tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24578623637821718992024-03-18T06:30:31.893-06:00Rider ProphetPredictions, poems and politically incorrect humour since dickety '07.Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.comBlogger1749125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-66120851549753222542024-03-18T06:30:00.001-06:002024-03-18T06:30:00.145-06:00 Monday Morning Sentimonies: Make It Canadian<p><u><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Note:</span></u><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I will warn you in advance that today’s
post is very light on actual news and serious analysis and very heavy on the ridiculous
and whimsical. Obviously if you are a regular reader here you are used to a
fairly regular dose of the ridiculous but if that ain’t what you are after this morning then
try again next week.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I,
like many of you, fell in love with the Canadian football game. The unique
rules set it apart from its American counterpart in so many good ways and it is
steeped in tradition and heritage. But today I ask, is the game Canadian
enough?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Sure
we have bigger fields, unlimited motion, less downs and the beloved rouge (the
rouge is wonderful and I will not her arguments to the contrary) but there are
so many more ways the game could be made even <i>more </i>Canadian.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Metric system –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> the most obvious place to start is by
fully implementing the metric system. Yards should be replaced with meters. First
and 9.144 will be the new standard starting point. Players will strive for a
914 metre season instead of 1000 yards. And we will ooh and aah as Bret Lauther
bombs kicks from 46 metres out and further. All player heights and weights would
also need to be converted to metres and kilograms. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Aboot -</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> next we clearly need to fully incorporate
Oot in the lingo. Failing to get a first down is a two and oot. GMs will send their
scoots to go recruit new players. Receivers will run roots. And Sports Centre
may report on the ootcome of a blowoot or even a shutoot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Apologies –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> Anytime a player is penalized the
amount of the penalty should double if they don’t immediately apologize. If the opposing
team does not reciprocate the apology the penalty should be negated.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Tims –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> All Gatorade container will be replaced with Tim Horton’s
coffee. The post game Gatorade shower will become quite dangerous and hydration
levels will plummet but dammit if we won’t representing the awful coffee that
our nation seems to adore. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Royal Assent</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> – In keeping with the rules of our constitutional
democracy, all player transactions should be subject to approval by the
King/Queen via the Governor General or Lieutenant Governors.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">6.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Public Health Care –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> The team’s individual injured reserves
should be replaced with one central injured reserve that is funded by the league
through public taxation. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">7.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Bilingual –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> All PA announcements and referee calls must
be in both official languages. Trash talk between the players will only be
allowed if it is also in both official languages. Coaches are also encouraged to
have their play calls in both official languages. Watch for L’option de courrir
passer avec un déroulé de quarterback.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Do
have any suggestions for how to further improve the Canadiana of the CFL?<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-85591783043279957132024-03-11T06:30:00.001-06:002024-03-11T06:30:00.124-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Delayed Random Quasi Coherent Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Apologies
for not writing a post last week. Rest assured the person responsible has been
admonished and given a fine equal to 50% of their salary. When this blog cannot
even live up to the extremely low standards it holds itself to, we take that
very seriously.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While
much of this is dated, let’s get caught up on what’s been going on in Riderville…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
Riders’ marketing team got themselves in some hot water over a “Girl Math”
promotion they sent out. This was clearly a case of trying to be trendy and
just missing the mark. I think they honestly would have been fine with the “Girl
Math” headline but each successive line just get worse and worse. The Riders
have apologized and I say good enough and move on. They tried to be creative it
flopped, they apologized, case closed. No need for a further witch hunt. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">It
does make me wonder who the hell reviews and approves their material though. I
(an aging white male, with no marketing experience) could clearly tell that was
not in good taste. Somehow a team of marketing professionals who are presumably
younger and more female than me, did not see the issue. That is like the
equivalent of your finance team producing a financial statement where all the numbers
are replaced with 58008 and not thinking it will be a problem. If you don’t immediately
get that reference then a) you are clearly much younger than me and b) should
go ask you parents for a calculator (maybe first ask them what a calculator is),
type in that number and turn the calculator up side down. (This is what we used
to do for entertainment).<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
Riders signed a new LB by the name of Diego Fagot. Now a younger and even less
mature Prophet would have had a hay day with this back in the day. All I will
say now is that it’s definitely not pronounced like you think but I hope he makes
the team purely to make the play by play guys sweat bullets. One Freudian slip
and there’s trouble.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Good
on the Riders for honoring former president Jim Hopson by naming the Jim Hopson
Auditorium at Mosaic Stadium. And given his health, good on them for doing the
honour while he was still able to receive the honour in person. We may bemoan
the current state of our Riders but look back in history at what the team was
before Hopson. There were years where they would have killed for down years like
ones we bemoan now. Hopson was key part of raising expectations. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Speaking
of a key part of raising expectations, it remains criminal that Roy Shivers has
not been honoured in a similar way by the team. No plaza induction, no in-stadium
recognition. The freakin’ CFL saw fit to add him to the Canadian Football Hall
of Fame but we have not. Let’s not wait until its too late. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-9567124744948092532024-02-26T06:30:00.009-06:002024-02-26T06:30:00.134-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Football-less Void<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">We
have officially reached the painful final stretch of the offseason. Free agency
is over, the draft is two months away and the NFL is even over so there is no
football whatsoever. If we can just make it through this final stretch then football
will be back and life will be good again.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">God
bless the Argos and Chad Kelly for trying to keep the CFL in the new cycle but
there were likely better ways to go about it. A wrongful termination lawsuit
was filed against them by a female trainer who Kelly allegedly made advances at. Since
the news broke both the Argos and CFL have made themselves quieter than people
who have run out of candy on Halloween and are trying to pretend like they aren’t
home. It’s a media strategy that works about as well as Craig Dickenson’s
coaching tactics in October. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">As
someone whose day job involves human resources, things like this just make me
shake my head. Rather than deal with an issue that was raised, they tried to sweep
it under the carpet. Literally all they had to do was do some kind of internal discipline
to Kelly for his alleged inappropriate behaviour and this probably never gets spoken
of outside of Argo facilities. Instead they opted to make things much worse and
turn it into a public story. The court of public opinion is always much harsher
than actual court… and in the world of human resources both should be avoided. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
am willing to bet that since the Argos have no interest in losing Kelly’s
services they will find a fall guy in management (John Murphy has previous
experience getting turfed for doing dumb things) and give Kelly a slap on the
wrist and have him do a super fake apology (that I can tell you right now will
include “that’s not who I am”, “I found the lord through this” and maybe even “I
have many friends who are women”). I will add a bonus prediction that given some
people’s addiction to finding a way to tie the Riders to bad new stories, the
headlines will read “Former Rider Assistant GM forced to resign in disgrace from current
CFL team”.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
more positive CFL news, Vernon Adams signed a long-term extension in BC. Good for
him. I am actually glad to see him have success. Remember that his CFL career
started with more trades (BC->Montreal->Sask->Hamilton) than starts. Also
remember that for a period in 2017 the Riders had him 3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> on the QB
depth chart behind Kevin Glenn and Brandon Bridge. Excuse me while I go
silently weep for a few seconds.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-7100525236685809812024-02-19T06:30:00.001-06:002024-02-19T06:30:00.143-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Big Additions<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
the most part the official opening of free agency was about as exciting as most
all-star games. Not a lot of real excitement and a whole lot of going through
the motions. We made official all the deals we were expecting which was great, just not particularly exciting. I
honestly thought that we were mostly done. But O’Day had other plans.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">He
made 2 more big (both literally and figuratively) signings. The first was bringing
back Micah Johnson. Now I’ll be the first to admit that having Micah play for
us in an even numbered year will be weird. He played for us in 2019, left for BC
in 2020 when the season ended up being cancelled, returned for 2021, left for Hamilton
in 2022 and returned in 2023. He was not due back in these parts until his 4th stint came around in 2025. But dammit am I happy he’s staying! I have been campaigning
for this all offseason (you’re welcome). In a crap season, Micah was one of the
few guys who gave it his all the whole year. Not only was he a strong veteran
leader who demonstrated the heart you want to see from your key guys, he was pretty
damn good still. At 35, he played a full 18 game season, notched his most sacks
as a Rider and I contend, was our best defender (I get that the bar was pretty
low but still, point remains, he was good). I think he is exactly the veteran leader we need to head up
this revamped D-line under Coach Mace.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
second addition caught me completely by surprise. With Ferland and Blake back
and young guys like Bandy, Fry and now Zerr, I assumed O’Day would be content
at Canadian OL. In what might be the first time the term “pleasant surprise”
has been used in conjunction with anything O’Day has done with Canadian OL in
the past 3 years, he went out and landed Ryan Sceviour (I assume Mueller and
Mace’s Calgary connections had some play in there as well). An 8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
overall pick in the 2018 Draft who has locking down the RG position on the
Stamps OL for a few years now, and was named a West Division all-star in 2022. This
was a massive addition to our OL. The only downside here is that this makes me pretty confident that O'Day will now continue his streak of completely ignoring OL in the draft... but I guess that's a future us problem. For now let's focus on the good. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Honestly,
other than American receiver (which we can address through recruiting), I feel
like O’Day has checked all the boxes in terms of our major needs. The cynic in
me fears becoming hopeful because decades have history have shown that hope
almost always precedes that hope being violently bashed to pieces. But like
Michael Scott I am ready to get hurt again.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
don’t expect there is much more coming our way in free agency but there are a
few names still out there that I would certainly at least be looking into to
see if you can get some late value. Some names include receivers like Cam
Phillips, Rasheed Bailey or Lucky Whitehead. Even a Canadian WR like Nate Behar
or Tevaun Smith (we will need depth if we look at starting 3 Cdn WR). DBs like
Roberson Daniel, Winston Rose, Alden Darby or Jeremy Clark. Or DL such Woody Barron
or AC Leonard. For the right price there could be some good value here.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-27497980344021562452024-02-12T06:30:00.005-06:002024-02-12T06:30:00.135-06:00Monday Morning Sentimoines: Successful Tampering<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I
hate the term “won free agency”. Teams that “win” free agency generally are
terrible (good teams don’t need to sign a bunch of FAs because they already
have a talented roster) and tend to not win the actual season.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif">That said I do think the Riders had a very successful
tampering period. I had listed 5 primary needs and we managed to address 4 of those
is a big way. I don’t think that suddenly makes us Cup contenders. I do feel
better about our roster than I did a week ago.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I
said needed LBs. We went out and got the best LB available in Jameer Thurman.
