West Semi Final: Riders vs. Lions

It’s amazing the difference a few years can make. In 2007 you would have had to mortgage your house, go in debt to a shady loan shark, offer you’re first born and throw in a no questions night with your wife just to be in the top 5 bids for a playoff ticket. Granted capacity was a lot less and back in ’07 seeing a home playoff game was akin to seeing an albino gopher playing poker with a talking moose but still in just a few short years the excitement over playoff games has sure waned. Personally I’ll be disappointed if we get less than 39,000 but honestly I have bigger worries that attendance.

Truthfully it doesn’t matter how many people are there as long as the people that are are jacked up and loud. Just ask anyone who was at the Thunderbowl if a full stadium is needed for deafening noise levels. I love playoff football on the prairies. The electricity in the stadium in ’07 and ’09 were unreal!!!! (’10 got there eventually and ’08 was dampened a bit by the whole “trusting in Bishop” thing). I am jacked up beyond belief and can’t wait for Sunday to get here!

Now let’s get to the game.

It’s amazing despite playing the Lions 3 times since the end of September that this match-up would present new challenges and angles but that’s exactly what has happened. The big “new” thing is Travis Lulay. We have yet to face him. Also with Logan fully ingrained in the offense now they Lions have miraculously rediscovered the run. Bottom line, throw the last 2 convincing victories out the window and buckle up for a big time challenge.

Let’s start with defense. They have been our biggest strength in the second half of the season and are the stingiest unit in the league. We have a scary D-line, a LB group that is quietly playing very solid and a secondary that leads the league in picks… and may even improve with the possible return of Rod Williams. Also, despite the hype around Lulay let me point out 2 things. 1 – I highly doubt his shoulder is anywhere close to 100% and a few stiff hits in the prairie tundra may prove that. 2 – Even when healthy Lulay was not playing very good. People complain about Durant’s 12 INTs but Lulay had 11 INTs and played way less games. He certainly can be dangerous all I’m saying is that it’s not a given. Key will be to take away the run. We did OK last time but Logan still got some good gains on us. Hopefully we learned some stuff from watching tape of the game against Calgary where Logan/Harris ran wild (albeit against a team who did not care and lost their starting DTs). Without the run BC will be stuck relying on the tender shoulder of Lulay or the tender everything of Pierce. While Nick Moore was their leading receiver, Arceneaux is the one who scares me because of his big play ability, gotta keep that in check. Our D-line should add a ton of pressure against an OL that honestly is very mediocre especially by BC standards. Lulay can/will run so we need to be disciplined on the edges. Stay aggressive, stay smart, stay solid for 60 minutes and despite the hype based on last game I think we will be able to keep their O under wraps. Won't see the turnoverfest we saw last time but expect a couple to be forced by our D.

Offense will be very interesting. On the plus, we will have our top 5 guys in the OL blowing things up for Sheets and protecting Durant. Best will give a huge boost. Sheets will be rested and eager to pound out the yards. Durant will be less banged up than normal (which is about as good as it gets come November). On the downside, I highly doubt Getzlaf plays. Bottom line is that if the news was good they would have told us. The silence and stalling remind me a lot of how BC responded when Lulay got hurt. Bonus if we see him but not counting on it. Let’s not forget that this is a veteran BC defense, coached by one of the best in the business. They have a solid front 4, a ridiculous LB core and secondary of savvy vets. #1 against the pass, #2 against the run. However they play significantly worse on the road than at home. How significantly? They allowed 90 more points on the road than they did at home.  Let’s take advantage of that. First and foremost we need to pound Sheets. He’s motivated, he’s talented and has the OL group back that had him on pace for 2K early on. Second, mix it up. Passes to RBs, get Sanders involved, surprise everyone by throwing to Simon more than his one token pass, anything to keep them guessing. Dressler has been big in the last 2 games with them and we will need him even more with Getz out but guys like Smith and Simon can bear that load too. Bottom line is that our D will keep the game close enough to win even with a mediocre offensive showing. So we need to avoid turnovers and keep things easy on ourselves. Play smart, take shots when they are there and throw a bunch of different looks at them.

