Monday Evening Sentimonies: Defensive Domination

Riders 35 – Lions 14

What a great night! My voice is only now recovering. I’d like to say that’s the reason that this post is late but that really wouldn’t make any sense, what with this being a written blog. So I will just go with the standard laziness… you get what you pay for. Actually I was too busy looking at my new blog mascot:

He came with my pre-game Weisers and was obviously a good luck charm.

For a game that started with the Riders dropping more balls than a room full of pubescent boys, it sure ended fantastically. Sure the conditions played a role but our defense absolutely dominated that game. They allowed just 14 points (7 of which were the offenses fault for a deep turnover), forced 9 turnovers (11 actually but 2 were called back on stupid penalties), held BC under 150 yards passing and chipped in a TD as a bonus. Simply put the Lions had no chance offensively. They were dominated. Having Weldon Brown back was a huge boost.  I’m not sure if Andrew Harris slept with someone’s with daughter but man do they hate him in BC. I guess he lost out to Logan. Their loss, our gain. I really don’t see Lulay being healthy in time for playoffs so worst case scenario, DeChacho will be back to lead the progressively more inept BC offense against our ridiculous D at home… me likey.

Offense was decent. They shook off a craptastic start and turned in a great first half. They went into coast mode a bit early in the second half for my liking but given the score and the way the defense was playing there was little need to take many risks. Running game was solid as always. Really like using Durant in short yardage again, if nothing else it changes things up and stops the defense from diagnosing the play before Willy has left the sideline. I have said before that even mediocre offensive performance tied with our defense is good enough and the offense did more than that. We will need better than that against the Calgary’s of the world but they got the job done convincingly and that’s all I care about. Isn’t that right white Andrew Greene?

Overall this team did what is was supposed to and took care of business. For a nice change they did things the easy way and locked up a home playoff date and if Saturday was any indication Mosaic will be rockin’ whenever that playoff game is. Now we just gotta go to Calgary and keep pushing for first place. Buckle up because the best part of the year is just getting underway.

Other random thoughts:

-       Loved the PR/IR Rider cheer squad, not sure what they were on to keep bouncing like that but it sure got the crowd going.

-       Crowd overall (at least those that showed up) were into it and loud.

-       Haven’t watched the replay yet but how do you take a roughing the passer call when the QB doesn’t even get knocked to the ground?

-       Seriously, how awesome is white Andrew Greene?

Are You Smarter Than A Toddler - Week 17 Picks

Here are the Prophet family picks for week 17

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

Riders vs. Lions: Get Loud!

Admittedly there are times when it’s hard to determine who shows worse judgment, the CFL schedule makers or the CFL refs. But to their credit, the schedule makers have been good to the Riders this season. I love the intra-division games to end the season and we get the added bonus of a Saturday night game, against a division rival… oh and by the way we have a chance to lock up a home playoff game.

Ladies, gentlemen and people from Manitoba who read this (and can be classified as neither ladies or gentlemen), if you aren’t amped up and shaking with excitement over this game then you have no soul… and this is coming from me, a ginger. The stands better be packed and they better be deafeningly loud (unless we are on offense then shut up or I will start systematically applying sleeper holds).

Two weeks ago we beat this same team in BC Place, handily. Now we are back in our own park where unfortunately they beat us a few weeks back. But don’t discount the home field advantage. BC has just 3 road wins this season (us, Esks and Bombers). Also consider that the much hyped BC defense is allowing an average of 21 points at home… but that swells to 30 on the road. By comparison the Riders have allowed a league low 131 points at home, 20 less then BC which is second and 80 less than Calgary. Home field is a marked advantage and a raucous sold out crowd will further enhance that. I would love to get cockier about this match-up but if I had a dollar for every home game against BC that ended in a rye induced rage I have enough money to… err… buy a stadium burger (man inflation is really making this expression a lot less impactful).

Defensively we get huge boost in the form of Weldon Brown back in the line-up. He is one of our best defenders and should help further solidify a unit that is performing well. No reason to expect anything but a solid performance from the D. Key will be eliminating Harris (which BC is doing a good enough job on their own of) and making DeChacho one dimensional. As much as the talk in the media is about the under use of Harris, I think the bigger issue is a struggling O-line. Harris has actually had more rushes this year than at the same point last year, just less yards. Also consider that BC has the 2^nd lowest average gain per rush in the league and that they have allowed 41 sacks this year (11 more than they did all of 2012, and sure to swell further on Saturday). Injuries are certainly a factor but my point is I think the OL play is more to blame in BC than under use of Harris. So glad we have a D-line that can take full advantage of that match-up and continue to keep Harris as a non-factor.They have good receivers but our DL should make life miserable in the pocket leading to incompletions and picks.

Of course the concern is offensively… but just 2 weeks ago we hung 30 on them. So it can be done. BC will likely make adjustments to shore up the weaknesses we exposed but we can stay one step ahead by building on what worked and adding in new wrinkles to keep them guessing. Adding Sanders in for a few series (along with Sheets if possible) would add a new element. Use McHenry/Hughes on leakouts. Use Sheets more in the passing game as they will be amped up to stuff his running. Anything we can do to keep from getting predictable because that is when defenses can make us look more useless than an Eskimos playoff ticket. A quick start would be a huge boost as it would get the crowd going and place huge pressure on DeChacho which will likely make him crumple quicker than Buck Pierce’s skeletal system. Stay balanced with the run, stay unpredictable in the pass, and don’t turn the ball over. The way our D is playing (as last week proved) anything beyond mediocre offensive play is icing on the cake.