Dude is a flat out stud and will definitely be a strong anchor for our D. We
also got Adam Auclair. Basically he is a younger Teitz. Between Thurman, Auclair
and Reavis we dropped the average age of LBs significantly.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I
said we needed OT help. We went out and got the best one available in Jemarcus
Hardrick. In the process we righted a historical wrong. Hardick was a Rider in
2015 and not deemed worth keeping in the new Chris Jones regime. To use a Jones
term, he has been “moderately successful" since. Did we overpay? Probably, but
when your option is spend a lot or suffer another season trying to fix out OT
issue in-house, I say its money we needed to spend.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I
said we needed a CB. We went out and got Jalon Edwards-Cooper. He kinda got overshadowed
a bit in BC playing alongside some bigger names guy. I think he can be an
impact player. The stat is that he did not give up a TD in 2023. That's good right?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I
said we needed DL help. We went out and got Malik Carney. I’m still not exactly
sure why we seem to be moving on from Robertson but Carney has 12 sacks over
the past 2 seasons and I think instantly adds a proven pass rusher to our
rotation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">RB
wasn’t a priority but we went out and got Ouelette. He’s the second best RB in
the CFL and will bring a hard nosed bruising style to our run game that we haven’t
had in a while. I was always a big Morrow fan but I do think Ouelette is objectively
a bit better.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">This
haul has Rider fans more excited for the season than soccer moms were to see
Usher perform at half time. We still have some holes to fill but O’Day and Mace
definitely did good job of aggressively going out and addressing our biggest
needs.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Long
road still ahead of us but good first step.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-83919186789479929672024-02-05T06:30:00.001-06:002024-02-05T06:30:00.137-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: The Waiting Game<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">In
the week leading up to the negotiation window, the Riders had a huge week in
terms of re-signing their own guys. We extended Milligan for an extra year (by
far our best DB). We retained Lanier and Bane (arguably our top pending free
agents on either side of the ball). We also extended Nelson Lokombo (not nearly
as notable as their other 3 but Canadian depth is crucial and for an organization
that has struggled to retain and develop draft picks at times Lokombo makes it 7
of our last 9 1</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">st</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">/2</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">/3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> round picks still
with the team).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">When
healthy and not stupidly being played out of position at D-end, Lanier is among
the most disruptive DTs in the league. I think Mace is a coach who can get
Lanier to that next level of excellence. Bane is simply a massive piece to
keep. Look at what he did last season and factor in the carousel of back-up QBs
and underqualified OC he had to deal with. I don’t think we have seen his ceiling
yet. Farhan Lalji reports his deal is around $175,000. That is really good
value when you consider some other WR salary (i.e. Eugene Lewis $300k+, Rhyme
$240K).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">As
of right now, O’Day is busy legally tampering. We may yet see some of our guys
re-sign after seeing the open market isn’t as lucrative as they hoped but for
the most part this is the time to attract new guys to the team.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Here’s
what I see as our top area of needs.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Linebackers<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">You
can debate the quality, but at pretty much every position the Riders could
field a team today if they needed to. The glaring exception is LB. We got
nobody other than Reavis. If you trust your scouting you could maybe fill one
spot with a new player but not 2. Obviously the top target should be Jameer
Thurman. I expect us also to kick the tires on Adarius Pickett, Ben Hladik and
Adam Auclair (drafting his brother didn’t pan out, maybe we can get some games out
of an Auclair after all). I honestly would not rule out a Larry Dean return if
we miss out on some of the top end targets but that is definitely not the preferred
route.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Offensive
Tackle<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">As
of today the starters would be Hawkins and Council (maybe old man Blake). So unless we get some upgrades
here they might as well just pre-reserve a hospital bed for Trevor Harris.
Biggest name on the market is Hardrick but he’s the only legit starter hitting
the market so he will be fielding multiple calls. Trevon Tate and Tyrone Riley would
be your other options. I am still holding out hope that Colin Kelly returns
once he is healthy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">3.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Cornerback<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We
have Milligan, Henderson, Williams and Dalke. I expect Williams to take a step forward
in year 2 but Henderson has always been inconsistent and even with him penciled
in as a starter you need one more guy. Best case scenario is convincing Jamal
Peters to follow Mace here. Or if you wanted to spend a bit less Robertson Daniel.
Other names I’d be calling include Demario Houston, Ciante Williams and Damon
Webb (I always felt we gave up on him too early).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">4.<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span></b><!--[endif]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Interior
OL Depth<o:p></o:p></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Godber,
Ferland and Blake (Assuming we aren’t forced to bump him out to tackle) should be
solid on the inside but when (not if) we need someone else to fill in for a
short or long term absence it gets scary again. The organization seems to love
Logan Bandy, though I’m not seeing in him what they are yet. We are waiting for
Fry to finally take the next step. And maybe Zerr gets his career on track (being
dumped by 2 teams in 2 seasons is not a great omen for a high draft pick OL).
Bottom line we need reinforcements and while logic would dictate we get some of
that through the draft, O’Day has been about has willing to draft OL early as I
am forgo my morning coffee. Geoff Gray, Sean Jamieson and Phillip Norman are
options.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">5.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>D-line</b><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">My
sense is that the team is banking on some combination of Albright and Cox to be
able to lock down one DE spot. We have Lanier and Brown inside. With
Korte-Moore and Dabire to rotate. At a minimum we need another DE to replace Robertson
and likely more depth at DT with both Christmas and Micah not yet re-signed. I
don’t see us paying for Betts (with other more pressing needs) so guys like
Dewayne Hendrix, Sean Oakman, Ricky Walker, Dylan Wynn, Brandon Barlow and
Malik Carney become the target list. Whoever we add I just hope it turns out better than last year’s
D-line splash… Stefen Banks.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
know I left RB off the list. We will likely add one but its not really a
pressing need and with so many hitting the market all at once, there will be a
decent one available regardless of how long we wait.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-62030863281062397672024-01-29T06:30:00.001-06:002024-01-29T06:30:00.135-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Start Your Tampering<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">February 4</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
will mark the opening of the negotiation window. Put another way, it will mark the
end of illegal tampering and the start of league sanctioned tampering. This all
leads up to the opening on February 13.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The Riders
stroked some important names of their pending free agent list. They re-signed two
important <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>OL in Ferland and Blake. Ferland
has long been our lone beacon of hope in a sea of terrible O-Linemen. He’s only going
to improve and if you watched him the few times he got called on as an emergency
tackle you saw a versatile and talented OL (who by the way will only turn 27
this season). Blake is over a decade older but is still versatile and talented. He
might only have a year left in him (and maybe its only providing depth) but he’s
a proven leader and we need that to rebuild this group. Lauther also re-signed
which is hardly a shock to anyone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">What likely was
a shock was a 2 year deal for Fine. While I’m sure many would have preferred Dolegala,
here’s what it boiled down to. Dolegala likely will have other people bidding
for his services. Fine probably didn’t. Also, Fine lacks the fanfare of Dolegala
(what with not being a literal giant) but its not like Jake, you know, won a
lot. Here’s some stats:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Yards
per throw: Fine 7.7, Dolegala 7.9<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Completion
%: Fine 69.1%, Dolegala 64.9%<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Wins:
Fine 1, Dolegala 2<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I’m not saying
that Fine is the next superstar but for likely less money, he is of comparable
value as a back-up. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Now let’s take
a look position by position at the Riders’ needs and potential targets.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">QB –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> Doubt we do much here as we already
have Harris, Fine and Pipkin. Market is also pretty thin. It’s either try and
bring back Dolegala or go for Arbuckle. Reality is QB is likely addressed
through recruiting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">RB –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> Over half the league’s RBs are hitting
FA all at once: Olivera, Fletcher, Stanback, Devonte Williams, Ouelette, Carey
and Morrow. I still think we are targeting a big splash like Olivera or Ouelette
but once people blow their money on those 2, there will be some insane value on
the remaining guys, like say bringing back Morrow (who I am fond of) or even
Williams. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">WR –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> We need a #1 WR and its not a great
year to be in the market for that. I am still hoping we are pushing for Bane.
If not him then Schoen is the only other real bona fide #1. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I could see us targeting Coxie. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">OL –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> While there are some good OLs slated to
hit FA (Gagnon, Steward, Ciraco, Sceviour, Knevel, Norman), our issue is that
we need tackles and they are not hitting the market. Only tackle to keep an eye
on is Hardrick. I don’t see us landing him but you never know (recall he had
him way back in the day and let him go). One reunion that could make sense is Bladek.
He would add some nice depth to our interior and a little nastiness. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">LB –</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> I think this is our biggest question
mark heading into the season. We have Reavis at cover LB… and then? No one.
Some cold water was doused on the ridiculous theory that we would just pillage
the Argos when McManis re-signed. There are still some quality names out there
that I would have interest in. One in particular is Jameer Thurman. Stampeder
connection to Mace and a guy you can build a LB core around. Others include:
Avery Williams, Jonathan Jones, Adarius Pickett, Micah Awe (just kidding, screw
that head targeting yet somehow un-suspendable dirty bastard), Titus Wall and
Josh Woods.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">DB –</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Ironically
this is probably the deepest position in free agency but one of our lesser
needs. I would love to find a lockdown corner to replace Marshall. Obviously Jamal
Peters comes to mind. But you could also look at Cariel Brooks, Daniel Roberson,
Demario Houston or Marcus Sayles.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>DL –</b> Next to LB
this is our next biggest need. I still fully expect us to land one of Brandon
Barlow, Shawn Oakman, or Dewayne Hendrix. But I think we need at least 2 DL
signings to feel good about that group. Malik Carney, Dylan Wynn, Jackson Jeffcoat
and Jake Thomas are of interest. I am still tooting the “bring back Micah” horn
and wouldn’t mind seeing Robertson/Lanier back but Lanier is likely gone and Robertson
is a good buddy of his so odds are not great. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-55102547866581726392024-01-22T06:30:00.001-06:002024-01-22T06:30:00.149-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Free Agency Getting Closer<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Free
agency is now a couple weeks away and the Riders continue to whittle down their
list of pending FAs. This past week Frankie Hickson and Charbel Dabire were extended.
