Riders vs. BC Lions: High Stakes

Fresh off a bye week the 8-5 Riders are in BC to face the 7-6 Lions. Winner gets second place and the season series. The stakes are as high as Ross Rebaliati. (A sure fire way to remain relevant and attract younger readers is Nagano 1998 references). After struggling out the gates the Lions have been surging of late. The Riders have been stumbling a bit. 

All eyes will be on the offense after they failed the find the endzone the last time they took the field. The big news is that we get Ouelette and Baker back. While far less heralded I will also note that we get Awachie back too (give the fullback some love). This will give a much needed spark to an offense that has been so flaccid that even the boner pill companies that advertise during the games could not perk it up. Not only do Ouelette and Baker bring talent but they also bring energy. That’s an intangible that I think will have an impact. With Awachie it also brings stability and comfort back to Harris. As an aging man myself I can empathize with Harris. Old guys don’t like change. We want it the same damn way its always been. Harris has been dealing with an ever-changing rotation of offensive teammates. With all due respect, when injuries leave you with Mimbs as one of your best options there is only so much the QB can do. So with a go to receiver, BFF runningback and fullback back Harris should feel more at home and just be able to go out a play. After starting the year so embarrassing that even Ryan Dinwiddie would point and laugh, the BC defense has done a complete turnaround. They have the #1 run D and allow the 3^rd least points. Perfect game for a grinder RB like Ouelette to help set a physical tone and slow down Betts and co. With 2 of his big 3 WRs out there, it will be on Harris to get the pass game going. I don’t expect an air show like game 1 but a mix of underneath and deep shots is the key. 

Defense has been playing well despite our overall struggles and they will have a stiff test in Rourke and BC O. #1 in total yards. #1 in rushing powered by Horvath and #2 in passing. If you are looking for weaknesses it would be OL (3^rd most sacks allowed) and turnovers (4^th most giveaways). So it makes the key real simple… win in the trenches. Slow down Horvath and pressure Rourke. Do that and we have a chance. Fail and it could be a long night. We are #2 against the run and #2 in sacks so I have faith in the front seven here. I am very interested by our move to relegate Edouard to back-up duty, move Sayles to HB and start Bell. Going to assume Mace knows what he is doing here. I don’t like losing Oladipo and being forced to reinsert Brooks. Maybe he was actually hurt, maybe some time on the sidelines will give him the kick in the ass he needs. Either way Brooks needs to play better than he has been or he could quickly be back to making 9 tackles a game because the QB is targeting him. 

I think special teams could play a factor. Sean Whyte has been kicking an impressive 91% but he is not Dawson Hodge who has not missed (I know instantly as I type this that I have cursed Hodge but I stand by my biased presentation of the stats and maintain that Hodge is 9% better than Whyte). On a more serious note, BC is among the worst in the league when it comes to kick return yards allowed. If Letcher could make it through a game without getting hurt this would be a hell of an opportunity to make his first big impact play as a Rider. The term protect the ball must also be taken literally when playing BC because they lead the league in nut shots administered. 

At this point its up in the air whether Montreal or Edmonton will care when we play them next, so of our remining 5 games this could very well be the toughest one of them all. Late games in BC are tough and BC is a good team. Win and we go 2 games up on BC with 4 remaining in the driver’s seat for a home playoff game. Lose and we drop to 3^rd without the season series, playing chase and fighting with the Bombers for scraps in the West. Implications are massive. If we did not get Baker and Ouelette back I would have very little faith. But people are quick to forget how potent this offense can be when it has all its weapons. 

I expect D to start strong and O to struggle early (shocking I know). While it won’t be pretty O should be able to scratch and claw their way to a very close back and forth game. Bettor in my says put your money on the home team. But I think the healthy reinforcements will give us a boost both on the field and emotionally. 

Riders by a Tommy time TD (he gets 2 to move into a tie with Horvath for the league lead)

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Home Stretch Sentimonies

The Riders are coming off a bye week and knock on wood will emerge from this one in better shape than the last one. With 5 games to go we enter the most crucial part of our schedule. Legitimately depending on how the next month plays out we could technically finish anywhere where 1^st to 5^th. I think 2^nd/3^rd is most realistic but any outcome is in play. 