Quick note on special teams, with our full set of normal cover guys I anticipate we will be better than last week which will be needed because BC can hurt you with big returns. Would be nice if we could finally get a return TD but I will be happy with securing the ball and consistently getting good field position.

Its playoff anything can happen and BC is a team that could beat us… that said I don’t see it happening. BC has 3 road wins this year… 3! They are not a good road team and now have to some to icy cold Regina where Mosaic will be a deafening madhouse to face an extremely good defense and an offense that can be dangerous when it gets its crap together. It won’t be easy (hopefully not 2010 double OT magic hard as my heart just can’t take than kinda stress) but this is a game we should win and a game we will win.

Riders by 10 including a Geroy Simon TD.

Rest up your voices and lunges and break out any noise maker you got… its playoff time, get ready to unleash hell on the Lions.

Monday Morning Sentimonies: That’s The End Of That Chapter

Riders 26 – Eskimos 30

I’ll be honest that was a better game than I was expecting. It could have been a low scoring stinkfest with 2 teams who really didn’t care. Hell we cared so little that we didn’t even remember to introduce the Eskimos at the start of the game. At least we were treated to a competitive game. Even more important is that unlike the Stamps, we emerged without any major injuries. Only guy I even noticed get hurt was Kuale and we had no plans to play him I the playoffs anyway.  Not much point of analysing this game for obvious reasons but there were a few things I will highlight.

The improvement in the line play with Best back in was noticeable (even with newcomer Lee in for Fulton). Runs up the middle were a lot better and overall stability of the line was much better. Granted the Esks have awful run D but still. It was great overall to see the run game effective. Didn’t matter if it was Garrett or Sanders. By the way, where the hell was all that Garrett goodness when it actually mattered?!? You just know that Sheets was killing himself on the sidelines going “if Garrett can get 152, I could have easily taken the rush lead”. I hope the offensive coaches take a look at how effective mixing up the run game and involving the RBs in the passing game was.

Only real downside for me was how god awful our kick coverages were. At the start of the year they were downright dominant. Saturday, they were a liability. A lot of big returns including that game losing one for a TD. We are facing a way better returner in Logan next week so we better get that fixed and fast.

Outside of that I have nothing more to add than my random thoughts (only some of which are related to football). I’ll be back later in the week jacked up for playoff football.

-       Mike McCullough has been playing really great football this year. I assumed this would be his last season but if he can still play like this then why not keep going?

-       Decent showing by both QBs, minus Sunseri’s refusal to just throw the ball on the last play of the game.

-       Speaking of Sunseri, his failed attempt at clocking the ball is one of the greatest things I’ve seen in a long time. Everyone was so confused.

-       Nice to see Taj Smith get his 1000 yards.

-       Did anyone else catch the announcer call Smith, Thomas Smith? It’s as if he’s taking on an alias, as if he has impending legal issues.

-       Speaking of names, when did Ejiro become EJ?

-       Man the Esks’ bench looked like they won the lottery when they returned that kick for a TD

-       You know who didn’t win the lottery, anyone who bought a 50/50… “technical difficulties” right (wink, wink)

-       I love that they put up the fireplace on the big screen… and then promptly reminded people not to call the police as it was fake.

One last thing, I noticed this while looking at the Rider sideline. While all the players who weren’t dressed for the game were along the sidelines in their standard grey sweats. One guy though, really stood out to me…

You see the dude wearing the giant backpack? We figure it was Devin Tyler. He carried that around the whole game. It led us to speculate what was so valuable that he couldn’t just leave it in the lockeroom. The general consensus… drugs. That or he is a hobo and everything he owns is in there

This is the high quality investigative journalism you get from the Prophet

Are You Smarter Than A Toddler - Final Week Picks

Here are the Prophet family picks for week 19.

