Ready for Some Football??

It’s Friday the 13th, which should give some sensitive souls pause, but not this correspondent. It is eight years to the day since I had surgery to remove a cancer which had killed my father just five years before. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to see the Riders appear in four Grey Cups, winning two of them. This year I want to add another Grey Cup to that number.

That run starts tomorrow with the Riders visiting Ottawa in Taylor Field. Yeah, sounds stupid to me, but Ottawa’s stadium is not quite ready so someone had the bright idea to have the Riders donate their stadium for the Ottawa game in exchange for the Riders being able to dress the maximum amount of players they could if it was designated a home game.

The Riders will be on what is considered the visitor’s sideline while Ottawa will gather on what is the Rider home bench. However, this game was not included in the original season ticket package, which meant if you wanted to attend, you had to pay extra. Apparently a portion of the funds is going to Ottawa for this game.

This has gone over about as well as a lead fart in a bathtub with Rider fans with ticket sales lagging and media windbags lecturing fans about not coming out to support the game. One of the things I am getting a sense of is the Riders perhaps hitting the marketing wall with efforts to pick the pocket of fans for their dollars. I was talking to a guy in town for a hail insurance conference and we were talking about the preliminary trial of Taj Smith and Dwight Anderson and I asked him if he was coming back in for the game.

He was from Tisdale and said considering the amount he paid for season tickets, that the Ottawa game was not included, the time involved for travel, and the forecast is for 5-10 mm of rain for the game, it was not forth the disruption in his weekend. For the Regina fans, there is another issue and that is why Ottawa didn’t hold the game closer to Ottawa – hell, even hold it in Laval to see if there is CFL interest in Quebec City?

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When I pay my money for Rider tickets, when I go to the Rider store to pick up stuff for Rider fans across Canada, I expect the money I pay to stay here in Saskatchewan to support my football team of which I own two ownership shares. I remember our team sending money to prop up clubs in the east back in the 80s and 90s and us having to have to have telethons to sell tickets in the 90s. I do not want to go back to those times and this game has been poorly marketed and fans feel a bit ripped off.
That being said, from a football perspective, this reward for holding this game is the chance to evaluate an expanded roster and the Riders need it because of various nagging injuries. Darian Durant will start, but look for Tino Sunseri to play a third of the game and then the two number three quarterbacks, Seth Doege and Adam Weber battling it out for third.

Look for the running back competition to get interesting. Last week, due to time constraints waiting for word of the CFL collective bargaining agreement, I knew the Riders had a new running back in, but got the name wrong. The new back is Anthony Allen from Georgia Tech and the big question is which back will step forward. Remember that Kory Sheets was fourth on the depth chart until he saw the field. But whoever does step forward, they will be very different from Sheets and Jock Sanders. I see the Riders holding on to two running backs, at least until they have a better idea of who will do what in their offense.

The other competition that will be interesting is at wide receiver, and probably more so after the announcement Friday that Taj Smith will be standing trial on charges of beating a 20 year old Somali man last year outside a Regina nightclub. The date for the trial has not been set, but I would imagine the court will not hear the trial until after the Rider season concludes.

But that is not written in stone and the Riders may have to carry another receiver in case they lose Smith to the trial, and potentially to a guilty verdict. So keep your eyes on Chaz Schilens, Brent Swain and Ryan Smith. Schilens and Swain have NFL experience and have looked good in camp while Smith is from North Dakota and has already been designated the next Weston Dressler by Rod Pedersen, voice of the Riders. To which I reply, remember Terrence Nunn? I remember seeing Nunn about three years ago at training camp in Regina catch everything in practice sessions and looked forward to seeing him do the same in game conditions. Nunn never did, but the expectations he raised have resulted in the creation of the Terrence Nunn award for training camp hype going to the player who does great in practice but disappears when the lights go on.

On defense, look to see even more of John Chick on the inside, or flipping between defensive end and tackle in an effort to throw as many fronts as possible to opposing defenses. We’re looking for a couple of defensive linemen to step up, and I would think that even if one of the new players doesn’t get four sacks, three fumble recoveries, two interceptions and one safety – as long as our defense does not give up big yards on the ground, that should be considered a major step forward.
For that to work, we need to see how the competition at linebacker plays out. Sam Hurl, Chad Kilgore and Brian Peters are the names to watch here in the middle, although they could end up deployed wherever. Whoever does the best stop of run stopping and reacting to the ball will be the next middle linebacker. That is all anyone is asking of our middle linebacker, and may the best player step forward and seize the day.

I firmly believe whoever we cut at defensive back can easily be formed in a CFL quality defensive backfield. That means to make this team, a player has to be play multiple positions, contribute on special teams, or perhaps kick field goals like Paul Woldu did in practice this week. Don’t be surprised if in watching this game, you see various players in positions you may not have remembered from last year. The CFL roster may have expanded by two players, but every player is going to be asked to make a contribution.

Special teams will be interesting because we are looking for a new long snapper, a new holder (Weston Dressler held last year) and a new punter. I would say Chris Milo should be safe at kicker and Robin Bartel should be good to go at punter, but Bartel has just kicked a few times at the wind tunnel that is Taylor Field. More important is how the chemistry goes with the players involved with field goals or punts.

The return situation will be interesting to watch. Jock Sanders went off to Calgary in part because the Riders were ticked at how Sanders turned the ball over making punt returns. Rider Head Coach Cory Chamblin wants people who can break returns and hold on to the football. Those who can’t won’t likely make the team.

The CFL did make an offer, the players did accept, although they were not very happy doing so because of misplaying what little leverage they had. As a small business owner, I don’t have a union because I pay my guys well enough that whatever leverage they would get from a union would be minimal.

However, as I said earlier, I have put up Riders who have made the team on the practice roster and had more than enough trouble trying to make things meet on $500 a week. Hell, I would end up carrying those guys, letting rent slide, because they were having enough problems coming to a new country, getting set up, trying to get around, and doing it at a ridiculously cheap level.

So consider this, if Rider practice players were having problems doing this in Regina at practice roster pay, how the hell do they make things works in Vancouver or Toronto? The fairness in me says the players deserved a raise, not as much as they were asking because as I have pointed out earlier, Toronto is going to be a major pain in the CFL ass this season and they will need money to help leverage a new stadium.

The reaction of Rider players was interesting because they look around and they see an organization that is doing exceptionally well, probably third in Canada in sales, and the Riders do all they can to help players out. However, that is not the case with other CFL franchises and I would not be surprised to see the Riders take out ads for road games asking ex-Saskatchewan types to turn out in force for when the Riders visit to help keep the CFL strong.

A new wrinkle has developed south of the border as Weston Dressler, who by all accounts I can access on-line has been impressing in Kansas City, went down with a hamstring injury in training camp. Dressler was practicing with the first unit of the Chief offense, and it remains to be seen how this injury may affect his chances to sticking in KC. If a player is injured, he remains on the team roster under the injury list category until the time comes to add him to the regular roster, practice roster or release him.

I’d put my money on Kory Sheets being the first to come back. If Dressler returns to the Riders, it won’t be until next year when the Riders start the drive to Three-Peat in Dollarama Field in Winnipeg.

So if you are going to bet, take the Riders to shut Henry Burris up yet again. I think he likes it.