If you had handed us a spoiler list of injuries we’d deal with at the start of the year but said we’d still be in second place at this point, I think we would all have been pretty happy. Things could certainly be better (we squandered some winnable games) but also they could be worse. 

You have to be pretty happy with the defense. Despite getting essentially 3 drives out of our best defensive player we remain one of the league’s top unit. Among the league leaders in points allowed, run stopping and sacks. The fact that we have so few turnovers actually make things more impressive. We are just generally solid, not reliant on game changing plays (though a few more of those would be nice). D-line get more impactful each week. Roberson has been a huge addition off the edge. I thought Vaughters would be a solid rotation guy but he’s actually been a legit impact starter. Woods and Thurman have been solid (as has Miller). Swapping Oladipo for Brooks has given us a huge boost. In the secondary Edouard has been playing great given when we signed him. Sayles is solid has ever. I find myself cursing Fields less. I was vocal about Campbell’s mediocrity before his injury so I am happy with Burgess. Somehow this season has reduced me to being a reluctant pro-Lokombo guy. He is the least crappy safety we have. 

Much like the daylight hours, the offense was great in the summer and has slowly disappeared with each passing week. Our offense is directly tied to how many of the Big 3 (Emlius, KeeSean, Baker) play. All 3 – we are deadly. 2 of 3 – we are solid. 1 of 3 – we might not find the endzone if you set us up on the 1 yard line and pushed us in the right direction. We just need bodies. Anything resembling a WR has been hurt. Harris thrives on rhythm and anticipation. You can tell when new guys are in he slows down, thinking about his throws rather than just reacting. I have been very happy with Conley (and honestly think he adds more explosiveness to the O than AJ) but I think just the emotional boost Ouelette will bring and the peace of mind it will bring Harris is an intangible that Conley just can bring. The O-line has been rock solid. 

Special teams remains like hitting random on a child’s spotify… not sure what I’m going to get but pretty sure I won’t like it. Chapman has been a decent enough punter. Cover teams are solid as always. If we could keep a god-damn returner healthy I think our return game could thrive. After 2 straight years of talking about kicking, I think we could all use some boringness. Hale can’t make a kick in his home stadium. The best thing I can say about Hodges is that he has not screwed up yet. 

The next few games are going to be a big test. I think that if we can add back some bodies (Baker, Ouelette, Wiebe) I do believe offense will pick back up. But if the offense still stagnates this could be a long loooonnnnggg month. We have a winning record in the division. We have 3 big western opponents in our final 5… plus a back to back with Montreal. Short of Montreal shutting it down early because they have clinched everything there are no gimmes on the schedule.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Coming Up Empty

Riders 6 – Bombers 19

Truth be told I have never attended a Banjo Bowl in person. I would like to at some point. But Saturday’s result only helps reinforce my procrastination. I have travelled to see the Riders lose and that is bad enough. But to watch the Riders lose AND be stuck in Winnipeg of all places… well that just sounds awful. 

For the 6^th time in the last 7 and 9^th in the last 11 Banjo Bowls, the Riders lost. The analysis in this one is pretty simple: the defense came to play, the offense evidently thought the bye week arrived a week early. We scored more points while literally crapping our pants in the infamous stomach flu game of 2022 than we did on Saturday.  The Riders looked like they were told that the endzones were infected with Manitoba gonorrhea and couldn’t risk going within 20 yards of it. 

Defense tried their damnedest. 5 sacks, 2 tackles for a loss, 2 interceptions and help them under 20 points. That should be more than enough to win. Front 7 was all over Collaros. Truthfully, the way Collaros was squinting after each sack I was pretty sure he was concussed long before his night ended when he lightly fell down chasing down his second INT. I really like Oladipo and have noticed a big improvement in the overall D play since we swapped him for Brooks. While Brooks piled up a ton of tackles because he was being picked on, you rarely here Oladipo’s name and when you do he is making a big play. Also continue to see Roberson make an impact. It’s really a shame that a defensive effort that good was wasted because the other half of the team was useless. 