I have damn near been a day 1 member of the Dabire fan club. He’s a quality
Canadian that adds to our D-line rotation. He also boasts a 20 yard kick return
to his stat line. Underrated athlete that I’m happy to keep for his 5</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
season since being drafted in the 5</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> round. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hickson is a guy I would like to see more of.
He’s shown flashes but hasn’t earned more playing time. This will be a make or
break season for him. We also released Wieneke which surprised no one. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">So
where does that leave us? Let’s look position by position at what is left for the
Riders to address.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>QB
– </b>We have our starter in Harris and our 3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> down QB in Pipkin. We
need a back-up. I expect we re-sign one of Fine or Dolegala but not both. I still
think there is value in continuing to develop Dolegala. He needs a lot of work
but maybe a competent coaching staff can help with that. I think Fine lacks the
upside potential of Dolegala but also lacks the rollercoaster lows. I think
Fine could mark out a “fine” career a back-up (I’m sorry, its Monday, that the
best I can do).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>RB
–</b> I expect we try and land Olivera or Outlette in free agency. Though if we
miss out or the prices go to high, I could still see Morrow returning as a more
cost effective option. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>WR
– </b>We need a #1 WR. We all hope that is Bane. If its not him then its not like
there is a ton of options in free agency (Schoen if you wanna drop massive $). I
honestly don’t care if Tevin Jones is back. He puts up stats but still strikes
me as a lazy, selfish player. I think we can do better.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>OL
– </b>A lot of concern at this point here. We have a great centre in Godber… and
then? Nothing. Maybe Hawkins comes back healthy and turns out to be awesome.
Maybe Fry finally develops into a rosterable player. But even if both of those
maybes pan out we are still short 2 starters. I would like to see Ferland back.
I would like to see Johnson go be a liability in another town for a while. I
assume Kelly isn’t healthy yet. He was the only good tackle I’ve seen here in 2
years. We need him whenever he is cleared to play. I expect we sign at least
one OL in free agency (though there is not a lot of options) but odds are, the
bulk of the OL solution will need to be built in-house. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>DL
–</b> Korte Moore looks like a baller. Albright showed some flashes. Brown and
Dabire are competent DTs. But this is currently an area of need. Who knows if
Mace wants Lanier or Robertson back. There has been much speculation that a DL
or two will follow Mace from Toronto (at least one of Barlow, Oakman or
Hendrix). I still hope we break the cycle and keep Micah for a second year in a
row. He’s a heart and soul player who showed last season he can still contribute.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>LB
– </b>I would argue that outside of OL, LB is the biggest area of need on this
team. Reavis can man the cover LB spot but then what? We got nothing. As much
as I love Dean, I’m not sure he’s the answer anymore. As the season went on more and
more of his tackles came after yards we gained. Teitz did not return as the
same player as before his injury. Lots of questions here.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><b>DB
– </b>A relative oasis of stability amid a lot of question marks on defense. We
should be solid with Milligan, Williams, Dalke and Henderson. I could see us
not doing a ton here and relying on drafting and scouting. O’Day has been able
to find us one quality DB per season.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>K
– </b>We need one. I think we all assume it will be Lauther and all that is delaying
it is Lauther figuring out his true value come the negotiation window to ensure
he doesn’t take a hometown discount. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Canadian
Depth – Guys like Lokombo, Okeyka, Awachie, Brescacin and Herdman remain unsigned.
I expect one or two to be retained but change will be coming there. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-56851472975155893832024-01-15T06:30:00.001-06:002024-01-15T06:30:00.136-06:00 Monday Morning Sentimonies: Welcome to 2024<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My
first post of 2024 arrives exactly on brand… late, of questionable quality and
with a distinct smell of day old rye. The good news is that if you clicked on
this post you are either a longtime reader or so desperate for CFL news that
you will literally read anything. In either case, I don’t see you being scared
off.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Let’s
get caught up on all the news people are talking about this January.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
Riders have been relatively quiet, at least from a volume perspective. Getting CJ
Reavis back was a very important signing. Good to have Alford back in the fold.
And Trevor Harris accepted a bit of a pay cut (well at least on paper. Due to
US tax rules his gross may go down but his net might not change a whole ton). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Big
one was letting Moncrief go. I get it but it still hurts. Moncrief has been one
of my favourite players since he showed up here. Stan-up guy on and off the
field who I don’t think people ever fully appreciated his skillset. The
combination of Reavis and a noticeable dip in Moncrief’s play as the season
wore on led to this. Wish him nothing but the best.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We
haven’t done anything along the D-line yet. I know Micah Johnson is only
contractually allowed to play for the Riders in odd numbered years but we also
have Robertson, Christmas and Lanier headed to free agency. Be curious to see
how Mace builds his D-line.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Another
position I’m watching is RB. We have not re-signed Morrow or Hickson. I’m not a
huge advocate of spending big on and RB but if you were inclined to spend Olivera
and Ouelette would be solid investments. The fact that we have Hudon on the roster
makes it more viable to start a Canadian RB. Also Mace would have connections
to Ouelette. This is nothing but wild speculation but it does make you wonder. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Looking
at our other pending FAs, the only ones I would categorize as priorities as
Bane, Kelly (assuming he’s healthy) and Lauther. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We
are playing the waiting game with Sam Emilus. He has now worked out for 5 NFL team
(Ari, Den, NE, Ten, GB). O’Day kinda hinted that they expect him to be gone for
at least a bit. Normally I would agree. With that many workouts its usually a
lock to be gone. But this happened with Baker last year and he stayed (albeit injuries
likely played a big role there).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Despite
the speculation I don’t expect a mass pilfering of the Argos’ free agents. I
bet one or two follow Mace here. But I don’t see us becoming Toronto-West. And given
that they are already Calgary-East that would make us Dave Dickenson’s sloppy
seconds. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
one news tidbit I loved hearing is that Mace asked permission to talk to Stamps
Special Teams Coordinator Mark Kilam. He has long been a rising coaching
prospect and even interviewed for our HC job. Calgary rightly said no (since
its not a promotion) but it shows that Mace is not afraid to set his sights
super high. If he doesn’t get a head coach job in 2025, I could definitely see
Kilam finding his way here as Assistant Head Coach/Special Teams Coordinator. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Speaking
of special teams, one of the rule changes being discussed at the CFL winter
meetings involves giving teams the option to take the ball at the 40 after a TD
(same as FGs). I’m all for player safety (which they claim this is about) but
there has to be other ways to address that that don’t eliminate the return
game. Its one of the things the CFL does better than any other league. Its one
of the most exciting plays. That’s why I will always be a supporter of the
return game… and the rouge which encourages returns. <o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-27642456340424027952023-12-18T06:30:00.001-06:002023-12-18T06:30:00.137-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Random Quasi-Coherent Christmas Thoughts <p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Just
a week until Christmas. Or if airing your grievances is more your thing (and as Rider fans it should be) its
just 5 days until Festivus.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
will leave you with a few random thoughts on the smattering of Rider news
before the Christmas break.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><br /></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We
have made a couple re-signings with Lenius, Henderson and Brown all re-upping.
Lenius can’t possibly have worse luck than 2023. A freak preseason injury derailed
his season and he returned only to promptly get hurt again. Fully healthy he
can be a difference maker.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
like Brown. I don’t think he’ll ever be an all-star be he’s a reliable guy at
DT who can plug hole and cause some disruption. Perfect guy for a D-line rotation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Henderson
is a frustrating player. There are times he looks like a top end HB. And there
are times he looks like a top end James Johnson impersonator. If he could ever
play consistently, look out. He’s only 26 and essentially has 2 years experience
as a starter at a difficult position. I think he showed enough good things to earn a chance to re-earn
his spot under Corey Mace.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
fact that we aren’t signing very many people tells me we have next to no cap
money left and need to wait until the year rolls over to start spending again,
(Hey inflation is making everything more expensive these days, even crappy football
rosters).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Montreal
appears to have the most left over cash to spend because they are busy
extending a lot of big names (Fajardo, Sankey, Lemon). <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Sam
Emilus and TJ Brunson both worked out for the Arizona Cardinals. If you recognized
that Brunson was a Roughrider then you must be a dedicated fan because I bet
few would know his name offhand. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’ll
give my standard “Wish him all the best but selfishly hope he doesn’t get an
NFL deal” in regards to Emilus.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
hope the fact that Micah Johnson is still doing PR appearances is a sign that
we want him back. I mean, it would be weird for him to break his “only sign with
the Riders in alternating years” streak but he’s a leader and still busts his
ass at 35. I want him back.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
schedule came out and its not that great from a Rider perspective. Our home
opener is Sunday night (yuck) and we follow it up with a bye followed by a
Thursday home game. The home schedule does get better from there with the rest
Friday or Saturday nights with the exception of one Saturday afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We play an amazing 4 Thursday games overall. My conspiracy theory is that CFL
is trying to boost Thursday ratings in advance of renegotiating TV deals and
the Riders tend give exactly that bump they are looking for.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">At
least we are back to the balanced schedule.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">We
should never play Winnipeg before Labour Day… it just takes a bit away from the
September matchups.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">That’s
it for now. Thanks for hanging with me through another down football year.
