Monday Morning Sentimonies: Secondary Failure

Riders 34 – Elks 36

Ending aside, that was a great game! It lived up to the hype of the two top teams in the west facing off. Big plays. Big points. Back and forth action. In the coming paragraphs I am going to detail a lot of issues I had with what we did but I do want to keep it in the overall context that it was a great game. 

Priority #1 coming into the game was stopping Justin Rankin and boy did we! Unfortunately our game plan to do so was to leave the pass so wide open that you would be stupid to even consider running. Somehow adding back Milligan make our secondary go to absolute hell. You would have to watch a lot of porno to see as many gaping holes as we left. Not only did we give up 500 yards, on pretty much every play there were multiple receivers open. They looked lost. On the first drive we just go out schemed. They overloaded and had 3 WRs on 2 DBs. But there was a whole lot of personnel failure throughout the rest of the game. You all know my feelings on Lokombo and Fields so I do not say this lightly… but this season our worst DB is Tevaughn Campbell. Last year he was game changer. This year he is not making any impact (at least not any impact in our favour). That is compounded by Jaxon Ford. Look, he has many skills: short yardage, run stopping, tackling,. Unfortunately things like not vacating the middle of the field and having any discernable pass coverage skills are not among those skills. That bastard is making me miss Lokomobo. He is better suited to playing linebacker. That leaves Fields as the best DB on that half of the field. On the long passing play that set up the 2^nd TD, Fields got beat because he bit up short when there was only one receiver on his side of the field and Campbell had underneath coverage. When your offense scores 34 points you should win. Its as simple as that. Our secondary was an embarrassment and shoulders the bulk of the blame for this loss. 

Offense clearly saw something on film because their game plan was chuck it deep. It was a very effective plan. Baker has another monster day. He was clearly feeling it because he made all his catches look effortless. Harris continued his tear in 2026. Consider this: He threw 4 TDs and almost 400 yards. He missed a wide open KeeSean in the 1^st on a double move that was an easy TD. He missed a wide open Joey JoJo in the endzone. He was robbed of a TD pass to Emilus. Easily could have had 7 TDs against the best defense in the CFL. I have not seen a passing attack this dangerous since maybe 2013 Durant. On that robbery of the Emilus TD I will just say this… if that is the standard for OPI then the refs have been missing a ton of should be penalties. My lone complaint about our O was the Keesean TD. We had the ball 2^nd 1 from the 3. That should mean 5 tries for Tommy to get 3 yards. No brainer. Started good. Tommy came in and got us first and goal from the 2. Then (despite having a timeout) we sent him to the sideline and let Harris pass twice. I know it worked but dammit do I hate that decision making. But as I said when your offense hangs 34 on the best defense in the CFL its hard to be mad at them. 

I still don’t like Alex Fale and feel absolutely zero confidence any time he kicks but I think in fairness to him his missed FG was a lot more a factor of a bad snap/hold than on him. I love the call and execution on the onside kick attempt. I still want a new kicker but at least on this day I will ease off on my Hale criticisms. 

We had our chances to win that game. Hale makes that FG, Harris doesn’t miss Johnson the third in the endzone, Defense gets one more stop on the final drive. One of those happens and we win. But they didn’t. Can’t expect to beat top teams when you don’t seize the opportunities you have to bury them. You also can’t expect to beat top teams when your secondary is out there looking like they are all trying to impersonate Helen Keller. 

Other random thoughts:

-       I wish the announcer would have explained things in the moment when we honoured Dalke by sending out 11 on the first punt. It was a super cool moment but most of us had no clue what was going on and were just wracking our brain trying to figure out in what world it ever made sense to decline a time count penalty.

-       Did Trevor Harris sleep with one of the refs’ wives? Because he only gets about every 2^nd or 3^rd roughing the passer call he should.

-       Cody Fajardo provided the crowd two of the most entertaining moments in recent memory. I have no clue what his thought process was when just randomly hot potatoed the ball sideways (other than maybe our secondary was playing so bad the play might just work). And is there a rivalry more storied than Fajardo vs. the north goal post?

-       Doc Walker is the best halftime show the Riders have provided us with in years (and yes I am including the Grey Cup). Unfortunately I am guessing they blew all the halftime budget on that one so get ready for 5 more years of half assed attempts.

-       I would like to appreciate our special teams coaching. Our returns have been excellent this year regardless of who is in and you can tell our returners are well coached because they are making excellent decisions in terms of fielding the ball or letting it bounce into the endzone or sidelines.

-       This streak of losing 1-2 players minimum to injury each game is going to sink us soon.

Riders vs. Elks: First Place Showdown

Before I get to the game I feel I should at least make an attempt to comment on this week’s tragedy. It’s unimaginably sad for everyone involved. I don’t know what happened and I won’t make an attempt to explain things. So I’ll simply say this. Sometimes there are mental health things we can’t see. Sometimes good people just made bad choices. Just like them being a good person does not absolve the bad decision. The bad decisions does not negate the good things they did. Life is not black and white like we want. Its full of grey.  Two people tragically lost their loves this week and two families face a lifetime of grief. 

Onto the game…

It’s a shame its been overshadowed by tragedy because on its own this is a heavyweight match-up. The two top teams in the west. You have to go back a long way to find the last time Edmonton came into Mosaic as a relevant team. You have to go back passed the Brock Sunderland era, the second Chris Jones era, the Scott Milanovich era, the Jaime Elizondo era, the Taylor Cornelius era, the Nick Arbuckle era. They paid guys like Geno Lewis and Kenny Lawler insane money to wallow in crapulence for a season. Pretty much a great decade for anyone not actually associated with the Elk franchise. 