The offense would have been better off to just not show up and take an extra week off. There was too many things going wrong for them to overcome. First and foremost they were terrible. Just could not get anything going. Harris couldn’t get it figured out. We were out-schemed. By the second half we were literally reduced to just running the exact same 10 yard out to the right over and over. Second, the few times we got something brewing offensively someone would fumble. I am not really a Mimbs fan but the more I watch him, the more I see that he does a lot of things well. Unfortunately maintaining possession of the ball is not one of them, and that’s kind a big deal. Third we ran out of bodies. We came into this one already down Baker, Emilus and Wiebe. We lost Bridges early. I don’t really know when it happened but Letcher got hurt at some point. There was literally a point where Johnson III limped to the sideline only to immediately return… I assume after the coaches told him that as our last remaining receiver unless he is dead, he’s healthy enough to stay on the field. It limits your playbook and it limits your good receiving options. Outside of Keesean and Busby you can tell Harris does not really trust anyone. Lastly we were fighting the refs. I will say clearly that reffing is not the reason we lost. But they missed a blatant facemask (apparently the booth can call in minor offsides but not major penalties), Harris getting belly flopped on, and PI at least a couple time. To win in the Banjo Bowl you need to play mistake free ball. We were not playing good enough to overcome one obstacle, let alone multiple. 

This was a big opportunity missed especially since BC and Winnipeg gained ground on us and Edmonton further separated. We desperately need this bye week. Defense is doing OK but offense is clearly stretching our depth far too thin. If we can get Baker and Wiebe back after the bye I think they get back on track. But if the injury trend does not start reversing then points may be harder to come by than Winnipeg cheerleader with a full set of teeth. 

Other random thoughts:

-        I think Djete could be a very solid receiver. If he is like many Canadian WRs and takes a step forward in year 2 he could be very solid.

-        We did not test him all that much but Hodge did his job.

Riders vs. Bombers: Banjo Bowl 2026

Saturday the Riders are in the crime capital of Canada. Or would you prefer the inbreeding capital of Canada? Or would you prefer the “education system is so poor they don’t know what a capital is”? Yes, it’s the Banjo Bowl. I still find the Riders’ refusal to call it that and insistence on “Labour Day rematch” some Manitoba-level stupidity. Just roll with it, its great marketing. 

The Bombers are 6-6 and desperately trying to avoid dropping into the West basement. The Riders are 8-4 and looking to keep pace with Edmonton at the top end of the standings. A win for the Riders would be massive as it would put them 3 games up on Winnipeg with the tiebreaker and just 5 games to go. We have a chance to bury them, it would sure be nice to take it.  

The problem is that as much as Labour Day has become guaranteed win night for the Riders, the Banjo Bowl is guaranteed win night for the Bombers. We are 1-5 in the last 6 Banjo Bowls and never scored more than 21 points… even in the win. It’s been as hard to find a win in Winnipeg as it is to find a full set of teeth there. But last year proved it can be done. 

Expect the Bombers to try and counter by leaning on Olivera. I mean, they should do that all the time but Tommy Condell seems to care not for RBs even if they are his best player. Last Banjo Bowl Olivera got 20 carries. I expect a similar workload. It will once again be on the D-line to stop the run and generate pressure on Collaros. Bombers also get Demski back, who is a noted Rider killer. Our defense did well last week and I expect that to continue. It will be a matter of whether the Offense can provide them enough support that they don’t run out of gas late in the game. 

Offense worries me. Last year was the best we played in a Banjo Bowl in years and it was still god awful. We needed 5 FGs last year to win… tell me how confident you feel in that happening this year? Though oddly enough Hale is a really good road kicker. Just apparently cannot manage to adjust his tint to the Mosaic colours. The re-addition of Baldonado makes us all hope that this is the last game we have to withstand Hale (we can always hope right?). Wiebe is out so Bridges checks back-in. I think as he gets more time with the offense Bridges can be a very solid contributor. Still need to stay committed to running the ball. And we can’t afford turnovers (looking at you Mimbs)… though I fully expect at least 1 INT from Harris. I doubt Winnipeg lets Busby get another 150 yard game… though if I’m them I stay keyed on KeeSean and take your chances with another Busby career game. Maybe it’s a Joey JoJo game. 