Helps to ease the pain when you have people to share in your jokes and ranting.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Merry
Christmas (to everyone except Micah Awe and Chris Edwards, screw those guys) and
see you in 2024.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-41513825951095238132023-12-12T08:23:00.007-06:002023-12-12T08:23:48.335-06:00Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: CoordinationYou might be asking yourself, why are your sentimonies only coming on Tuesday and not Monday as usual? I understand that my sentimonies bring a bright spot to your otherwise bleak Monday existence and I don’t take that responsibility lightly. So much like the old choose your win adventure books, I am going to let you select which excuse makes feel the best about the situation.<div><br /></div><div>- I was doing selfless charity work for orphans.</div><div><br /></div><div>- I am a Vikings fan and that sad excuse for a game literally put me to sleep so early in the day that I did not have time to write a post.</div><div><br /></div><div>- I got caught up tracking private plane flight plans across north America hoping it would give a clue to the Riders’ free agency plans and lost track of time.</div><div><br /></div><div>- I have a medical condition that legally I don’t have to disclose to you but totally explains all my tardiness.</div><div><br /></div><div>- I was celebrating the Feast of Maximum Occupancy.</div><div> </div><div>Now that that’s been settled, onto the sentimonies…</div><div><br /></div><div>The coaching staff of the Riders is starting to take shape. We already knew Mace would be his own DC. It was one of the worst kept secrets that Marc Mueller would be the OC. And Kent Maugeri was retained as the Special Teams Coordinator.</div><div><br /></div><div>Let’s start with Mueller. He’s at an interest spot in life. At 34 he’s still very young by coaching standards but he already brings 10 years of CFL coaching experience all with Calgary. He’s been a defensive assistant, RB coach, and QB Coach. He also called plays for a portion of last year. I’m going to skip talking about who he is. Obviously he’s the grandson of one of the 2 greatest Roughriders ever (just so we are clear, not George Reed… the other one). Also he had a pretty notable university career here at the University of Regina. Those all make for a nice story but they aren’t (at least I hope) why he got the job or what will make him a good OC.</div><div><br /></div><div>The pros he brings is that he is a young coach (not a retread) who brings new ideas. He also spent a decade working under one of the most respected offensive minds in the CFL in Dave Dickenson. The cons is that he is relatively unproven as a playcaller. Dickeson finally let go of the offense enough to let Mueller call plays last season and you might recall that Calgary was almost as awful as us and Dickenson took back play calling late in the season. Now, in fairness to Mueller. There was a lot more wrong in Calgary than his play calling. Something just didn’t seem right across the whole team and quite frankly they did not have enough talent last season (particularly at QB). There’s a saying that you can’t make chicken soup out of chicken crap. Also, if you actually think that was Mueller’s offense and not just him actioning Dickenson’s plans then your impeccable judgment may qualify you to run CFL discipline. Also, regardless of any perceived knocks against Mueller I think we can all agree he’s more qualified than his predecessor. This will be Mueller’s offense and I’m excited to see what he can bring to the table. I don’t think Mace would have hired him if he didn’t have full faith in his abilities.</div><div><br /></div><div>Maugeri enters his third year as STC… but really that was in name only. For the past 2 season, he was the Assistant HTC to Craig Dickenson. I will be interesting to see how much changes now that he’s fully in charge. I think Maugeri earned an extension as some good things have been happening on special teams. We turned a rookie punter into an allstar calibre player (and sadly one of the few highlights of most Rider games). Good things happened pretty consistently on returns and for the most part coverage was pretty solid. What I will be most interested to see is whether Dickenson (my theory) or Maugeri were to blame for the annual special teams slump. Consistently every season there is a period where specials teams go to absolute hell, for seemingly no reason. Then inevitably they right the ship and get back to playing pretty solid. I’m hoping with Mace now in charge there will be enough accountability to prevent that trend from continuing.</div><div><br /></div><div>While this is a young coaching core and most new to their current role, it’s a well experience group overall. It will be interesting to see what names make up the assistants to round out the staff. I am keeping an eye on names like Nik Lewis, and Drew Tate offensively as well as Joshua Bell, Juwan Simpson and maybe even Charleston Hughes defensively</div>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-3009821435468601192023-12-04T06:30:00.001-06:002023-12-04T06:30:00.200-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: In Mace We Trust<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Riders have settled on a new coach… and in a refreshing change from the past
few years, it was an announcement that was actually good news and not just
trying pass it off as good news when in reality anyone with any redeeming
credentials had turned them down. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I am also sure that sports reporters were happy to report on a guy named
Corey and not have to talk about what he may or may not have done to someone’s
mom.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">While
all have their pros and cons that have been debated ad nauseum, I don’t think
there was a bad choice amongst Mace, Pierce and Milanovich. That said, I think
Mace is my preferred option of the 3.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Word
is that O’Day and Reynolds were waffling back and forth on who to choose until a
lightbulb moment suddenly struck O’Day. He stood up and said “Craig, I’ve got
it! When was the last time this team won a Cup?” Reynolds responded “2013”. “Yes,
but who was leading that team?” Reynolds “Chamblin”. “Exactly!” O’Day exclaimed
“The last time we won a cup was with a black coach named Corey. That has to be
a sign”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">***<i>By
the way I know that 98% of you understand that the preceding exchange is purely
fictional and for satire purposes but just so there’s no confusion for the remaining
2%, this didn’t actually happen.***<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
don’t know him personally but Mace exudes leadership even from my vantage
point. He seems like a leader who will set a high standard and hold people to
it. That is about as polar opposite as you can get from his predecessor. Mace
is a well respected play caller and certainly knows the X’s and O’s of football
but at this juncture I think his leadership is the biggest asset he can bring.
Dickenson was a nice guy and he knew football but he did not command that locker
room. I have no doubt that Mace will.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
next step will be to see what kind of staff Mace can build around him. He’s
already confirmed he will be our DC. While nothing is official, Justin Dunk has
all but confirmed that Marc Mueller will be his OC (I'm already dreading the next 11 months of Muller/Lancaster talk, just let him be his own guy). Toronto extended pretty much
all of their offensive coaches so it will be tough to poach from there. Defensively,
DB coach Joshua Bell is a guy I can see coming over to be key part of Mace’s
staff. Some other names to keep an eye on Drew Tate, Nik Lewis and Juwan
Simpson. They have connections to Mace and could appear in his staff as well.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I had held out vain hope Mace could coax DeVone Claybrooks back into action but with Mace being DC that goes from vain hope to
pipe dream. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I hope we can retain our
D-line. I would love to see what Mace can turn the combo of Lanier, Robertson and
Micah into.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mace’s
tenure got off to a bit of a rocky start. He didn’t even making it out of his
opening press conference before making his first mistake. When asked what kind of
team he would field he answered “a blue collar team”. Sorry Coach Mace but you
now head up a <i>green </i>collared team. Blue was your old team. I’ll forgive your
error on your first day but I won’t be handing out second chances freely if this continues.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Mace
gives us some hope that things might be different… and not just because the
coach claims they are.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">One
last thing I want to address…</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I’m
likely in the minority here but I think all the talk about a coach “<i>getting </i>the
community” and “committing to it” is stupid. I want a coach that will win, pure
and simple. I mean, I want some semblance of ethics but as long as we are
avoiding legal issues and public embarrassment, no one will care what the coach
does off the field if we win. The only thing that being “invested in the
community does” is buy you some good will if you don’t win.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Danny
Barrett was invested in this community like few others but did that help him win
a cup or save his job when he couldn’t? No. Kent Austin isn't exactly known a warm and fuzzy community member. But did we care when he won us a Cup? No. People like to harp on Chris Jones,
but if we don’t get Ricky Ray’ed in the dying seconds of the 2017 East Final, Jones
likely wins a Grey Cup and becomes a celebrated hero forevermore in Riderville.
We only talk about his lack of community stuff because he didn’t win a Cup. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So
I think it’s a great bonus that Mace is a stand up guy who is committed to this
community but the only reason he should have this job is because he is a good enough
coach to win a Cup. Maybe if we focused more on building a “winning culture”
and less on “<i>getting </i>the community”, we’d have more Cups in our history. Fans
are simple, win and we will love. We cheered Dwight Anderson for pete sake. </span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-91707988863559157162023-11-27T06:30:00.004-06:002023-11-27T06:30:00.137-06:0015th Annual Rider Prophet Awards<p><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Before we officially turn the page on the 2023 season, its
time for the annual event where we honour the best and worst (mostly worst) of
the CFL season with the Rider Prophet Awards. What they lack in mainstream credibility
they make up for in brutal honesty and TV air time on par with the actual CFL
Awards.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">This year’s award winners receive a case of blue and gold
confetti which the CFL has been trying but just can’t find a use for.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Let’s get to the awards.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Best Player
Name</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">I really wondered whether or not to make this player eligible
for this award since he didn’t even make it through training camp… but then I remembered
this is a made up award and its stupid to try and uphold the <i>integrity </i>of
awards criteria I make up on the spot.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">So <u>La'Akea Kaho'ohanohano-Davis</u> is the winner. By Hawaiian
standards that’s a fairly normal name I’m sure. But by Canadian standards we
would have had to put a nameplate extender on his jersey and take out a loan just
to afford to stitch all the letters on there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Previous Winners:</span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">
Diego Allatore-Montoya</span></i><span face="Arial, sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">,<i> Luther Hakunavanhu, Guillermo Villabos, Armegedon Draughns, Rakeem Cox</i>,
<i>Akawasi Owusu-Ansah, Lirim Hajrullahu,
SirVincent Rogers, Drew Willy, Bear Woods, Solomon Elimimian, Craphonso Thorpe,
Charleston Hughes, Chijioke Onyenegecha</i></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Quote of the
Year<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">For the second year in a row the quote of the year goes to
now ex-Rider Coach, Craig Dickenson. This time he wins for:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">“It’s a different vibe this year, We may
have the same record but I feel like we’ve got better dudes in that locker
room.”</span><o:p></o:p></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">He said this as the Riders were 6-8… they proceeded to not
win another game and finish 6-12. The exact same record as last year. All those
“better dudes” did not lead to more wins. I don't know why but it reminded my of that famous
George W Bush quote “<i>fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get
fooled again.</i>”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Previous Winners: </span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Craig Dickenson</span></i><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">, </span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Tom Velessi,</span></i><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">
</span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA" style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Cody Fajardo, Dave
Dickenson,</span></i><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">
</span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Kavis Reed/Jacques Chapdelaine, Greg
Quick,<b> </b>Solomon Elimimian, Ed Hervey,
Joe Mack, Henry Burris, Eddie Johnson, Jason Clermont, Mike Abou-Mechrek x2</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Play of the
Year</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">This play of the year actually lead to one of the Riders
few victories in 2023. With 1 minute left in the game, the Riders had just tied
the game 11-11 (yes the “good” games involved tying it at 11 late in the 4th… very sad).
