trevor Harrison (this is a very clever reference, google it). Thus Emilus is a massive add. With only 1 of the big 3 it was going to be a struggle. But with 2 top end receivers the offense should be firing again. With a guy like Betts out there we need to keep some balance with the run to keep him from just attacking Harris. I don’t expect another 400-yard game from Harris (like we saw in game 1) but I think 300 and 3 TDs is very possible. 

In game 1 we were the beneficiary of anything resembling a receiver for BC being injured. We won’t have that advantage again. But we generally seem to play Rourke well. Ironically I feel more confident facing him than any back-up QB in this league. We also won’t have the advantage of predating the moment in the season where it became glaringly obvious that Zander Horvath is the Lions’ best RB by a wide margin. Butler is not suddenly useless but any game where Horvath doesn’t get double the touches Butler does is a failure on the part of Buck Pierce. So we need to limit the run and put pressure on Rourke. BC is 7^th in sacks allowed so our D-line should have favourable match-ups. BC also has the 3^rd most giveaways so while they will probably put up points, they will take risks in the process. Biggest help defensively would be long extended drives from the O. Keep our D off the field. 

Had Emilus not been healthy this would have been an easy loss to predict. I still don’t feel great about our chances but at least we have the horses to go toe to toe with them now. I see a very close back and forth battle (like our last couple clashes with the Lions). I expect us to play much better than last week a) because we are healthier and b) because although the Lions D is no longer the utter embarrassment they started out as, they are not near the calibre of Hamiton. That said I think we have one more week of misery before we get things back on track. 

BC by a last minute FG.