My normal default position for a Banjo Bowl is that we will lose. History supports my bias. That said if you want some stats that can sway you towards optimism, the Bombers have a losing record at home and are 1-5 vs West division opponents.  

I think we can win and we will make it close. But a road banjo bowl with a bye week looming just screams dud performance to me. I expect a game as ugly and low scoring as last year. I expect it to come down to the wire again. Hell I’ll even go as far as to say OT two weeks in a row. But I see the Bombers edging us by a FG. Either one they make or one we miss.

Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: Labour Day Magic

Riders 32 – Bombers 26 (OT)

We just win a Labour Day and I’m glad this team is back to remembering that. In my time watching football I have come to expect the Riders to win on Labour Day. Doesn’t matter our record, Winnipeg’s record, which QB is playing. We win. I just expect it. But my kids do not share my confidence as their generation has seen us lose 3 of 4 from 2021 to 2024. But we are back baby!  

I could have done without all the late game drama. Call me old fashioned but I could do with a boring win every now and then. But we certainly did not get boring. For then 5th year in a row the game was decided by 6 points or less.  

Credit goes to the defense in this one. They made Olivera a complete non-factor. They had 3 sacks, 4 tackles for a loss, held the Bombers to 16 points through 3 quarters and added 2 points of their own. The front 7 was disruptive. I think its borderline criminal how much Tommy Condell ignores his best offensive weapon but the few times he remembered he existed its not like we allowed Olivera much. Needed to close out better in the fourth but they were not exactly getting much help for a lot of the game from the O or a certain kicker I will be swearing about shortly (#foreshadowing) so I give them a bit of a pass. Thurman and Roberson had big games. Since becoming a starter you sure don’t hear Oladipo’s name much (which tells me he not doing anything to hurt us). He had a great knockdown in the endzone.  

Offensively we were anything but consistent but were able to get majors when we needed it. Harris had an up and down game but he didn’t turn the ball over (only Mimbs managed to do that) and with Winnipeg clearly keying on KeeSean he was able to adjust and find other receivers. His top target was Duncan-Busby who had a massive game. Conley had a solid game and had multiple big plays just getting open as an outlet valve for Harris. Credit needs to go to the O-line. Zero sacks allowed. Ceresna and Jefferson were non-factors for most of the game. Full team effort as you even saw guys like Keesean get big blocks on that one Tommy Time TD. 

I unfortunately now need to swear about the return of Alex Fale. Had he made either of his misses there could have been a far less dramatic finish. For the record on that single he got, I have no clue what Vaval was thinking. He had no reason to touch that ball. I’m sure Winnipeg fans are wondering how different the end of that game could have been had he not stupidly given us that point. But back to our failures. Yes Fale can make kicks, even some long ones. But he simply cannot be trusted to deliver any level of consistency. Do we think we will suddenly improve when the temperature drops come playoff time?  That’s like assuming Winnipeg fans will suddenly overcome generations of inbreeding and poor dental hygiene.

Credit to the crowd. It was loud. An electric atmosphere fitting for the Labour Day Classic. A huge win, against a division rival. Mostly important everyone went home happy… well except  the Bomber fans but at least they could pretend that it was the rain and now their tears than soaked their faces. 

Other random thoughts:

-        Despite my outrage in the moment, upon rewatching (and sobering up) I am less outraged about the horse collar and roughing the passer calls. They were soft (particularly the roughing the passer) but technically correct.

-        There was at least one major offside by Winnipeg that the refs somehow missed.

-        That drop by Wiebe could have been huge. That was an easy TD if he held on. Good on him for making up for it with that long catch and run.

Labour Day Classic 2026

It’s the most anticipated regular season game on the calendar. It’s tradition. It’s iconic. It’s a day where we celebrate labour by not labouring. It’s the Labour Day Classic!!

Regular readers will know that I generally open my Labour Day post with some jokes or smart assed comments about Winnipeg fans. I will go a different direction this year. It seems the new hot trend when you don’t like someone is to arbitrarily rename important geographic locations. With that in mind I would like to make the following announcement:

-       Winnipeg will be henceforth known as Loserpeg (that one’s pretty obvious)

-       Lake Winnipeg will be renamed Lake Poor Dental Hygiene (also fairly obvious)

-       And in recognition of their preferred romantic partners, Manitoba will be renamed Attractive Barnyard Animal-itoba.