Lauther kicks off and CJ Sims inexplicably lets it go into the endzone and
casually took a knee. He then trotted off the field blissfully unaware that he
had just conceded a game losing kickoff single. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He damn near let the cover team recover it for
a TD.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pSYawQrj614" width="320" youtube-src-id="pSYawQrj614"></iframe></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Botched Call
of the Year<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">For the first time in the history of these awards, the botched
call of the year did not happen on the field. It comes courtesy of the CFL’s ludicrous
approach to player discipline.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Micah Awe was fined not once, not twice, but 3 times for illegal
hits this season. He committed a 4</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> that was flagged in a game but
apparently wasn’t worth supplemental discipline for a chronic offender. Add in that
he was fined for another illegal hit in Week 18 of 2022 and in a span of less
than 16 total games he was fined 4 times (and a fifth offense was ignored) and
not once did suspension come into the conversation. If Awe, who averages an
illegal hit every 3-4 games, is not dangerous enough to suspend then don’t ever
try and claim you care about player safety.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">CFL cares about one thing, public blowback. And they will
only suspend when that comes into play. Awe is the fullest disciplinary record
I have ever seen and the botch of the year was not suspending him at any point.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Most
Insulted Sports Figure</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">This will come as no surprise. In a landslide the most
insulted sports figure this season was Craig Dickenson. His continued poor game
management and even worse ability to motivate this team meant I (and most of
the province) spent the past 5 months cursing his name. He was so bad it made
Evan Johnson’s continued sucktitude not look that bad by comparison.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Previous
Winners</span></i></b><i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">: Riders O-line, Riders Offensive
Tackles, John Ryan, Brandon Bridge, Steve McAdoo, The Riders Secondary, Any
Rider QB not named Durant, Pat Neufeld, Chris Getzlaf, Ryan Dinwiddie, Jim
Daley, Michael Bishop x 2, Marcel Bellefeuille</span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><u><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Fans’ Choice
Douchebag of the Year</span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">I will forever advocate for and uphold the integrity of the
fan voting process. This award will always be decided by you the fans. But in
yet another sign that democracy doesn’t work, you the fans got it wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">With 39% of the voting, Craig Reynolds, Jeremy O’Day and
Craig Dickenson are your joint Douchebag’s of the year.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Now don’t get me wrong, I know <i>why </i>you voted for them. Hell
hath no fury like a Rider fan scorned… in back to back seasons. I’m not saying
you have to like those 3, but I would not call them douchebags. Failures maybe
but not douches (except maybe Reynolds, he gives off douchy vibes). Micah Awe
or Chris Edwards, now those are douches in every sense of the word.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">But you the fans have spoken and Reynolds/O’Day/Dickenson
are your Douchebags of the Year.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">Previous Winners</span></i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">:
<span style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic;">Garett Marino</span></span></i><span face=""Arial",sans-serif" lang="EN-CA">, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Andrew Harris, Simoni Lawrence, Jason Maas x2, Cory Chamblin, Chris
Jones, Jon Cornish x2, Henry Burris, Dwight Anderson, Mike Kelly, Jason
Jimenez, Rob Murphy<o:p></o:p></i></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-23336745854579958432023-11-21T06:30:00.001-06:002023-11-21T06:30:00.134-06:00Tuesday Morning Sentimonies: All’s Well That Ends Well<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Apologies
for the delay in posting my sentimonies. I’d like to say its because I partied
too hard on Grey Cup Sunday but the truth is I’m just old and the desire to go
to bed won out over the desire to pen a blog. What I lack in quality and
punctuality I make up for in… err… redeeming qualities too numerous to enumerate right now.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anyway,
What. A. Game!</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
was legit concerned I was about to watch Winnipeg just sack Fajardo for 3 hours
but from start to finish that was a competitive, exciting game. Add in Green Day
at half time (who were outstanding, though I am unabashedly biased in that assessment
because I love Green Day) and the Bombers losing for a second year in a row in
the dying minutes… well sir, that may just be the best Grey Cup I’ve watched in
years.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Here
are my Random Quasi Coherent Grey Cup thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">One
could make the case that the Riders found a far more efficient way to not win
back to back Grey Cups. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
kid. After 30 years of absolute misery I hope Bomber fans don’t take 4 straight
appearances and 2 Cups for granted. That’s a damn good run. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">But
also, screw them and I was very, very happy they lost.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Watching
Green Day really brings home how badly the half time show was mailed in Regina
last year. Also, very happy Green Day didn’t censor their lyrics. Even better
they didn’t get sucked into a stupid in game interview. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Lots
of revisionist history in the wake of the Grey Cup. I know you are all shocked
that its happening in Saskatchewan.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">First
of all, at the time we traded away Collaros it was widely believed he was done.
Hell had we kept playing we would have been called inconsiderate monsters. We
made a call based on what we knew at the time. Looks bad in retrospect but
also, I doubt Collaros is still alive if he had to play behind our OL as
opposed to the best OL in the CFL.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Same
thing with Cody/Maas. Fans would have rioted if either were back. I like Cody and
think the change of scenery was what he needed. Again, had we kept either of
Maas or Cody I doubt our season would have ended any better. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Also
(and I hate that I have to keep defending O’Day but the man has his faults but
let’s at least be fair about we blame on him), yes other than the QBs, they
Grey Cup featured many former Riders (Demksi, Hardrick, Neufeld, Lemon, Tuck and
Harty) but the first 4 left prior to O’Day being GM and the last 2 are hardly
key contributors. O’Day has his faults but not being able to preemptively stop
GM Chris Jones’ errors isn’t one of them.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Now
Willie Jefferson you can blame on O’Day. He didn’t think he was a priority
signing in 2019 and Winnipeg reaped the benefits of that dumb call. Also, while
we did try to retain Sankey, I’m sure we didn’t try our hardest because we knew
we had Dean. No offense to Dean but Sankey is better. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Montreal’s
punter was awful. Like so awful I’m surprised Maas didn’t hurl a Gatorade
container at him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">For
the degenerate gamblers out there (aka me and my buddies) the coin toss was chaos.
We bet on head/tails but all we got was logo/cup. Had that occurred in the NFL
the betting world would have exploded. In the future please just say “the logo
is heads” to appease us degens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Lastly
anyone who is pretending to be offended by Dequoy’s French rant need to calm the
hell down. First of all never discourage emotional rants in interviews. Way
more interesting than regurgitated generalities that most interviews are full of.
Second: he was right. The league screwed up an didn’t bother with any bilingual
signage. A) the Grey Cup is a celebration of everything Canadian and we are bilingual
country. B) When you are trying to attract more fans to the game doing something
to piss off the core fans base of one of the teams in the game you are trying
to promote is a big oopsie. Dequoy called them out and swore in French. I’m all
for that. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">With
the season over, the Rider coaching search now turns into high gear. Stay tuned
for all the excitement.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-17964224170747020112023-11-13T08:52:00.001-06:002023-11-13T08:52:36.455-06:00Monday Morning Senitmonies: Random Division Finals Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Of
the 4 possible Grey Cup matches that could have resulted from Saturday’s Divisional
Finals games, the one we got was the 4</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> worst. Obviously I prefer
any Grey Cup matchup without Winnipeg (damn you BC) and if I had to endure
Winnipeg in another freakin’ Cup then I at least hoped they would play Toronto
so we could get best on best. Seems Dinwiddie’s eyes not only suck the souls
out of people but also manage to infuse that suck back in his team. So here I am
reduced to cheering for a team led by Danny Maccioccia and Jason Maas. At least
Hamilton is giving us a decent half time act. If I had to watch this matchup </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">and
</i><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">listen to a halftime act featuring 3 random moderately notable country acts
they threw together at the last minute… well I would just snap.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Random
thoughts:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Toronto
looked like a team that just assumed by showing up they would win the game.