Prophet Jr - Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Step-Prophet - Toronto, Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Rider Prophet - Montreal, Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Mrs. Prophet - Montreal, Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatchewan
Momma Prophet - Toronto, BC, Winnipeg Edmonton

Riders vs. Eskimos: Anti-Climatic End

Saturday the Riders close out the regular season at home against the lowly Eskimos. In keeping with the themes of the rest of the final week’s action, this game is more meaningless than my self-appointed status as certified breast examiner. The Riders will be hoping to emerge healthy and ready to resume meaningful games next week. The Eskimos will be looking to put in just enough effort to look like they care while still trying to covertly coast into offseason mode.

All signs point to Durant sitting… and rightly so. He has nothing to gain by playing so it’s better to rest him and get him healthy (or at least as healthy as he can get in November) for the playoffs. Plus anytime Willy can get some meaningful action you should take advantage of the opportunity (at least that’s my policy). I will be interested to see if Willy will be the solid confident QB we saw in his start against Hamilton or if he regresses to the shaky scrambler we saw last year. It will be telling as to where is development is at. Garrett will also likely get the bulk of the workload to rest Sheets. They may have to chain Sheets to the bench to keep him off the field and assign a chaperon to make sure he doesn’t sneak on the field. If the record or 2K was a possibility I’d let him run… but since it’s not, I think it’s better to rest him so he can be a terror come the playoffs. Look like Alex Anthony may get a live tryout with Getzlaf nursing a knee injury. I’m interested to see what he can do... given the embarrassingly low standard set by Sisco, Anthony would not have to do much to catapult himself up the depth chart. Overall don’t expect much flash and flare from the O, we will be saving out best stuff for the playoffs (at least that’s the hope that keeps me going). But with a number of back-ups looking to make an impression you can bet there will a solid effort level.

While back-ups will likely dominate the O, the one thing that is meaningful and that I am looking forward to is the return of Best to the line-up and our OL getting back to the starting 5 we want. It’s sad when the thing I am most looking forward to is 5 fat men in tight fitting clothes.  This is an excellent chance for the starting 5 to re-develop the chemistry that made them an intimidating unit early in the year in live action. It’ll probably be shaky at first but before long I expect they will be solid.

Defensively there will also likely be some starters resting. Old man McCullough and Maze are likely to sit and maybe one or 2 more. Same deal as on O, our goal is to emerge relatively healthy. That said consider that last time we played and the Esks actually cared, we held them to 9 points and that was with Stamps in the line-up. Even if we rest a couple, our D-line remains downright scary and the Edmonton OL instills just as much fear in their own QB as our DL. Defense will be solid… maybe not as amped up as the first half of last week, but solid enough to snuff out the second worst offense in the CFL without their top receiver.

On the surface we have an Eskimo team that is playing for their jobs next year versus a Rider team that is more focused on next week. It would not surprise anyone to see the Esks win based purely on care factor. But also consider that no one wants to spend the offseason hurt; this is a home game; and Kavis Reed is an awful coach who will soon be the victim of CONSEQUENCES himself. In a meaningless game anything can happen. Personally the Esks embarrass themselves so bad that we get one last epic Kavis Reed post-game interview.

If you want quality football, you are probably better off checking out the Regina Thunder play in the national championship. But if you enjoy seeing the Eskimos playing a team on a reduced playbook with a bunch of back-ups (aka the fairest fight they are going to get without playing Winnipeg again), then this game will have entertainment value. I say sit back and enjoy a game without the usual levels of stress (save that for next week when stress will be through the roof).

Riders’ Willy scores, ensure happy ending for all.

One last note, the court case for the Anderson/Smith/Riley assault case has been pushed back once again… this time to November 26. I’m sure it’s just coincidence that its 2 days after the Grey Cup. The “stall legal proceedings until the season is over” plan has worked to perfection. This effectively saves the Riders from even having to deal with the issue this year. The system works!