Thank you for your cooperation on this.

Onto the game…

Labour Day aside this is a massive game in terms of the standings in the west. One game separates these teams and second place is up for grabs. Add in an electric (and likely intoxicated) sold out crowd and Mosaic will be rocking.

The Bombers for me can be described by a Toby Keith lyric “I ain’t as good as a I once was but I’m as good once as I ever was”. If the comical streak of Grey Cup choke jobs, followed by appearing in the crossover last year were not sign enough, watching the Bombers this year has made it painfully obvious that they are a team on the decline. But, like last week’s game against Montreal showed, they still have the talent to play at a high level in small doses, so they cannot be taken lightly. 

After spending most of the start of the season seemingly not remembering that Brady Olivera is on the roster, the Bombers have finally gone back to feeding him the ball. Low and behold good things happen. I don’t know how you look at that offense and make any other determination than Olivera is your best chance but it would seem Tommy Condell disagrees. In what could be a rain game the #1 key is slowing down Olivera. The Riders have the #2 run D in the CFL so they are certainly up to the challenge. I am very excited to see what Aubrey Miller can do as a starter. He is a demon on teams and that mentality is going to be needed to stop Olivera. Without Olivera Winnipeg is a subpar passing attack, an o-line that gives up a ton of sacks and a QB who amazingly keeps hurting his “neck” when his head is bounced off the turf. I know Demski is a Rider killer and will probably have 2 TDs but if our D-line can disrupt Collaros and get pressure on him good things will happen… for us. 

Offensively I am begging… begging… for 4 quarters of effort. We can’t sleep through the first half or disappear for two quarter to build drama. We need consistent production. Winnipeg is #1 in pass defense but 2^nd worst in run D. Again on a day that might feature rain we need to see a lot of Conley. Jefferson and Ceresna are beasts along that line. Running helps negate their pass rush. When Harris does throw he needs patience and good decisions. Take what they are giving and don’t turn the damn ball over. Passing game will clearly need to run through KeeSean but I see Wiebe playing a big roll underneath. Also, would not shock me to see Mueller try and get Letcher some offense touches to show a new wrinkle. We need to get TDs and not settle for FGs (because we all know O’Shea loves to settle for FGs).

The one thing I can say with a fair degree of certainty is that this game will be close. In the last 4 Labour Day Classics the largest margin of victory was 4 points. Great for excitement, bad for my heart.

Two things have me believing in a win. 1 – It’s Labour Day. I have seen Brett Smith, Jake Dolgeala, Rocky Butler, Michael Bishop all win on Labour Day and it was not because they were particularly excellent QBs. There is something magical about this game that always favours the Riders. 2 – Winnipeg is 5-1 vs. the East but 1-4 vs. the West. Despite what the Manitoba education system might teach you, Saskatchewan is in the West.

So rest up your livers, vocal chords and hearts and get ready to let loose on Sunday.

Riders by a Tommy Time TD (who else?)

Monday Evening Sentimonies: I’m Back

Made it back from the East coast (despite the best efforts of a certain airline to derail my efforts). Trip was wonderful. Yes I kissed a cod. Yes I got drunk on George St. Yes I went to Dildo. So other than use a whale as a surfboard and get a puffin to puff on a cigarette I pretty much hit my checklist. 

I have pretty abbreviated sentimonies today as I only managed to watch most of game on my phone during the reception of a newfie wedding.

-       Our Punter can hit! And apparently do game changing hard counts

-       Must be nice for Hale to not be the worst kicker on the field.

-       Nelson Lokombo made an actual safety play! (probably should have had 2)

-       D-line had a solid game with a lot of pressure.

-       Toronto rushed 4 times in that game. One of those times when for 13 yards. I know we like to talk about the offensive genius of Dinwiddie but his religious opposition to even attempting to run is somewhat baffling.

-       Be nice if Harris could go back o just being good. Not sucking so long he needs to set up a dramatic comeback.

-       Wiebe is a first down machine

-       That was gritty, ugly win that we desperately needed.

Bring on Labour Day!