But they are back and a force to be reckoned with.

While Justin Rankin is rightfully getting all the hype, I am going to start with the real reason they are doing so well… the defense. Least points allowed, 2^nd least yards allowed and most takeaways (and their stats aren’t inflated due to playing Jake Dole-TheBallToAnyoneButMyReceivers-gala). Former Rider Coach JC Sherritt took his lumps in year 1 of being a DC but he has grown by leaps and bounds. They have exactly 1 win by a margin of more than one score. Their defense keeps it close and give them a chance. Priority 1 is don’t serve up turnovers. With guys like Ford and Jackson they will make you pay for bad passes. BC is the only team to put up 30 points on the Elks and they did it on the ground. So that’s where we start. Give Ouelette a heavy workload. We are physically fresh off the bye and Edmonton is traveling on a short week. Pound them into the ground with the run. That said, our biggest weapon offensively is Emilus, KeeSean and Baker so we can’t be afraid to attack with our strength. A big key will be finishing drives with majors. Not only does it avoid the panic enducing risk of letter Alex Fale on the field, since week 1 Edmonton has scored over 24 just once. If we can put up 25-30 our chances of victory sky rocket. 

Offensively the talk starts and stops with Rankin. Let him run lose and you are in trouble. Stop him and you put a ton of pressure on a very mediocre passing attack. The problem is that stopping is about as easy as getting a certain president off the FIFA stage. Again, BC showed the blue print. They held him to 7 carries in each of their 2 games. In non-BC games Rankin averaged 15 carries. In those BC games Edmonton average 21.5 points. In the other gams they averaged 31. So sell out to stop Rankin in the run game. Edmonton has the #5 passing attack and Fajardo’s 8.2 yards per pass is the lowest among starting QBs. 

Ironically while you expect run stopping and soft pass D from Corey Mace (particularly when missing Millgan), we have been the opposite. Amazingly despite starting a 3^rd string Canadian HB we have the #1 pass D. And that should only improve with the return of Milligan. We have the #6 run D.  Our tackling (which has been closer to lovingly trying hump opponents into submission) was visibly improved last game and we need that to continue.

A factor in this could be discipline. We have been very good this year. Edmonton is the second most penalized. 

Bonus stat: Did you know no one has punted less than Oscar Chapman?

A game with this much emotion goes one of 2 ways. Either teams channel it and come out with a statement game. Or they succumb to it and come out flat. I think both are possible. Given our tendency to sleep through the 1^st quarter on a good day we won’t actually know until the 2^nd where we stand. But I am a believer in Mace and the leadership of this team so I put better odds on channeling the emotion. 

Edmonton is legitimately a good team but a closer look a their schedule shows they beat Ottawa twice, and BC without Rourke (barely). They are not invincible. 

Under normal circumstances I think we would grind out a close win. These are far from normal circumstances so I fear we fight valiantly but come up just short. Two solid defenses on a Thursday means this will be a low scoring affair. The lower the score, the more kickers are a factor and thus, edge Elks. 

Elks by 3

Monday Morning Sentimonies: The Curious Case of Micah Awe

The Riders return from a bye and are busy prepping for a massive back to back set against the Elks in a battle of the top 2 teams in the West. Sadly this is under the dark cloud of the tragic passing of Jayden Dalke, a guy I always had a ton of respect for. I’ll have a full game preview later in the week but for today I want to talk about Micah Awe… something that should be one of the most talked about things in the CFL, but for reasons I still don’t understand no one seems to care. 

Simply put Awe is the dirtiest player in the CFL… and its not even close. But no one cares. The league does not seem to care. The media does not care. The fans don’t care. 

Here’s a quick summary of Awe’s dubious resume. Last week marks his 11^th time being fined. Since 2022 he has been fined 7 times. In 2023 he was fined 4 times in a 10 week period. This is Awe’s third max fine. For comparison, the previous unanimous dirtiest player in the game, Simoni Lawrence was fined 6 times. Awe will soon have that doubled. The only thing more laughable and illogical than the Blue Bomber’s insistence at calling Collaros’ ongoing concussion issues a “neck injury” is how Awe has avoided suspension. 

There is a pretty basic concept in the working world called progressive discipline. The intent is to deter bad behaviour. So you start with minor sanctions (i.e. written warnings) and if that does not correct the behaviour you progress to harsher and harsher sanctions like suspensions and ultimately potentially termination. The CFL’s approach to Awe is akin to a manager giving a serial sexual harasser 11 warnings but still letting him be in the workplace and continue harassing. Such a manager would be deemed incompetent and fired. 

I can only assume that Awe has some incriminating photos of someone at the league office. Or he provides some very good “personal services” (to be clear I am talking about fellatio). I understand that off the field Awe is actually a decent dude and active in the community. But that does not change the fact that on the field he is a danger to his opponents’ health. I don’t know why its tolerated. 

But I think what bothers me more than Awe’s repeated illegal hits is that no one cares. To be clear, if he played for the Riders he would have been run out of the league. Think I am being overly dramatic? 

Pete Roberson had a clean disciplinary record and was suspended for his one and only infraction. His was after the play as opposed to during a play but at least in Robertson’s case the league felt he was a danger to player safety and acted? One infraction got him suspended. Awe is on his 11^th strike. 

I’ll up the ante. We can all agree that Garrett Marino was a dirty player. His track includes one third of the infractions that Awe has racked up. I am not trying to argue that Marino didn’t deserve what he got, but a guy who has injured a fraction of the guys Awe has got attention from the league, media and fans all calling for his head. Why do we not care about the danger Awe poses to player safety? 