Montreal looked like a team that knew they had to put in effort. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
haven’t seen that many turnovers since that playoff game Michael Bishop started
for the Riders.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
have no ill will towards Cody and would be perfectly fine with him winning a
ring but I had to shake my head when he talked about playing well in all 3
phases to win. Dude, you played great in 2 phases and the offense was just
along for the ride literally doing the bear minimum required not to screw
things up.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
have this horrible feeling that the Grey Cup will just be Winnipeg sacking
Fajardo over and over again until they institute a mercy rule. They massacred
Vernon Adams and its not like Fajardo is famous for his efficient play in the
pocket… or his postseason success against Winnipeg.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Please
let Winnipeg lose a second Grey Cup to an inferior team. It’s the only thing
that can help ease the pain of another failed Rider season. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Speaking
of the Riders, Nick Marshall was arrested for gun possession. So I guess he may
end up putting the lockdown in lockdown corner. He probably wasn’t going to be
brought back anyway but this likely seals it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I’ll
be back Monday with Grey Cup thoughts and the world famous Rider Prophet
Awards.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-26608288582152409712023-11-06T06:30:00.001-06:002023-11-06T06:30:00.141-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Playoff Thoughts and Douchebag of the Year Voting<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">For
the second year in a row the CFL Playoffs are continuing on their merry without
need of or care for the Riders. About the only aspect of the playoffs impacting
the Riders is the more teams get eliminated, the more quickly we can get into our Head
Coach search.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
will offer a few random thoughts on the playoffs so far and then we will get to
everyone’s favourite year end activity… voting for the </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Fans’ Choice Douchebag
of the Year</b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Random
thoughts:</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Semi-Finals
were really non-events. Both 3<sup>rd</sup> place teams did not deserve to be in
the playoffs and only snuck in by virtue of having even crappier teams (ours
included) below them in the standings and it showed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
find Bo Levi Mitchell whining about how his season ended hilarious (yes I’m
remain unabashedly petty when it comes to Bo). He was very distinct in his
words. He was mad that they didn’t play their “highest paid player”. Not their “best”
or “most impactful” or even “closest thing we have to mediocrity”. Matt Shiltz
was not good and the fact that he played ahead of Bo should tell you everything
you need to know about what Bo has left at this stage.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">In
retrospect, Calgary had a real Sophie’s choice when choosing whether to hitch
their wagon to Maier or Mitchell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">3
of the 4 remaining starting QBs in the playoffs used to play for the Riders. 2 of
them we traded away and 1 we unceremoniously cut ties with. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">All
I really care about in these playoffs is once again seeing Winnipeg lose. I
remain unabashedly petty about them as well. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Now
onto the Douchebags</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Each
we honour outstanding achievements in the field of douchebaggery and let you, the
fans, vote on the winner. Based purely on the non-ridiculous nature of the voting
process, its actually one of the more legitimate CFL awards out there.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
year’s nominees are:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Micah
Awe –</span></b><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> Fined for dangerous
head shots more times that I can count and never had a reason to stop because
the league just kept giving him slaps on the wrist. He is a dirty player but
for whatever reason no-one seems to care.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Dickenson/O’Day/Reynolds
–</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> The irony here is
that they are like the nicest guys in the world (except maybe Reynolds) but its
their fault we are in this mess for a second straight year so I’m giving you a
chance to vent your frustrations through voting.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">CFL
Command Centre –</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> I have
a ton of respect for onfield officials who have to make split second decisions
in a fast paced game and generally do very well. But I loathe CFL Command Centre. There is no coherent logic
to when they decide to act and how they decide to rule on a play. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Could probably save a lot of time and money
and just replace them with a Magic 8 ball. Was that a fumble? “Outlook does not
look good”</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Other
–</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"> Feel free to write in
votes by commenting here on the various social media platforms I’m on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Voting
ends Friday.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-13105289096740398262023-10-30T07:04:00.004-06:002023-10-30T07:04:50.585-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Next Year Territory<p> I won’t lie, its really weird to have the Riders season over and the firings already starting while other teams are still playing meaningless regular season games. To be fair, the Riders were playing meaningless regular season football since Labour Day… but I digress. We are in next year country and with declining attendance and general interest in the team, this next few moves the Riders make are pretty important. They could start the process of righting the ship and restoring pride in this franchise or continue powering us towards reliving the 90s. Kids, if your only knowledge of Rider football is from the 2000s, ask your parents how bad the 90s were. Odds are at least the few of you are a result of them trying to numb the pain of a Rider loss with liquid pain reliever.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">I want to start with O’Day. There is a lot of hate of out there for the guy and the decision to give him a 3 year extension. I have been vocal in my support of keeping him. He sucked in 2022 and I wouldn’t have been on board with firing him then but his job is to bring in talent and he did that in 2023. I’ve lived through years where our recruiting was hot garbage and we were finding about as much legit talent as a Regina strip club. This is not that. O’Day has his issues (mostly his complete inability or desire to draft OL) but overall the talent is there and our issues were injury (not O’Day’s fault) and bad coaching (something he can fix with this next hire. His first actual extensive head coach search as GM). As for those asking why we couldn’t just extend him 1 or 2 years? I get the thinking but you absolutely can’t do that. If we want a good head coach they will demand a 3 year deal. You can’t have a GM with less tenure than the coach he hires. Remember when we were forced by default to hire Kelly Jeffrey? That’s what happens when you don’t have long term stability at the top. You either had to fire O’Day or give him 3 more. There’s no in between.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">As for the Head Coaching staff. There are 2 keys for me 1) finding a head coach who brings a winning culture and is willing to hold people to a high standard (i.e. not a softy like Dickenson) and 2) who can that person bring in as coordinators. The second point is almost as important as the first.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif">Here’s a list of names being thrown about and some random thoughts on them. I’m sure we will here more leading up to the end of the actual season.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Scott Milanovich –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Lots of people’s #1 choice and it tough to argue that. He’s got multiple Grey Cup rings including one as a head coach. He’s got NFL pedigree. He’s the only undefeated head coach in Edmonton history. He does good work with QBs. I’m still not convinced the Ti-Cats just let him go (they brought him there for a reason). It would be interesting to see who he could bring as his coordinators.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Cory Mace –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> The top guy on the list who has never been a Head Coach before. He’s widely viewed as the next coordinator ready to make the jump. He comes from a winning culture in both Calgary and Toronto. He is a top tier D Coordinator. He is widely respected. Possibility he could bring Pete Costanza as his OC.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Pete Costanza –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Basically the offensive version of Mace. He has multiple rings as an assistant. We tried wooing him to be the OC last season and he was smart enough to avoid this mess so he’s clearly smart. As an avid Seinfeld fan, I would love a Costanza as a coach. Possibilities are endless.</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Mark Kilam –</b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"> Calgary being awful this season took a bit of the luster of his shine but Kilam has long been viewed as a future Head Coach. He’d bring solid special teams. He may even be able to bring Mark Mueller as his OC. Complete shot in the dark here but could he use his Calgary connections to get DeVone Claybrooks at DC? He’s been out of football just long enough to start looking for another coaching job.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Kent Austin –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> I like many, don’t just like recycling coaches but I think you need to at least consider Austin depending on what your options are. Yes he has a short shelf life before players grow tired of him and yes he’ll jump ship the second something better comes along but he produces winners in short time frames. A Grey Cup as OC with Toronto, a Grey Cup here, 2 Grey Cup appearances coaching Hamilton. He could maybe get LaPo as his OC (it was Austin who originally brought him here).</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Henry Burris –</b><span face=""Arial",sans-serif"> It’s almost pathetic how shamelessly Burris is trying to promote himself as a coach. I honestly would be ok with him as an assistant or even rolling the dice as a coordinator but the man has zero CFL coaching experience. His interview would just be him bragging about turning all those franchises around.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Rider Prophet –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> If smiling Hank won’t let a complete lack of qualifications stop him from throwing his hat in the ring, why can’t I do it too? So I’m officially letting everyone (including Jeremy O’Day) know that I’m interested. Looking at the history of coaches in this franchise, I can pretty much guarantee I wouldn’t crack the bottom 5 for worst ever despite having no qualifications whatsoever.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Jordan Maksymic –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Has done great work with the BC offense with both Rourke and getting a career season out of Vernon Adams. He would be a fresh, new alternative. I’m somewhat leery of assuming that a good coordinator will automatically make a good HC. That kind of thinking got us into this mess.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Kelly Jeffrey –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> I kid. I kid. By can you imagine? The anarchist in me almost wants to see what would happen.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b>Khari Jones –</b><span face="Arial, sans-serif"> Was part of the 2013 staff. Good offensive mind. Players love him. Was only mildly successful in Montreal though. To be fair, he was in some very trying circumstances but I’m still not convinced he’s the guy. If we could find a way to get him back as an assistant that would be nice.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-86152089249332671332023-10-26T06:30:00.004-06:002023-10-26T06:30:00.138-06:00Thursday Thoughts<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Well I made it
back from Vegas and I am neither sorry to have missed the last game, nor
surprised by everything that I happened over the past week. We lost, the season
is over, O’Day was retained and Dickenson was sent packing. Another year over
and another disappointing ending. It’s a bit like Ground Hog’s day… except I
guess this time we have the prospect of a new coach to instill some shred of hope
that next year might not suck as much.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I’ll have fill
thoughts on the coaching search coming up on Monday but for now here are a few
random thoughts on what’s been going on.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
best comparison I have for Craig Dickenson is Richie Hall. High character guy,
highly successful coordinator, completely unsuited for head coaching. Since his
own failure as a head coach, Hall has settled nicely into being a top end
coordinator and just keeps piling up rings. Dickenson may yet follow a similar
path.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Has
anyone within the organization admitted that in retrospect hiring a grossly underqualified
OC who was the only candidate who didn’t turn us down was maybe a bigger issue
than that should not have downplayed?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
really don’t get the hatred of O’Day. I was vocal in my criticism of his job
last season but look at our roster and tell me he’s not bringing in talent. We
needed a QB, he got Harris. Our OL sucked, he got Godber, Blake and Kelly. We
needed leaders, he brought in Micah. Receivers he has Bane, Sterns, Emilus,
Baker and Lenius. We have RBs. At DB, Milligan and Williams were brought
in by O’Day. We keep finding DL. The Canadians he drafts are making an impact.
The Globals he drafts are too. A GM’s job is to bring in talent. O’Day isn’t
perfect but on the whole he’s doing his job. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">His
main issue was injuries and being too loyal to a bad head coach. If he screws
up this next hire, then yes fire him.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">-<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; text-indent: -0.25in;">Micah
Johnson should have been our nominee for outstanding defensive player. With due
respect to Larry Dean (who I do like as a player), his nomination is completely
based on stats and many of his “stats” were tackles that came 7 yards down
field.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-left: .25in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Brady
Olivera was the most outstanding player on the Bombers, period full stop.
Anyone who think Collaros got jobbed or people just got tired of voting for him
are just plain wrong. Collaros was once again very very good but Olivera was
the Most Outstanding.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-58396671843807589002023-10-19T06:30:00.001-06:002023-10-19T06:30:00.160-06:00Vacation Time<p> I'm leaving on vacation for a week. </p><p>This was prearranged, so its only a pleasant coincidence that it will allow me to avoid the final Rider game. So there will be no pregame write up (I expect us to lose, no shock there) and no Sentimonies on Monday (they would probably be that we sucked).</p><p>I am going to drown my sorrows in punk rock, dice rolling and whatever the server is brining me while doing said dice rolling.</p><p>See you next week.</p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-46968709144502526902023-10-16T06:30:00.001-06:002023-10-16T06:30:00.149-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Please Make It Stop<p><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Riders
19 – Stampeders 26</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Calgary
tried really hard in this one, but in the end they were just no match for the
sucking powers of the Riders. I mean the Stamps did pretty much everything they
could to not win that game. I’m not sure I’ve seen a more inept receiving effort.
They spotted us a 13 point lead. They took a ton of penalties (in one drive they
took 40 yards of penalties and we didn’t score). At family Christmas Craig will
have bragging rights that definitively he sucked more this season.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It's
sad because the defense actually showed up for once. They actually looked like
they wanted to be there and play at a professional level (well I mean a key
part of our defensive success was Calgary’s moral opposition to catching but we
still shut them down). The defense was responsible for only 10 points allowed. The
other 16 were not their fault. D-line looked fired up. Nick Marshall looked engaged.
