Are You Smarter Than A Toddler Week 13 Picks

Here are the Prophet family picks for week 13

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

Riders vs. BC: Any Time Now

I don’t know about you but I’ve had just about enough of this losing business. After coasting through the start of the season in first place we face the very real possibility of dropping down to third if we don’t get things figured out. Sunday we get our first look at the BC Lions of the year. Winning the season series with them is must if we want a home playoff game. Now if we were in the East division we would likely be selling playoff tickets by now… maybe we should see if we can switch when the Bombers do.

Our issues are so evident that I’m a recent immigrant who knows nothing of sports could figure it out. Defense is playing great ball but killing themselves with penalties and late collapses. Offensively between a line that can’t block and a game plan that refuses to adjust, we cannot handle any kind of pressure. There are Faberge eggs out there that can handle more pressure. It’s really that simple. If defense can quit hurting itself and more importantly if we can find a way to move the ball and score then we will get back to our winning ways.

Problem is we have to manage that against one of the stingiest D’s in the league in Rich Stubler’s unit. They are # 1 against the pass, #2 against the run, are tied for most picks with us and don’t allow a ton of points. Also, unless Stubler suffers a major brain injury on the trip here or his sweater vest cuts off the circulation to his head he will be sending a lot of pressure. He has a veteran secondary than he can trust to handle things manned up. We have 2 option to counter the inevitable pressure: 1) pray our OL has suddenly massively improved or 2) go on the offensive and start calling plays that will make the Lions pay for their pressure. We need to stay committed to the run even though Garrett is no Sheets (he can bust one for a big gain). We need call some screens and dump offs and we need to milk the short hot routes and take the small chunks of yards they will give us. Stubler is a patient man. He will give you 4-5 yards per play... so we need to take it and string together long drives. Lions like to ballhawk so I would avoid anything to the wideouts under 20 yards. Dressler, Getz and Simon (who should have the BC coverages memorized) will need to carry the load. Be patient, be smart and be willing to counter the blitz… that’s how to get our offense back on track.

Defensively we get the relative unknown in Thomas DeMarco starting. About all I know about this guy is that he looks like a chach. Normally I wouldn’t be worried but this franchise has made stars out of many an unknown Lion back-up QB. The good news is that this O has been struggling even with Lulay in. The have only the 5^th best passing attack and only Montreal and Winnipeg have less passing TDs (and they have new starting QBs each week). They have the 3^rd most giveaways (they have more loose balls than a nudist colony). Their OL was once revered for the protection they provide but recently has let Lulay take a late night Dewdney-style beating (too soon?).

Our D has been very solid of late (minus the dumb penalties and the 4^th Q last week) so there is no reason to believe we can’t keep that up. There are 2 keys as I see it. 1) eliminate the long ball to Arceneaux and 2) stuff Harris. Simply put without the big play or the run, I don’t see DeMarco stringing together long drives against us. Plus here’s a nice fact about Harris. The Lions are 6-1 when he gets over 15 touches and just 1-3 when he gets less. Limit Harris and our odds of winning sky rocket.

If I’m being perfectly honest with myself, the way our O has been playing is worrisome when matched up against a solid D in BC. We have already lost to 2 inferior teams. Logic says this will be a tough game. But like any good Rider fan I suppress my logic with alcohol and go with a gut feeling. We are at home and have all the tools to beat the Lions if we just put together a complete game on both sides of the ball. Time to prove we are still a force to be reckoned with.

Riders by an improbable 4^th quarter rally end in a Milo FG (because we never do things the easy way).

As a side note, after missing out on Labour Day, I am really looking forward to the potential of getting to play the Buck Pierce Injury Pool game. Come on broken fingers.

Monday Evening Sentimonies: Opportunity Missed

 

Riders 29 – Argos 31

In case you’re wondering this post is coming to you late because I had intentions of writing it last night but went to bed instead. I’m nothing if not brutally honest… and a rye enthusiast and highly stereotypical… but mostly honest.