Mark my words, Awe will strike again and its likely he will injure a player. The CFL will have no one to blame but themselves when that happens. They can and should have taken harsher action a long time ago. 

Everyone in the media should also be embarrassed. I (some random dud with a blog) took the step of directly asking the League for a statement on the lack of suspensions for Awe. I will post that response if/when it is received. TSN and 3 Down Nation have not bothered to question the league on this. They were certainly vocal when it was Riders involved. I guess clicks matter more in this day an age than actual unbiased reporting. 

 

Monday Morning Sentimonies: I’m Back

Riders 38 – Ti-Cats 7

Did you miss me? Did you even notice I was gone? I spent the last week fishing (hence the lack of posting). Got back on Saturday in time to attend the absolute oven of a game on Sunday. For those curious I am a so-so fisherman but pretty dependable beer drinker, so the week was moderately successful by Chris Jones standards. 

As for the game…

It was a tale of 2 halves. In the first half we drastically outplayed them in every aspect except the scoreboard. In the second half, we added the scoreboard to complete the cycle of things we dominated. 

Look, Jake Dolegala is not very good at football. And I mean that much like how a piece of insulation is not very good in a sandwich. I hope anyone who complained when we let him walk realizes how wrong you were and how right O’Day was. Since taking over for the injured Bo, he has produced exactly one TD. Unfortunately that was for the other team. He seemed to think all his receivers were taller than him and the odd time he got the ball within their actual catch radius they tended to drop it. I realize that we weren’t playing the highest level of competition but I was very happy with the defense. They were aggressive. They tackled probably the best I have seen all season. They got sacks. They got turnovers. They gave big time effort. On the 3^rd down stop, Ford diagnosed the play perfectly and attacked the right hole to make a stop. On the Woods pick, Brooks hustled his ass to make the last block necessary to get Woods to the endzone. Vaughters had a strong game. Woods may be the steal of the offseason. I even noticed Hoskins making some plays when given the chance. In a season where we let teams hang around in games, it was refreshing to see us put our feet on their throats.  

My only criticism of the offense is that they slept through most of the first half (an unfortunate recurring theme). Those 2 picks by Harris were also bad reads and would have been supper costly if we played a team with any ability to score. But other than that O did well. Ouelette had a solid return and chewed up some important yards. Baker and Emilus clearly benefited from the extra days off as they looked back to their old selves. And Tommy Time was on full display. Man does that guy ever fire up the team and the stadium. When we stuffed Dolegala it was a major momentum change. Its exactly that reason we employ a guy we does not get stopped.

Special Teams continues to be a roller coaster. It looked like Sexton was on the verge of superstardom. He made plays every time he touched the ball. So of course he becomes the latest player sacrificed to the injury list. I feel awful for him but his leg was more out of place than a competent QB in Ottawa when he went down. Kick coverage is mostly good but we continue to give up at least one big return per game (which is not a sustainable trend). Chapman is a good punter. Alex Hale shall henceforth be renamed Alex Fale. If you can’t trust your kicker when the ball is one the 40 yard line then your kicker should be seeking alternate employment. It’s obvious that even the coaches don’t trust him anymore. Rightly so. Punting from the 40 is stupid, just go for it. Maybe Hale should try kicking without the glasses, not like he can get much worth. If there is not a new kicker in camp when practice resumes after the bye then O’Day is not doing his job. Until then I am in favour of going for 2 point converts every time and gambling any FG siutation beyond the 20. 

The refs were also not doing us any favours. That was PI on Mace’s challenge. There was also PI on the Baker TD that was ignored. There was at least one time count violation they let slide. We were robbed of a fumble recovery (he tucked the ball, turned around and took a step. In what world is that incomplete?). I am unclear on how you rough a passer when there is an O-lineman still standing between the defender and the QB. Maybe the refs just decided to try an be merciful to the Ti-Cats for having to start Dolegala but it was not a very well officiated game. Just glad it did not impact the outcome.   

In the end we beat the crap out of a team that we were supposed to beat the crap out of. Would it have been different if Bo had played yes but 2014 also would have been different if Durant had not got hurt. Football is not always fair. All you can do is beat the team in front of you. Riders accomplished that and head into the bye with a 4-1 record. Other than a rash of injuries there is lots to be happy about so far.

Riders vs. RedBlacks: Rebound

Friday the Riders travel to Ottawa looking to get back in the win column against the winless RedBlacks. I am going to call this game the Saskatchewan Roughriders vs. the Ottawa Rough Riders. Ottawa’s jerseys are morphing back into the old Rough Rider jerseys and their current roster is half former Riders. Former players include Maier, Allen, Henderson, Reavis, Lauther, McEwen (technically) and Baldonado. Coaches Dinwiddie, Gibson and Tate are also former Riders. 

Up until halftime of the last game of both these teams, this was looking like an easy win for the Riders. But our injuries refuse to stop piling up and Ottawa’s offense finally figured out how not to be useless. So very quickly the complexion of Friday’s game has changed. We will soon be struggling to find 45 healthy bodies, let alone ones that display any kind of pro level football talent. 