This is a test of character. Are we a championship caliber team that can seize opportunity when it arises as we’d all like to think? Or are we still that team from the midseason slump that lets it slip away? While this team tends to perform better when I doubt their chances, I still feel that with the roster that we have built, we are that team that will seize opportunity. I will likely have more than a few curse filled moments in the stands and the game will likely be closer than it should be but in the end I see me using my home playoff ticket for more than a bookmark come November…

Riders by a Sheets TD.

Be there. Dress Warm. Cheer your damn lungs out!

Monday Morning Sentimonies: Thanksgiving Edition

Riders 14 – Esks 9

Well I’m certainly thankful we somehow emerged from that debacle of a game with the win because there are Jacksonville Jaguar season ticket holders who are laughing at us (ps – what kind a masochist would you have to be to pay the subject yourself to 8 Jaguar games?). At the end of the day winning is the only thing that matters… which is another thing the Riders should be thankful for because the Rod Black approved rating for artistic merit was likely in the negatives.

I really can’t say enough about the play of our defense. They are playing at an elite level. What is the most impressive is their level of play despite missing Rey Williams (a rock in the middle of our D), Weldon Brown (who is our most underrated defender), Rod Williams (one game was enough for me to see he can play) and Macho Harris (who is clearly constructed of material purchased at the dollar store). Really scary to think how dangerous a full complement of starters would be. 2 picks, 3 sacks, no TDs, a game saving goal line stand and were it not for that stupid tip to Matt Carter they would have help Reilly under 200 passing. You gotta be impressed with this unit.

By contrast to our defense that is consistently performing at a high level, there is our offense which continues to perform at a level that would struggle to cut it by even Manitoba standards. Not sure how you play that well against a very good BC D and that poorly against a non-playoff team.  I was actually all set to praise this unit again as the first half gave me hope. Runs, screens, draws, even the very Canadian Dressler punt for the single (though for how far that went we might as well just have let Schmitt try). Then the 2^nd half cam and led me to believe they had been eating turkey in the locker-room at halftime. There was just nothing happening. Love our commitment to the run but at some point during the 10 runs up the middle for next to no gain maybe we could have considered trying a different kind of run or even mixing in some Sanders to change it up. That said, the run game was the only part of the O that was useful. Passing game was bad. Durant made some poor reads, like that INT to Curran where he telegraphed that pass to Smith so bad that he might as well have been yelling the Edm D where it was going. That killed all the momentum gained from a great INT by the D. Then compounding it was Getzlaf Getzlafing. Fact: Getz would be the leading the receiver in the CFL if he could catch consistently. The frustrating part is he makes the hard caches and Getzlafs the easy ones. That brings me to the failed 3^rd down gamble. A – it was a bad call. In that situation with how good our D was playing you take the 3 points and go up 8. B – That said a 3^rd down plunge should be automatic. But our line got no push and Willy had nowhere to go. I’m not a huge fan of QBs who go sideways on the plunge looking for a hole (ala Bo Levi Mitchell) but Willy has been stuffed a couple times now and BC blatantly called the hole he was going to before the snap last week so maybe we need to change things up… or just have our line put on their big boy pants and man up. Bottom line though is without a quasi-useful passing attack we won’t be playing much football in November. Cortez needs to call better plays, Durant needs to play better, receivers need to get open and make catches.

Whole situation kinda reminds me of ’08. Our D was playing at an unreal level… our O was embarrassing. Thing is in ’08 we had the excuses of a dozen broken fibulas and a retarded QB named Bishop. Tis season we have no such excuses, talent across the board, no major injuries. That season ended with Mo Lloyd famously commenting that ““You can play against the deaf, blind and the homeless and you will never win a game with (seven) turnovers,''. Now I don’t think we are approaching Bishop-like levels of incompetence but we have a championship calibre D and with a little offensive support could really make a run this year. Gotta get this figured out because the path the big game is paved with better teams than Edmonton.

Other random thoughts

-       How many people saw the Edmonton receiver on the first play that we failed to account for standing wide open on the far side of the field doing jumping jacks screaming for the ball? Had Alex Hall not disrupted the play that would have been an easy TD.

-       What the hell Cory Huclack?!? He hasn’t sailed this many snaps in his entire Rider career.

-       As good as our D played they were damn lucky the Esks can’t catch. A lot of drops on their part really helped our cause.

-       I love how we have just given up on half time shows. “Today’s halftime show is something we already showed you earlier.” Maybe next week the halftime show will be the singing of the anthem.

-       Speaking of the anthem, if the Riders are intent on bringing in singers who take an hour to sing the anthem they should use them in the summer. When its cold I want the anthem sung as efficiently as possible. No time for freelancing when I can see my breath.

-       At first I thought Reilly scored on the deciding 3^rd and goal but after watching the replay I was far less sure. Had the call gone against us I would likely have been pissed but there was no clear evidence of him crossing.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone