Monday Morning Sentimonies: Not Good Enough

Riders 24 – BC 31

As I processed that loss on Friday (aka drank rye), I kept coming back to one phrase to summarize our performance… not good enough. We weren’t bad, but we were clearly not the better team in that game. Not by a wide margin but close only counts in horseshoes and the degree of kinship relative to how attractive a cousin is to a Manitoba resident. 

The positives? We moved the ball. After struggling to get anything going in previous attempts, we saw an offense that could sustain drives and put up yards. I would also add that the running of Ouelette was a pleasant surprise. Yes, he looks like he’s held together with duct tape and pipe cleaners but I was expecting very little against the top run D in the CFL. Ouelette gave us more than just an emotional boost, he ran very well. Everyone’s favourite kicker (until he misses and we all hate him) Dawson Hodge remained perfect. Yes, he has yet to attempt anything close to a difficult kick but he’s done everything we asked him to do. Lastly I would add to the list of positives that our ever-reliable run D made Horvath a non-factor. 

Unfortunately that’s about where the positives end. 

Offensively, for all the yards we chewed up, we struggled to find the endzone. Through our first 4 trips inside the 20 yard line we managed a solitary TD. That’s not good enough when you D is allowing 30 points. We came close a few times. Not sure the doink of the uprights would have been a completion but the WR at least had a chance. The finger tips of Robert Carter foiled a huge play to Baker. But the theme of the night was promising drives with no finish. Was it us being bad or just a product of BC being very good? Probably a dash of both. But one way or another, a path to the Grey Cup likely requires beating BC so offense needs to be better. 

Other than run stopping D had a very poor outing. Front 4 struggled to get pressure on Rourke which left a very sub-par secondary even further hung out to dry. Its easy to say this retrospect but I do questions shuffling our secondary (without being forced to by injury). Communication is key in that group and usually continuity improves communication. Bell looked like a rookie. He will likely be a solid player in the near future but he and Fields were not on the same page a lot of the time (and Fields is barely good enough to handle his own responsibilities let alone when his partner is lost). Coaching also shares in the blame. Despite the most recent game film clearly showing it, we seemed wildly unprepared for hurry-up offense. Hell we tried to make a substitution while they where in hurry up. The result was a penalty, mass confusion in coverage and an easy score for BC. Brooks played OK but is a downgrade from Oladipo. This is not a defense that can make a “big play”. We don’t get turnovers. Sacks were hard to come by in this one. So you need to play rock solid if you aren’t making big plays… we were about as solid as a wet napkin. 

I don’t know if Corey Mace runs challenges or has a designated guy in the booth calling it down but whoever is in charge is terrible and needs their challenging powers taken away. Last game we wasted a challenge way to early in the game on something that was anything but a safe bet. This week we challenged OPI when the video clearly showed our player holding BC’s arm in what could have been defensive pass interference. 

Again, we played a good team and came up short. So we are close… but now on the outside looking in. We have lost the season series to 2 western opponents and now sit just 1 win ahead of the team in 5^th. We have placed ourselves in a very difficult spot and need to starting finding some wins and fast. 

Other random thoughts:

-        So the Command Centre (which normally seems to be watching reruns of Murder She Wrote when we actually need them) decides the one time they will step in is when there is no reason whatsoever to do so? Stevens needed 2 yards and got 1. That was clear as day in real time. Somehow the booth decided this was the one they want to review for us… and they didn’t even have the decency to blow the call like they normally do. 

-        Speaking of that play, I like the call to go with Tommy time in that situation but Tommy always goes right following Brammer and Hardrick, predictable but effective as hell. This time he went left for reasons I don't understand.

-        Logan Ferland has like 2 penalties in the past decade of regular season play… both are for roughing after the play.