Offensively we went from starting the week possibly starting every back-up reciever to actually being in pretty good shape and having all the usual starters. only difference will be seamlessly replacing the other Johnson with the third Johnson. Sexton steps in to return. There is justice in this world as Wiebe gets to stay on the roster. Conley gets another start at RB. With all 3 of our of top receivers in place we are in very good shape. It’s a sign of just how awful Ottawa was last season that they have dramatically improved the talent on their D (mostly by poaching Riders) and they are still not very good. They have allowed the most yards. They have the second worst run D. They have allowed the second most points. They have a so-so D-line, a pretty solid set of LBs and a not so great secondary. Their best DB is legitimately Amari Henderosn. You might recall him as the guy they get deemed expendable when Fields showed up (and we all know how much I love Fields). We know Conley has the ability to break big runs so let’s give him a bigger workload in game 2. Also, Ottawa has allowed a league high 10 passes over 30 yards (over 3 per game). Baker and Keesean should be in for big days. I have minimal faith in our defense (even against Maier) so we’ll need 30 points minimum from Harris. 

Defense had better do something this game. This is the worst offense in the CFL. Least points. Least yards. Most giveaways. Somehow the lowest completion percentage despite starting a QB who loves check downs more than Regina drivers love testing the flooded-out Alberts St underpass. Saad out is a definite loss to that DT rotation. But the Riders are tied for most sacks this season and other than Desjarlais Ottawa does not have a great OL so the pressure should still be there. If Jake Maier decides to be the guy we saw in the second half of last game then he has a ton of dangerous weapons at his disposal: Harty, Lewis, Pimpleton, Eberhart. Its sad that I’ve been reduced to being happy to see Lokombo starting at half. That does not mean he’s good, just less awful than Edouard. There is also a chance we see the Maier from the first 2.5 games who was so useless that a one-arm eunuch had a better chance of scoring. To be fair to Dru Brown, if a coach deemed me a shittier QB than Maier I would probably demand out too… though I’d like to think I’d ask to go somewhere better than Winnipeg. All of Maier’s INTs have come on deep balls so we need to take advantage if he tries to show off his arm. What we really need is some god damn tackling! Maier is going to find Harty over the middle we need to be able to bring him down before the 5^th try. 40% of all RedBlack drives are 2 and out. Jake Maier operates seemingly in slow motion. He’s a smart QB but needs time to make a decision. So our goal should be to hurry him. Force him into bad decisions and check downs. 

I unfortunately have to point out that Ottawa scored a return TD last week and we have been giving those up on a weekly basis. 

Ottawa is on a short week having played on Sunday, so even despite traveling we should be better rested. I expect our defense to make Maier look like the second coming of Ricky Ray but I expect us to counter with Harris throwing for 400 and 3 TDs. Our injury situation makes the game much close than it should be, but defense comes up with a rate turnover late in the game and we steal a win with a Hale FG that we all assume might not be good.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Partial Credit

Riders 34 – Argos 40

I will get into a lot more analysis but I can honestly simplify the results of Friday like this… we played a good team, didn’t show up at all in the first quarter, spotted them a 10 point lead and lost by 6. Its really that simple. Can’t beat good teams when only showing up for 3 quarters.  I will say that the Riders win as a team and they lose as a team. Everyone shares the blame on this: offense, defense, special teams and coaches. 

If you ignore the fact that I picked us to win, I pretty much nailed my game preview. Tons of points, tons of passing, Keesean had a big game and Wiebe scored (I’m pretty proud of that prediction). But I realize bragging about my predictions when I got the most important part wrong is like is like bragging about curing cancer when all you did was work on a research trial that did not find said cure. 

Offense continues to put up big points but their undoing was turnovers. Harris forced that endzone throw when it was not there. The other Johnson fumbled putting the final nail in our coffin. Obviously injuries played a factor (more on that later). But it was the turnovers and sleeping through the first quarter than did us in. Even down 2 starters we put up 4 TDs. Conley looked alright. A healthy Baker continues to be a treat to watch. My man Wiebe stepped up. I have been on the Wiebe hype train since training camp. I was dumfounded that he started the year on PR and Friday only further reinforced that. He is clearly a better receiver than Mimbs. I don’t think it will be long before he surpasses Busby. He needs to be on the roster.

I find it odd that my biggest concern coming into the season was the D-line and now they are about the only part of the D I am happy with. Each week they seem to get better and Friday’s 4 sack performance was great. Unfortunately that’s about where the compliments end. You should not lose a game when you offense scores 34 points. Clearly having Milligan would have changed things. Saying Milligan is an upgrade over Edouard is like saying steak is an upgrade over Spam that’s been left in the sun for 3 days. The thing is we expected Edouard to struggle, he’s a only playing HB because there is literally no one else. But what we were not expect is a team that tackles like they are playing flag football. This is super uncharacteristic for a Mace D. When you entire defensive philosophy is bend but don’t break you cannot afford missed tackles. Friday we were handing out missed tackles like samples at Costco. Our best pass defender was a goal post. 

Special teams contributed to the loss by allowing their second TD in as many weeks. Our defense is currently not good enough to have other phases of the game also allowing points.

Coaches contributed to the loss with stupid decisions. Mainly playing Emilus at returner. Mace is a great coach who has earned the benefit of the doubt but with due respect to him even though he defended the decision post game, it was objectively a stupid decision. There are exactly 3 players on offense more important than Emilus (your highest paid and best receiver): Haris, Ferland Hardrick. So literally anyone else would have made more sense. We know Wiebe can do it as we had him do it in preseason. Conley, Hudon, other Johnson, Mimbs, Runge, Fry, nobody… all better options. We lost our best receiver to injury because of a stupid coaching decision. He doesn’t make many but this was certainly one.

We managed to get outplayed by a team whose coach stupidly challenged a 3^rd and inches rather than just going for it only to stupidly kick a FG on 3^rd and inches rather than just going for it. We lost to that. 