                  

After a craptastic week, the start of Saturday’s game continued the downward trend. Things just kept getting worse. We were turning the ball over repeatedly, Milo's streak ended, Sheets got hurt. Honestly at the rate things we going I was convinced that by the end of the game Durant was going to be struck down by lightning, the new temp stands were all going to collapse simultaneously and Michael Bishop was going to make an appearance.

But somehow we managed to shake of that unbelievably bad start and claw our way back into the game with a halftime lead. I was thinking, there it is, there’s the team that can fight through adversity and succeed. Unfortunately it was a short lived feeling and things once again went to hell. We made an attempt at a miracle comeback but it was far too little and far too late. We let a win slip away and suffered a home defeat for the first time this season.

Once again the defense has to be given full credit because they played some incredible football for 3 quarters. Despite a rash of errors on offense and special teams, they fought hard forcing multiple turnovers (for a while it seemed a forgone conclusion that each drive would end in us forcing a fumble). They also held the Argos to only 12 first half points and give our offense a myriad of chances to score. Problem was they received limited help from the O and eventually broke down at the worst possible time… in the 4^th. They obviously had no clue who John Chiles was or assumed he was an illegible receiver (solid Proulx-ism there) because he got free a ton in the 4^th. Overall its hard to fault a D who once again turned in a strong performance but we needed one more quarter from them and they fell short.

Offense I have far less flattering things to say about. Clearly losing Sheets greatly affected our game plan but we had chances to win even without him. About the nicest thing I can say about the O-line is that they were moderately less terrible than last week but that’s not saying much… when they weren’t busy taking penalties (I’m looking at you Picard) they were letting defenders through like they were on the guest list. Durant needs more protection than that but even so he played pretty poorly. He’s regressing to hold habits like throwing directly into coverage and holding onto the ball too long. On one play he hit Kahlif Mitchell in the belly button… the belly button! and it damn sure wasn’t because the 300 pound oaf has a massive vertical. I realize that blocking is a big part of executing our offense and we should be able to count on it but at some point you have to concede that it ain’t gonna happen an adjust accordingly. Obviously all our plans to deal with the pressure involved Sheets because we had nothing else. Still no screens, very few quick dumps. We refused to run. I realize that Hughes is no Sheets but he is capable of running the odd time. He's Canadian not retarded.

Speaking of Neal Hughes. I love that man! Talk about making the most of an opportunity. He played like a man possessed (most likely possessed by the knowledge that a starting opportunity like this will never be coming his way again) and was the lone bright spot on O.

The one series that defined out day was when we recovered a fumble on their 20 something yard line. Now predictably this led to an easy FG… the problem is between multiple Picard penalties and a snap that would only have been on target if Schmitt was standing on the SGI Building, the Argos someone managed to get the ball back from us in scoring range. It’s was almost comical… almost but my laughter came out as curse words.

In the end the game boiled down to this: the D put in 3 great quarters, the O put in 1 great quarter plus a few minutes at the end. You just can’t expect to win games like that against good teams especially when special teams hurts you more than hinders you. We fought through some adversity but succumbed to it in the end. All is not lost and I still have faith in this team to get things back on track but its gut check time (for both players and coaches). The road to the Grey Cup is bumpy and full of pot holes not paved in gold.

Other Random Thoughts:

-       Whatever Argo defender got hurdled by Hughes should be thoroughly embarrassed. Come on its Neal freakin’ Hughes

-       We were told that Cory Watman was the most pro ready OL prospect in the draft. Given our refusal to use him despite depleted OL depth either it is a terrible reflection on the quality of OL in this draft or we misjudged his readiness greatly

-       What a catch by Geroy Simon! I was very vocal in my displeasure at how much we are paying him but to his credit he is doing everything that is asked of him and doing it well.

-       If Kierre Johnson could learn how to catch he would be a deadly weapon out there

-       If Chris Getzlaf could learn how to catch consistently he would break records

-       Despite falling short at least we are showing the fighting spirit to claw and fight until the last second.