They were hitting hard. It wasn’t always pretty but for the first time in a
long time the defense stepped up looked good. They did enough to win that game.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Unfortunately
for the defense, they not only had to overcome Calgary’s inept offense but
their own inept offense. I have said many times that longterm Dolegala probably
warrants keeping for further development. But right now, he is utter garbage. Road
Jake is a thing and it’s a more awful form of garbage. He makes me miss Nealon Green.
And I loathed Nealon Green (minus his stellar music career). His first 2 throws
went straight into the tuft… when your launch point is 8 feet in the air I don’t
know how you manage to throw so short. He is still fixated on short passes to
outside, something that Cam Judge clearly also determined and exploited for an
easy pick six. He does not seethe middle of the field. He was throwing to no
one at times. He failed to throw the ball on the last play of the game. I guess
he assumed getting hit for no gain was a good idea in that situation. He has
not won on the road. He now has 2 passing TDs to 6 INTs on the road. Mason Fine
ain’t saving our season but at this point how do you not give him some playing
time? Hell I think Pipkin is a liability throwing the ball and at this point I
say give him a shot. Jake don’t got it right now.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">To
be fair to Jake, not only does he not have it, he also doesn’t have a competent
coaching staff backing him either. I don’t understand our play calling. You know
its almost like our plays are being called by an unqualified shlub who only got
the job by default because anyone good was qualified was smart enough to avoid stepping into
this mess. Giving up a safety was a gutless call. Your defense was playing
lights out at that point. Punt the ball and assume your D holds them to a FG or
better. There were many times where the defense was clearly stacking the box
and rather than reading that and looking for a hot route, we stubbornly opted
to continue to run the run up the middle into a wall of defenders. If someone
who has never played professional ball can see it while 3 ryes deep on his couch,
how can the people who devote their entire careers to it not?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Alford
had a rough game though in fairness to him, we block for him like he owes every
other special teams player money and they are trying to teach him a lesson.
Also, on the last Calgary punt I thought our coaches made a mistake (you’re
shocked, I’m sure). We lined up in punt block. Nothing inherently wrong with
that in that situation but ask yourself… what is more likely to lead to a TD?
Attempting a block? Or setting up a return for one of the best returners in the
game? We opted to fail on the block attempt and leave Alford with zero
blockers. Good call.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">As
many have mentioned (including some of you regular readers), Dickenson challenging
pass interference on a play where his QB failed to actually pass is the epitome
of his abilities as a head coach. He assured us this is a better team than last
year. Well the 2023 Riders have scored less points, given up more yards and
points, turned the ball over more, taken the ball away less and are on pace to not
win in the second half of the season yet again. The fact that he thinks <i>this
</i>is better, should tell you everything you need to know.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Like
most fans I just want this miserable season to be mercifully over. This has been
the worst 2 consecutive years of football I can recall since the 90s. I’d willingly
miss the playoff if it meant firing Dickenson 2 weeks earlier. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Other
random thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">In
6 of our 9 road games we have failed to score 20 points. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Tevin
Jones is a lazy player who I think should ride the pine and I’ll say it every
week until it happens. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
want to know the story behind Meskell’s black eye.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Its
clearly a scheme thing but routinely our safety is nowhere near the middle of
the field. Normally that wouldn’t be an issue moving the safety around, but no
one ever seems to fill that zone and the middle always seems wide open.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-38133838156974632892023-10-13T06:30:00.001-06:002023-10-13T06:30:00.138-06:00Riders vs. Stampeders: Dickenson Sucking Contest<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My
how this once great rivalry has changed. Back in the early 2000s Calgary/Saskatchewan
was a heated affair. Tons of fans would travel. The atmosphere would be electric.
Henry Burris was wearing a bra for reasons no one quite understood. It was
awesome. Today the rivalry is still there but its now just fans arguing over
who sucks more. “We suck more”, “No <i>we </i>suck more”.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Its
quite the matchup. They are 2-5 at home; we are 2-6 on the road. They have the 7</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
ranked O; we have the 8</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">. They have the 6</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> ranked D; we
don’t seem to have any interest in even fielding a D. Sadly one of these two
terrible teams will make the playoffs and Friday’s game goes a long way to
deciding who. Riders win and they are in. Stamps win and they are a win away
from the playoffs. Personally if I’m either of these teams and I make the
playoffs, I would just save the embarrassment and travel costs and forfeit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Calgary/Jake
Maier are a tough thing to figure out. The Stamps allow the 2</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">nd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">
least sacks. They allow the second least turnovers. Maier is 3</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">rd</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> in
passing yards. There is no reason they should be as bad as they are. But they
couldn’t find the endzone even if they were placed on the one yard line and
pushed in the right direction. The only QBs who produce TDs less often than
Maier are Fine, Cornelius and Dane Evans (i.e. guys not capable of holding a
starting job). Maier has the lowest average depth of pass. He loves him some
short stuff. He will be without he best receiver in Reggie Begelton. The good
news for Maier is that the Riders D is the cure for a struggling.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">If
we want a chance, we need pressure up front. Our coverage isn’t great at the
best of times. Give a QB time to go through his reads and he will find the one
of many open receivers. Cox is back from injury and Christmas is back on the
roster. We have the depth for a strong rotation. Moncrief is sitting. While this
would normally be big news, its probably for the best at this point. I feel like
our D’s chances of getting out of this funk rely on Marshall picking off Maier
to rejuvenate things. The way Maier plays, that’s very possible.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Offensively
the main key is to avoid Micah Awe’s blatant headshots that will once again go unsuspended
by the league. Calgary has the #2 pass D but the 2<sup>nd</sup> worst run D.
Let’s reward Jamal Morrow for being the only Rider that cared last game by
feeding him once again. I will also repeat my calls for a couple runs by Hudon
to set the physical tone. Lord knows our passing game isn’t going to help. Jake
Dolegala has not been great in a while. Even worse, we get Road Jake. Road Jake
is regular Jake's much crappier alter ego. On the road he has produced exactly 2
passing TDs and 5 INTs. I think his bread and butter should be crossers and
seams. Our OC seems to be content with checkdowns to the outside and a deep ball
that gets completed once in a blue moon. I think Baker and Bane should be the
focal point of what we do. If we can get them going, we have a chance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
expect special teams to play a role in this. Calgary has the second highest punt
return average and we are about due for a breakdown in that department leading
to a TD. Maybe Mario can offset it with one of his own.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Look,
Calgary sucks. They have just 4 wins: Ottawa, Us, Toronto without Chad Kelly
and Edmonton. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Despite our struggles this
is a winnable game. But I damn sure don’t believe in us. Here’s the telling
stat for me. In the last 10 games, we have held our opponents under 29 points
once. Once! Over that same period we are averaging 22 points offensively. Until
our defense proves they can keep us in a game, I don’t see us winning.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Stamps
by a FG. Riders will make it close build up hope only to shatter it in the
dying minutes of the game.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-31598276234246403702023-10-09T09:01:00.001-06:002023-10-09T09:01:07.288-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: Putting the /=S=/ in Embarrassing<p><b><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Riders
13 – Ti-Cats 38</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">About
the only thing Rider fans are thankful for this Thanksgiving weekend is that
there are only 2 more regular season games left in this godawful season. On
legends night, where the Riders were honouring George Reed and the 2013 team,
the current Riders boldly chose to honour the Riders of the early 80s. The end result
was a predictable and painful lopsided loss.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Since
Labour Day of last year, Craig Dickenson’s record as a head coach is 6-17. And
I don’t know if you recall some of those 6 but they weren’t exactly convincing
victories. He’s in “prove it” mode in the final year of his contract and about
the only thing he’s proving is that inanimate cardboard cutout of Gainer would
do a better job of getting the team prepared to play. Offense couldn’t produce
a point if their life depended on it. Defense looks completely and utterly
lost. The players aren’t showing a shred of “give a damn” in their play. But
don’t worry, I’m sure Craig will just tell us they need to try harder.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">There
was exactly one guy who seemed to care out there: Jamal Morrow. As a running back
who attended the same college as George Reed he displayed some pride and put in
a performance that I think Reed would have been proud of. He was the lone
bright spot. It was a terrible play call on his TD run but he managed to make
it work.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Dolegala
is very much following the Dustin Crum career arc. Burst onto the scene and
then quickly plateau as teams find out you’re a one trick pony. And Dolegala’s
only trick is short passes to the outside. I actually think the reason our
defense routinely leaves the middle of the field open is because they
constantly practice against Dolegala and he wouldn’t look to the middle even if
there was a giant bullseye in the middle of the field. He may yet still have
long term prospects if we keep developing him but he ain’t got it right now. I
know Fine may not be the answer either but at some point you gotta sit Jake
back down for a bit.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
honestly don’t recall the last time our defense was this bad. Even in bad years
we usually had competent D. We try running zone but it looks like no one on the
team knows how to run zone or that they each running a different zone. Our coverage
has more holes than a Regina road in springtime. I love Moncrief. One of my
favourite players ever. I’m not sure if he’s hurt or just losing a step but we
keep asking him to lock up in coverage and he can’t stay within 3 yards of his receiver.
D-line couldn’t generate a push. Team struggled to tackle those rare times when
they were actually in a position to do so.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">This
is one of the worst teams I’ve seen and sadly they still have a good shot at
making the playoffs. Not because they deserve to, but because Edmonton dug a
hole too deep to get out of and Dave Dickenson seems to be a competition with
his brother to see who can suck the most. I hate hoping for loses and the idea
that Trevor Harris could maybe deliver us an upset playoff win is enticing. But
honestly, the best thing that could happen to us at this point is missing the playoffs.
We have a week 21 bye and that would give us a head start on firing Dickenson and
looking for his replacement.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">If
I was the Riders I would definitely hold off on sending out season ticket
renewals until you fire the coach. At the jacked up prices I’m expecting, its going
to be tough to convince even the most faithful of Rider fans to pay to endure another
season of football that just isn’t enjoyable to watch.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-88603938001132270392023-10-06T07:18:00.002-06:002023-10-06T07:18:22.854-06:00Riders vs. Ti-Cats: Legends Night<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">It
will be with heavy hearts that we head to Mosaic Stadium Saturday (and this
time it won’t just be because of the on field play). Not having George Reed in
house will be different. I won’t add to all the well deserved praises of Mr.