My overly negative sentimonies aside its not all doom and gloom. We were close against a very good team and our offense is humming (when it chooses to play) but the streak of losing 2 starters per game is clearly starting to take its toll. Each injury makes it harder for this team to overcome the mistakes it makes. We needed to play error-free ball on Friday and could not. And we will need to continue doing that until our injury list starts shrinking. 

Other random thoughts:

-       Play Daniel Wiebe!! All this guy does is make plays. #FreeWiebe

Riders vs. Argos: “Road” Game

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 3^rd 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.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Slaying the Stamps

Riders 40 – Stampeders 37 (OT)

Saturday was one hell of an emotional ride. It went from we are going to pound them, to we are going to blow this, to maybe we won’t blow this, to we definitely are going to blow this, to a victory that was never in doubt. I could have done without pretty much everything that happened between the halfway point of the second Q and the second OT but the end result was a hard fought road victory and a 2-0 record. For the record in my pre-game write up I did say “I think we can grind out an ugly road win in Alberta.” And “Riders by a Tommy time TD”. 

Had we lost that game, we would have had no one to blame but ourselves. We dominated the first half with the exception of 2 plays. We fumbled on our own 14 yard line and gave up a missed FG return TD to end the half. Take those 2 plays away and we go to the locker-room up 23-0. That should have been an easy win but we decided to make it hard (both on ourselves and my heart). We played a decent 3^rd quarter and then seemed to reward ourselves by taking the 4^th off completely. Fortunately we decided OT was worth showing up for. 

Offense has put up 71 points over 2 games. Most Rider fans can remember times where 71 seemed like a more realistic target for points in an entire season. Harris played another great game. He forced it at times (mostly to the other Johnson for some reason), and overthrew a couple. But other than his customary old man nap in the 4^th you have to be pretty happy with the level he is playing at this season. O-line did very well against a strong Calgary pass rush. Until Ouelette got hurt we had pretty good balance of the run. A healthy Baker remains a dangerous man (he’s on pace for a very realistic 2600 yards this season) and the combination of him, Emilus and Keesean is tough to contain. Mueller and Harris are dialed in on the same page and it leading to great things offensively so far in 2026. 

The fire power our offense displays makes what happened in the 4^th all the more infuriating. We had 4 drives that quarter. In those drives, this high octane offense managed 3 completions, 2 first downs, 18 net yards and 4 punts. One  solitary drive would have sealed that game and we could not manage it. 

Seems counterintuitive to praise the defense when the opponents score 37 but the scoreboard does not do that unit justice. They completely shut down VA and the Stamps in the first half. The only TD’s given up were when Harris coughed the ball up on the doorstep of our own endzone and when our kicker didn’t do his job. Through 3 quarters of play they allowed one FG when given a full field to work with. We got pressure. Linebackers were flying around. They played exceptionally well. Things went down hill in the 4^th but they received zero support from our offense and lost yet another starting HB. They battled their hearts out without our best defensive player. You may look at the stats and lament that we let Mills get over 100 yards rushing but we held him to 30 yards through 3 quarters. He got 62 in the 4^th and 11 more in OT. Much like the offense, D played great in everything but the 4^th quarter. What I find most impressive is that normally Mace’s defense relies on sacks and turnovers. We largely held Calgary’s offense in check without relying on either. Just solid defensive play.

On special teams Letcher is good. Hale is lucky that we like our other American’s on the roster too much to bench them in a favour of a better kicker.

While I do not like all the drama and 4^th quarter disappearing act, what I do like is that this team is built to overcome this. For many years this is the type of game the Riders would have choked away. But under the leadership of Mace and Harris, there is a calm confidence that they can fight through whatever adversity arises. This team believes they can win and won’t just fold when things don’ go their way. They are also blessed with a coach who is not an idiot. Why on earth Dave Dickenson chose to go against the most basic of CFL strategy and take the ball second in OT is beyond me. 

The current pace of sacrificing multiple starters per week to injury list is not going to sustainable for much longer but for now the Riders remain a team that is going to be tough to beat. Starting the year with 2 big division wins is massive. Ugly wins count the same as pretty ones.

Other random thoughts:

-       Sacks may not be there but each week I am more reassured watching our rebuilt D-line. They are consistently getting pressure. Missed tackles have taken a few sacks off the board but then again we have played 2 of the hardest QBs to wrangle to start the season.

-       Love watching Aubrey Miller on special teams.

-       I agree that there was not enough evidence to rule that play in OT a  VA fumble but the only reason that VA was in a throwing motion was that our defenders arm hit his hand in that exact direction.

-       I don’t get how anyone (cough Stamp fans and coaches cough) were mad at that OPI call on Brooks. He literally had our DB in an armbar.

-       Definitely saw the inexperience of Bell in OT. He blew his coverage being too aggressive on trying to make a play. If he can find the righ balance of his natural agressiveness and being smart about when he uses it, he is going to be a solid player.

-       Both BC and Calgary are 0-2 and they play each other next week so one is going to start the season 0-3.    

Riders vs. Stampeders: Clash in Cowtown

Saturday the Riders travel to Calgary looking to remain undefeated and looking to keep the Stamps winless. In 2025 the Riders accomplished pretty much everything… except a victory over the Stampeders. The Stamps will prove a very different kind of challenge, mainly in the fact that unlike BC they aren’t starting to woefully inexperienced corners and anything resembling a receiver is not hurt.

Stamps are a weird team. Coming into 2025 they did not strike anyone as one of the dominant forces. But they should have easily won the west based on how they started… they finished 3^rd.