Are You Smarter Than A Toddler - Week 12 Picks

The Prophet family has shown a suprising display of unanimity this week as me, the Mrs, Step-Prophet and Prophet Junior are all taking the same picks

Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, BC

Momma Prophet is the lone dissenter taking Hamilton, Edmonton, Saskatchewan and Montreal

Riders vs. Argos: Adversity Abounds

Well after riding a wave of happiness and rejoicing for the better part of the season, the Riders were sure knocked back down to earth with a week of non-stop bad news. First we lost in embarrassing fashion to a terrible football team, then we lost Rey Williams to a season ending ACL tear, then of course there was all yesterday’s hoopla (believe that it the first time I’ve ever used that word here) surrounding the charges against Dwight Anderson and Taj Smith. Honestly we were a drug problem and a telethon away from hitting for the bad news in Riderville cycle.

But boo freakin’ hoo!! Every team in this league has faced adversity and now it’s our turn. No one is going to feel sorry for us nor should we feel sorry for ourselves. Calgary has a ton on injuries, they are powering through. Montreal and Toronto have lost a future hall of fame QB for the year and Montreal has been through a coach and they are fighting through. Edmonton… nah they are just generally a gong show so bad example. So all our highly regarded coaches and veterans whose signings were trumpeted better be earning their keep this week by getting this team to tune out all the BS that is swirling and focusing on the only thing that matters: beating the Argos on Saturday.

The game may be just what this team needs. It’s a rare night game so you know the crowd will be jacked up. It’s a home game so the team should be jacked up. The Argos are a formidable opponent but one that is beatable if we play our game. It’s also the 10^th anniversary of Estonia joining the European Union… so there’s that. The more you know.

Priority #1 will be getting our supposed top offense back into high gear. Last time we met it was the Taj Smith and Kory Sheets show. As of writing this I have no clue if Smith plays but the fact remains that the Argos are an aggressive team that are susceptible to the big play but also built to make big defensive plays of their own. They give up a ton of yards (most passing and second most rushing) but have the 3^rd stingiest defense in terms of scoring. That’s why I feel Sheets will be so key this game. The Argos are content given up small chunks of yards and tightening up in the redzone. Few teams have the commitment to the run game to take advantage of that or a RB that has the skill to make them pay. We have both. If Chris Jones is half the defensive genius we think he is you can bet he will be bringing pressure all night long. Now the Argos don’t have the strength along the DL that the Bombers did but they are alright and very strong at LB. We need to come ready to counter the pressure. Quick dumps to the hot route (isn’t this why we signed Simon?), deep bombs to wideouts to loosen things up… a screen or some other short pass to Sheets. Anything to slow down the pressure and give Durant time to think. Part of that assumes the OL puts on their big boy pants again but I think they’ll respond with a good showing. I expect an overall bounce back game from the O.

Defensively we will need to contend with someone new manning the middle. Early indications are McCullough, Ferri and Peters will be called on though I expect Ferri and McCullough to get the bulk of the work given their experience. The good news is that the Argos have a dreadful run game. The Kack attack (still can’t believe he willingly uses that term, just sounds wrong) will be back which may help. But overall they just aren’t really committed to running. Collaros can throw and has good protection up front. They may not have Owens but guys like Barnes, Inman and Jackie Chiles can all make plays. (PS I realize his real name is John Chiles but Jackie just entertains me more. It just fits better… like a glove). Collaros has shown a great ability to escape pressure so if our rushers do break through they need to not go all Adam Bighill and embarrass themselves.  He is still an inexperienced QB, take away what little run they have, make life miserable for him in the pocket and he will screw up. D played great last game so no reason to expect they won’t come to play again.

Toronto has been ridiculously inconsistent. At times their D looks scary, at times useless. At times Collaros and the O are explosive, at times as impotent as an old man. If the Riders can tune out the distractions and execute their game we have a great chance to make them look like the crappy versions of themselves. Let’s cheer loud and give them the boost needed to come out firing on all cylinders.

Riders by a late Kory Sheets TD (this will be close and stressful)

Don’t forget that its Purolator Tackle Hunger day so bring a donation for the Food Bank. Be generous, it’s a good cause. See you in the stands.