Reed that have been written since he passed on Sunday but I will say this… it’s
a testament to his greatness that he stopped playing years before I was born
and I still feel very emotional about his passing. He was a great man in every aspect of his life.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">But
amid all the talk of Mr. Reed’s greatness and the greatness of the 2013 team
that will be honoured, its unfortunately the not so great 2023 team that
actually has to play this game. We are on a 4 game losing skid and if you exclude
the final 2 minutes of games, have not played anything resembling competitive
football since Labour Day. But thanks to the craptasticness of the Elks and
Stamps we are still in the driver’s seat for a playoff spot. Here’s the 3 ways playoffs
can happen:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">1
– Beat Hamilton and Toronto<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">2
– Beat only Calgary<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">3
– Lose everything but Calgary loses to BC and Winnipeg.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">When
we do eventually limp into the playoffs (as we likely will), I hope we do the ridiculous
champagne celebration the Blue Jays did.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Defense
needs to show up. They have looked downright awful of late. We do get Lanier
and Williams back so that should help. To stop Hamilton you need to stop 2
people Tim White and James Butler. You do that and you have a chance. Hamilton
is second last in points scored (even behind us) and they have the most turnovers.
At QB it could be honestly any one of Bo, Schiltz or Powell. Of those 3 Powell
scares me the most. I may eat this words later, but I would love to see them
trot Bo out in Regina. He’s been awful this year. We need Lanier to lead pressure
up front. With the emergence of Albright, I would love to see Micah/Lanier insider
and Albright/Robertson outside. Pressure the QB (whoever it is) into mistakes.
Don’t let Tim White run free in the secondary. Take turnovers when they are
there and hit like you mean it. That’s our defensive recipe.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Offensively
for the love of god show up before the final minute of the game! This start
with a nice drive and then take a 45 minute nap stuff is getting ridiculous. Hamilton
is #6 against the run so dammit, let’s run! A lot. (Editor’s note: We won’t).
Hamilton is 7<sup>th</sup> in yards allowed so we should be able to move the
ball if Dolegala makes good decisions. I will reiterate my point from Monday that
he needs to improve on his deep ball. He is completing just 27% of his passes
over 20 yards. The only people worse than that are Fine and Bo Levi. For
comparison, last year when we were all over Fajardo for the lack of success on
the deep ball, he was completing 45% of those passes. I think short to medium
seams and crossers are where we are most effective. Dolegala needs to stop
focusing exclusively on what’s happening outside the hashmarks. Some of that is
ok but too much of that will make for some easy pick 6s.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Many
people are talking about an emotional boost for the team due to honouring Reed.
I call BS. I think it’s definitely an emotional boost for the crowd (we better
be loud as hell so Reed can hear us) but I don’t buy that the team gets a boost
from this. As evidence I submit the game after Lancaster died and the final
game at old Mosaic. Both highly emotional events. Both loses. Simply put if a
team needs an outside emotional boost to win then they probably weren’t going to
win anyway.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I
do think we play better and at least turn in a competitive performance. Hell
these is even a chance we win (not just thanks to 18 simultaneous miracles) but
after watching us play over the last 4 games and watching Hamilton (who by the
way is still contending for a home playoff game), they are the better team at
this point and until I see evidence to the contrary, we aren’t good.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hamilton
by a James Butler TD in the 4</span><sup style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">th</sup><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">.</span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-73696746120727363062023-10-02T06:30:00.004-06:002023-10-02T06:30:00.139-06:00Monday Morning Sentimonies: /=S=/ till /=S=/ uck<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"><b>Riders
26 – Lions 33</b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Riders are settling into a nice late season routine. Start slow but decent, go
to complete hell with minutes remaining in the half, only start playing again when
there is so little time on the clock that the comeback is nothing more than a
pipe dream, score, onside kick, score, fail the second onside kick. They have
now followed that script in back to back weeks. So while a cursory glance at
the score might give illusion that we are a competitive team we are not. I
think the most recent Grey Cup halftime announcement (which is freakin’ awesome
by the way) is the perfect metaphor for the current Riders. We are living in a word
of Hedley’s and half of Florida Georgia Line while the rest of the league is trotting
out Green Day.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">I
actually thought the defense started the game pretty well. It was the first
sign of life I’d seen from them in many weeks. They were holding the Lions to FGs
and generally not getting stomped. Hell, they managed to stop the run. That lasted
less than a half and then we were treated to a D that couldn’t cover a receiver
if said receiver offered to give them a piggy back while running their route. We
looked about 3 steps slower than the Lions on every play. I will say that Christian
Albright looks like a keep and that at 35 years old, Micah Johnson in
unquestionably our defensive MVP. Despite his age, he’s is about the only guy
still giving top level effort on every play. The reality is, if you can’t
keep a team under 30 points, winning is going to be tough. And we damn sure can't.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Offensively,
we were treated to road Jake. Stats will show that he threw for 400 yards but
that masks a lackluster performance. Through 58 minutes of play he produced 11
points. Sure there were some good throws mixed in there and one nice drive. But
on the road he displays no level of consistency. I lesser man would make a joke
about his performance on the road and his DUI charge… but clearly I’m above
such sophomoric, low brown attempts at humour. For all the talk of Jake’s big
arm, the reality is he’s not that good at the long ball. His completion
percentage on passes over 20 yards is the worst among pretty much all QBs in
the league. He can launch it, but he ain’t completing it when he does. In
fairness to him, one pick was completely on Tevin Jones being lazy. This is a
recurring theme with Jones. He’ll make some damn impressive plays but has a
tendency to check out mentally and hurt us. I’m not saying Wieneke is a saviour
but if I were coaching, Jones and his inconsistency would sit and see if we can
get someone who can give full effort every play in there. Speaking of full
effort, Frankie Hickson runs angry and I love it. Unfortunately, Kelly Jeffery
does not love it for some reason. Also love me some Bertrand-Hudon. Not saying he
should be starting but I’d be trying to find a way to get him a handful of touches
each game. I think I’m officially an old man now that I’m calling for a Canadian
RB to get more carries. I’m this generation’s Szarka enthusiast. I’ve become
everything I hate.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">The
outcome surprised no one. We aren’t good enough to beat bad teams and suck on
the road. There was no chance of us beating a good team on the road. Sadly,
because Calgary is equally as awful and gave us a slight head start, we currently
have an edge in the “try and out suck each other” contest we are in for the
final playoff spot. An out-sucking competition sounds like a bad premise for a
porno… its an even worse reality for a pro football team. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At
least next game, we are guaranteed to see a competent Rider football team on the
field. Unfortunately it will be the 2013 team.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">Other
random thoughts:<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">It
made no difference in the grand scheme of things but why on earth did we not go
for 2 after our first TD to tie? That seemed like just another entry in our
growing encyclopedia of questionable coaching decisions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin-bottom: 0in; margin-left: .25in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 0in; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif; mso-fareast-font-family: Arial;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">-<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">That
OPI on Baker was weird. Normally OPI means a push-off. KSB actually pulled the
DB in closer. Regardless of the validity of the penalty, challenge with 13 seconds left in blowout is a douche bag move that should result in a kick to the nuts.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2457862363782171899.post-23028479997350480452023-09-29T06:30:00.001-06:002023-09-29T06:30:00.143-06:00Riders vs. Lions: Road Kill<p><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You
may remember that prior to the last matchup against BC I titled my post "Beatdown Coming" and predicted we would get whooped. We of course played one of
our better games of the season and snuck out a big win. So dare I risk making
the same mistake twice?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">You
damn right I do! We suck on the road. So much so that our odds of victory are
on par with the odds of Micah Awe getting suspended. I mean sure, its technically
possible, but not very likely based on recent history. The only team with a
worse road record than us is Ottawa (who we just go embarrassed by). We lose road
game by an average score of 31 to 16. If you only count the most recent 5 road
games (i.e. exclude anything that happened in Alberta) that jumps to 36 to 14.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">BC
is 5-1 at home and trying to clinch a home playoff game/chase down Winnipeg.
They are also… what’s the word I’m looking for?... good. They are mostly
healthy and getting Dominque “Busta” Rhymes back into the line-up. While we do
get Dalke back, we are far from healthy. I wouldn’t recommend taking betting
advice from an online blogger who dresses in a robe but betting on BC is
probably a pretty safe one. I would also bet the over on BC's runningback's rush yards (don't even care what the line is, take the over).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Jake
Dolegala needs to figure it out on the road. He seems to do okay at Mosaic but on
the road he goes to hell. He has a decent 9 TD to 4 INT ratio overall but in his road
games that ratio is just 2 TDs and 3 INTs. Frankie Hickson appears to be a guy who could really
help him out but expect another great first quarter followed by the run game becoming
an afterthought. Bane also appears to have become an afterthought. If we have
any illusions of winning I think both Hickson and Bane need to be fed the ball.
I know it makes me sound like the Szarka lovers I used to openly mock but dammit
I think we should give Betrand-Hudon a few carries. If nothing else he will set
a physical tone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Defensively,
I think we will all be happy with pretty much anything above laughable incompetence.
I would like to see if Albright was a one hit wonder or if he’s yet another of
O’Day long line of great D-line finds. Dalke back at safety should help with
physicality. He can stop the run on his own or make other guys tackle any
better but every little bit helps at this point. When flustered, Vernon Adams
will hand out turnovers like he started a bakery and that’s our only chance of hanging
in this one is a few takeaways.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">I’m
not even going to pretend to be optimistic in this one. We are going to lose. Likely
by multiple TDs. This team always looks about as excited for a road game as you
would be for a colonoscopy. By the time the final whistle blows in BC some of
you may be wishing you’d opted for a colonoscopy over watching the game.</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Arial",sans-serif;">BC
by 18.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Rider Prophethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05111976277479263164noreply@blogger.com0