One thing that is no joke about them is their D-line. In game 1 they only had Hicks, and he was disruptive. They are likely to add in one or both of Hutchinson and Orimolade to that. Suddenly that becomes a problem. They had issues stopping the run against Winnipeg. Their secondary is better than BC. In a year where 400 yard passing games are the norm, they are one of the few to hold a team under that mark. The best way to negate a dominant pass rush is to limit how much you pass. So unlike the air show that was last week, I expect a heavy dose of Ouelette (and probably Hudon as well). That’s where I would attack first. That said, when your receivers include Emilus, Baker and Keesean it’s not like you need to be afraid of passing. Getting the ball out quickly (aka the Harris special) is also an effective way to neutralize a strong D-line. I see lots of runs and short crossers in this. Get the ball out quick and let your playmakers get extra yards. 

Calgary has a great run game in Mills (last year’s leading rusher). But in a league where 400 passing games are the norm, they have failed to even eclipse 300 yards. In fact, VA completed just 63% of his passes and was sacked 4 times (11% of all his drop backs). The book on VA is not a secret. When he’s on he looks like an unbeatable force. When he’s off, it makes people think maybe Chris Jones was right for relegating him behind Brandon Bridge on our depth chart (Jones was of course not right but the point remains). So the key is obviously get VA off his game. We don’t have a one-man game wrecker like Ceresna (who notched 3 of the 4 sacks on VA) so it will take a team effort from the front 4 to make his life miserable. They should get pressure against that Calgary OL. Begelton is still out and it does not look like Barnes is ready yet so Calgary essentially has one good receiver in Philpot. Given that we are replacing our best defender with a rookie HB that’s welcome news for us. Stop the run and get pressure on VA and I don’t like the odds of Tevin Jones shredding us for big yards. Just limit the big plays.  If you force VA to make long drawn out drives, the odds of bad-VA making an appearance go up.

After what seemed like a lifetime of Hus never missing a game or snap we are now on our 2^nd long snapper in as many games. He’s another vet so it should be ok. 

Normally a road game missing 2 defensive starters does not scream “likely win” to me. But Calgary does not have a great passing attack so if we can keep Hicks and Hutchinson from killing Harris on O and limit Mills on D then I think we can grind out an ugly road win in Alberta. Expect a slow start but a strong finish. 

Riders by a Tommy time TD.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Still On Top

Riders 31 – Lions 27

As noted philosopher Ric FLair famously said, to be the man you gotta beat the man. The general consensus coming into this season was that the Grey Cup was BC’s to lose… well Saturday the Riders made a statement that they aren’t ready relinquish the top spot without a fight. 

If you would have told me prior to the game that there would be a scenario where we needed Lokombo to play halfback I would have bet heavily against us. If you had told me that later in that same game a scenario would arise where Lokombo was no longer playing half and I wished he was, I would have openly wept. But Mace has built this team to be gritty and resilient and it took all of that to down a very good BC team. 

This one was all about the offense. Oh man can Trevor Harris dish the ball when he is fully healthy! He was hitting windows that should not have been there. He was finding guys wide open. He also got bailed out a couple times by his receivers, like when he just floated a prayer into triple coverage and Emilus managed to come down with it. Over 400 yards, over 80% completion, 3 TDs, we punted twice. Old man Harris still got game. That drive from our own 2 was a thing of beauty. Last season we had very limited times when Keesean, Emilus and Baker were all healthy. Saturday showed what a problem those 3 can be when they are on the field together. For a while Emilus was on pace for 72 receptions for 72 TDs this season and while he slacked in the second half and let that pace drop to 54 TDs he’s still a force to be reckoned with. O-line held a very strong BC pass rush relatively in check. Marc Mueller called a great game. All around a great offensive performance in a game where we needed to put up points. The offense was actually one of our primary defensive contributors. Turns out even for a guy as talented as Rourke its tough to score when you don’t have the ball. Our offense kept the ball out of his hands. Through the first 17 minutes of the game Rourke was able to get 1 drive consisting of 6 plays… that was it. 

I need to see more of our defense before I can make my mind up about them. They looked okay but certainly not great. Kinda like a 3am booty call… it got the job done but probably not something you are bragging about. But I am also mindful that they faced one of the best offenses in the CFL, without their best defender for a large portion of the game. Pass rush was not super disruptive. The ends kept contain pretty good and did get some pressure. But again is that a mediocre D line or is that a product of facing the O-line that gave up the least sack last season? I need to see more before I know for sure. But I give the D full credit they grinded out a win and made plays when it mattered most. I think Evans will be OK at edge. Obviously the sight of Milligan in a sling is not great. Hopefully he’s out too long. I will say this, for all the hype about Nathan Rourke and all the talk about what a great offensive mind Buck Pierce is Exume came into the game at corner in the 4^th and they did not test him at all. Even when Keon Hatcher (a guy who put up 1600 yards last season) was lined up on him. In what world is there a better read than that? 

Alex Hale (aka the CFL’s Rodrigo Blankenship) was mostly OK for a debut. I was perfectly happy through most of the first half when I didn’t know whether or not we dressed a punter because he was not required.

Overall a strong opening game from the defending champs. Very strong on offense. Hard fought effort for a depleted defense. We picked up a very crucial win against a division rival that is likely to be fighting us for top spot in the standings. Great way to start 2026. 

Other random thoughts:

-        I really hope 2026 doesn’t end up like 2008. As the defending champs we started that season 6-0 but it cost us a starting player to injury every week to the point where we were so desperate we had to bring in Michael Boshop. I don’t know what the modern day version of Bishop is but I’d prefer no to find out.

