Monday Afternoon Sentimonies: Not Much To Be Thankful For

Riders 24 – Als 44

About the only thing I am thankful for in the wake of Monday’s pummeling at the hands of the Alouettes was that I was at least able to endure it from the comfort of my couch. Just as the snow on the ground Monday morning signifies that summer is long gone, so too did that game symbolize that the days where the Riders were good enough to win games are also long gone.

At this point we just aren’t good enough to compete with any team let alone the best one in the league. Sure they let us stick around for the first quarter but with each passing quarter the only thing expanding faster than the gap on the scoreboard was our collective waistbands at Thanksgiving supper.

Our offense goes as the Big 3 goes. The issues is that not only have we not been able to get the Big 3 on the field, it is becoming a rarity to have 2 of the Big 3 in the line-up at any one time. We can survive with 2… we are not good enough with 1. Baker was about the only good thing on the field on Monday but was not even close to enough. I would add that AJ Ouelette had another solid running game. Other than the Calgary game he has given us way more since coming back from injury than I thought he had left in him. The problem is that the O-line did a decent job protecting Harris. There was just nothing happening in the pass game.

While the potential of KeeSean and Emilus coming back gives us a glimmer of hope, I don’t know how you look at this defense and see a shred of optimism. There is no one coming to save us and quite frankly we are only missing one of our starters. We just are not good on defense. Turns out Campbell did not get any better during his injury time off. He just looks mentally checked out, nowhere even close to the game changer he was in 2025. The Jaxon Ford experiment at LB proved that he is really good at lining up big hits and whiffing completely. The only time he actually made contact with his intended target was when he headbutted Alexeander. If you are going to take 15 at least make it worth it. Secondary is not good enough. Front 4 are okay but lack that one game breaker to turn them from OK to dangerous. I was at least happy to see us sending pressure way more than we have in the past few games.

By virtue of doing his job, Lauther has quickly vaulted back up the love list in Saskatchewan. It is nice to have a kicker who you can confidently trot out to attempt a 50 yarder… especially when it looks like that’s about as close as this offense is going to be getting to the endzone. Sexton was also a nice addition back. I would prefer if he could return more punts and less kickoffs but that also does not appear to be in the cards.

Ever since Labour Day we have been digging a hole. That hole is so deep that missing the playoffs complete when from unlikely scenario to legitimate concern. Though if Saturday’s performance is the best this team is going to muster then it might be welcome relief to not drag this fall of disappointment out any further. Two games left to show some fight and try and salvage things.