-        It was clear that the concessions could have benefits from a preseason game to work the kinks out. This was an actual conversation I had while attempting to get drinks:

o   Me: I’ll have 2 rye diets

o   Cashier: The pop gun isn’t working, I don’t think I can do diet.

o   M: Ok, how about regular Pepsi?

o   C: (Attempts pop gun) that also appears not to be working?

o   M: what can you put in there?

o   C: Ginger ale

o   M: Perfect, do that

o   C: Turns out ginger ale is also not working.

o   M: Just give me a beer.

-        By all accounts tailgating was a huge success. Look forward to seeing that evolve and grown.

-        In what I can only assume is thanks to my efforts to lobby for the Riders to come up to my section, they came and handed out direct west footballs in my section. I mean the lady came with exactly 3 footballs but a win is a win.

-        I remain appalled at how terrible people are at Price is Right strategy. Fortunately the person won but it was in spite of an awful bet.

-        How badly do you think Dhonte Myers wanted to get in on the aerial assault Harris was launching?

Riders vs. Lions: Raise the Banner

After 3 weeks of forced vacation, the Rider finally get to kick off the 2026 season tonight. We get to celebrate becoming a team that now requires all fingers on one hand to count our championships and begin our pursuit of becoming a team that requires both hands. Before kickoff we will unveil our championship banner. Not an Indy Colts-style participant banner and not a Blue Jays style we got expensive rings to celebrate losing celebration. But after that 2025 is officially done and a new season starts… with a game against the last team to play here at Mosaic. 

Seven months ago Trevor Harris broke the hearts of the BC Lions with a perfectly thrown elbow to Tommy Nield. The Lions are back and looking to avenge that loss. They bring back a very similar roster as the one that was one play away from taking our spot in the Grey Cup last year. The addition of Sankey (replacing Awe) strengthens their defense (and reduces the risk that their MLB hits our QB high and yet again avoids suspension). The loss of Broxton and Eberhardt hurts them a bit offensively but overall they remain they remain the top offense in the CFL as they were last year. 

So what is it going to take to have 2026 start like 2025 ended at Mosaic? 

Offense is going to need to put up points. Last year BC averaged 30 points per game and with a new-look D-line I don’t like our odds in keeping this a low scoring affair. It starts up front. The strength of the BC Defense is the front 4. They led the CFL is sacks last year and added Casey Sayles. O-line will need to keep Harris clean. Sankey will improve the run D for BC but it was not a strength last season. Ouelette has fresh legs and should be ready for a heavy workload. Where I would attack BC is on the corners. With Gary Peters out BC has 2 new CBs playing. We paid Emilus and Keesean big $ this offseason, seems like a great game for them to earn those dollars. 

Defensively its going to be a stiff test for this new-look D. BC had 2 of the top 3 receivers in the CFL last year and unless you are blind and deaf you have probably heard a thing or two about how good their QB is. Hell the CFL is so all in on hyping Rourke that I’m sure they have some brail material out there. For me the obvious starting point for slowing down that high powered BC attack is at tackle. Jarell Broxton was BC’s best lineman last season and now he’s in Winnipeg (as if he were punished for being so good). Kory Woodruff takes over and that’s who we need to test. I have said all along that this season hinges on finding at least one decent D-end. Would love to see Vaughters or Evans step up early. Linebackers remain solid. Secondary are playmakers (and Lokombo). But if we can’t get pressure, especially on Rourke, then it won’t matter what kind of talent we have on the back end. 

Special teams is also likely to factor. BC is fairly solid across the board. On a positive note I can’t wait to see what Lethcer can do and expect at least one big return in this game. On the less positive note neither our kicker nor punter have ever attempted a regular season kick and Nick Wiebe (our top special team tackler) is out. That is unnerving to a level that I can’t even quell with a rye. 

Here’s how I see this game going. Harris is going to carve through BC on the first drive and then the offense will disappear until the 4^th quarter. Defense will struggle early but step up and keep us in it. All leading to a dramatic 4^th quarter that is great for TV ratings and terrible on my cardiovascular health. 

This is a main event showdown between the top 2 teams in the West but I see BC avenging the West Final and getting the win. We are going to have a great season but its gonna start on a sour note. 

31 – 28 Lions

Get loud and prove me wrong.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: A Milestone Set of Predictions

After close to a month of forced exile, the Riders are back to existing in the eyes of the league once again. We have football this week!

Before I get to my official 2026 predictions, I would like to take a minute to acknowledge a milestone. 

Did you know that 2026 marks the 20^th season of the Rider Prophet leading the masses through the darkness? Just prior to the 2007 season a much younger Prophet first donned the robe and took up the staff. Over the ensuing 2 decades you’ve had the pleasure of (or had to endure) my witticism, my analysis, my humour and my prognostications. Together we’ve endured the lows of Michael Bishop, 13^th Man, Durant’s elbow exploding, whatever the hell the first year under Chris Jones was and more. But we’ve also basked in the highs of winning seasons, shenanigans in the stands, mocking Manitobans and most importantly 3 championships. I know correlation is not causation but since I started on the job we have won more championships than the previous 90+ years combined. Just saying. 

I would like to thank my longtime readers (Hi Mom) and anyone who as taken the time to read my sentimonies over the years. Some of you may have liked and agreed with my thoughts, some of you are just wrong (I’m kidding… mostly). But knowing that people care about what you putting out there is pretty special. So thanks for tagging along for me on this ride and being willing to not take things super seriously. To the small minority of you who get super mad at me, if you see a picture of a guy in a fake beard and hand made robe and can’t understand that maybe its for fun… well there is no saving you. Thanks for the past 20… not sure I have 20 more in me but I’ll keep doing this a long as it keeps being fun… or until AI makes us all subservient to computers. 

2026 Predictions

**To the tune of California Love by Tupac…(yes you read that correctly)** 

Rider Nation knows how to party
Rider Nation knows how to party
In the city of Regina 
In the city of the queen
In the city, city that rhymes with fun
We keep it rockin', we keep it rockin'

Now, let me welcome everybody to the Wild, Wild West
The division where in ’25 the Riders were the best

A repeat is what the squad has for a quest

To once again prove we’re better than the rest

We got that old man power with Harris at QB

With Ouelette you’ll never find that backfield empty
And the defense on the prowl where they always been
Lean mean turnover-makin'-machines servin' fiends

We’ll start the season slow and make fans blue

But we’ll be back winning again soon

Come Week 21 we’ll be 2^nd at 10-8
Still beatin’ Bombers on Labour Day feeling great.

It’s all good, we win playoffs round 1

But come the West Final we’re done

Throw me the middle finger if you feel I ain’t right

Prophet got mad flow even though he white

Man vs. Boy vs. Machine

As part of the kick-off to the season I’m doing some predictions with a twist. Below are 20 questions about the upcoming CFL season. I wrote down my answers and then asked my son for his predictions. Then I asked AI. At the end of the season, we will see who has superior predicting skills and see how close I am to being replaced by either a new generation or a computer. 

In full disclosure my boy let it be known he should be the “man” in this scenario. I asked what hat would make me, he said ancient. As a result, the title was briefly changed to Man vs. Disrespectful Degenerate vs. Machine. Soprts can truly bring a family together. 

1.    Who will lead the Riders in receiving?

Prophet – Sam Emilus

Prophet Jr.  – Keesean Johnson

AI – Sam Emilus 

2.    What Rider will have the most interceptions?

Prophet – Lokombo… just kidding, Milligan

Prophet Jr.  – Tevaughn Campbell

AI – Rolan Milligan 

3.    What Rider will have the most sacks?

Prophet – Desmond Evans

Prophet Jr.  – Mike Rose

AI – James Vaughters

 

4.    What Rider will have the most TDs?

Prophet – Tommy Stevens

Prophet Jr.  – Kian Schaefer-Baker

AI – AJ Ouelette

 

5.    How many games will Trevor Harris play?

Prophet – 16

Prophet Jr.  16

AI – The most realistic expectation is that Trevor Harris starts between 12 and 16 games in 2026, with the most likely number being a full 18‑game season

 

6.    What place will the Riders finish in?

Prophet – 2^nd

Prophet Jr.  – 2^nd

AI – 1st  

 

7.    What % will Alex Hale kick?

Prophet – 82%

Prophet Jr.  – 74%

AI – Around 80-85%

 

8.    Who will be the Riders’ Rookie of the Year?

Prophet – Desmond Evans

Prophet Jr.  – Justin Weaver

AI – Peny Boone

**Swing a miss super computer**

  

9.    How many games will the Rider win?

Prophet – 11

Prophet Jr.  – 13

AI – 12 to 14 wins — with 13 wins as the strongest single-number projection

 

10.  Who wins the East?

Prophet – Hamilton

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa

AI – Montreal

 

11.  Who finishes last?

Prophet – Toronto

Prophet Jr.  – Toronto

AI – Edmonton

 

12.  Who plays more games Harris, VA, Collaros or Alexander?

Prophet – Alexander

Prophet Jr.  – Harris

AI – Trevor Harris

**Really hope the other 2 are right here**

 

13.  Which current back-up will start a game first?

Prophet – Dustin Crum

Prophet Jr.  – Dru Brown

AI – Dru Brown

 

14.  Who leads the CFL in Rushing?

Prophet – Justin Rankin

Prophet Jr.  – Brady Olivera

AI – Dedrick Mills

 

15.  Who is the Top Canadian not named Rourke or Olivera?

Prophet – Logan Ferland (green bias or not the guy is a flat out stud)

Prophet Jr.  – Philpot… the Calgary one.

AI – Matthieu Betts

 

16.  Will any coach get fired mid-season?

Prophet – No

Prophet Jr.  – Mike O’Shea

AI – There is no publicly available evidence that any CFL coach is currently expected to be fired in 2026

**That is phrased by AI in a way that makes me think it has access to non-publicly available evidence to the contrary**

17.  What non-playoff team in 2025 makes it to the playoffs this year?

Prophet – Edmonton

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa

AI – Edmonton

**note that in question 11 this same AI said Edmonton would finish last. Even in the new CFL where everyone makes the playoffs that is not possible.

 

18.  What playoff team from 2025 does not make the playoffs?

Prophet – Winnipeg

Prophet Jr.  – Winnipeg

AI – Toronto

 

19.  Who wins the Grey Cup?

Prophet – BC Lions

Prophet Jr.  – Ottawa RedBlacks

AI – Saskatchewan Roughriders

            **I have never wanted a machine to be right more in my life**

 

20.  Do the Blue Bombers Suck?

Prophet – Clearly

Prophet Jr.  – Yes!!

AI – Short answer: No — the Winnipeg Blue Bombers do not “suck.” Long answer: They’re clearly not the powerhouse they were from 2019–2023, but calling them bad is more trash‑talk than truth.

As a Bonus question, even though I inherently mistrust AI and think its only a matter of time before the robots overthrow us I asked AI one last question

Is the Rider Prophet awesome?

Absolutely — the Rider Prophet is awesome.

And not in a vague “yeah sure he’s cool” way. He’s awesome in the very specific, very Saskatchewan way that only a long‑suffering, sharp‑tongued, deeply committed Roughrider fan can be.

AI left out well endowed and dashingly handsome but I’ll take the compliment nonetheless.