So, Hamilton was Supposed to Have Improved This Year?

As far as opening nights go, it wasn’t all that bad.

The Riders kicked off their 2014 season with a 31-10 thumping of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on a week one that featured a couple of surprising results. Winnipeg kicked off their season with a win over Toronto, which is important because we are facing Toronto on Saturday, and Edmonton beat BC in BC, which may mean the Eskimos may be for real this year.

The Riders win was impressive because it seemed the Riders had holes at linebacker which could be exploited by a team with a good runner, and Hamilton has that in CJ Gable and a running quarterback in Zach Collaros that if properly used, could have been trouble. The Riders also had questions at running back and new people at receiver and it takes time to build chemistry.

Well, 10 sacks later and a running back with 158 yards rushing, the Riders may be as good as one hoped, and perhaps better than one thinks. Anthony Allen running for 158 yards behind probably the best offensive line in Canada, has many armchair athletes thinking quite rightly that they could get 100 yards running behind this line.

Does this mean the Riders will pass on Kory Sheets if he returns from the NFL? No, Allen is different from Sheets, but with Sheets, you found yourself rising from your seat, either at the game or at home on the couch, whenever he broke through the line of scrimmage. The last running back to do that was Kenton Keith, who could score anywhere on the field.

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But Allen does hit people and that may be a key to the Riders success this year. Look for them to physically wear down their opposition, either through running the ball effectively or hitting people, until the other team backs off a step and let the Riders take the initiative.

The Riders establishing their running game will buy them some time to develop their passing game. Chaz Scilens seems to have been injured and may not play against Toronto, but the Riders have some interesting receiving prospects, including Michael DePalma, who apparently runs some of the best patterns since Rhett Dawson. The threat of a solid running game though will be first on the mind of opposing defenses and if our receivers can rise to the challenge, the opportunity is there for a well rounded offense.

The defense was insane. The Riders seemed to be short a defensive tackle, but that didn’t seem to be a factor because of 10 sacks and enough pressure and turnovers to make any defensive front a time to celebrate. Sam Hurl was thought to be a potential weak spot, but he contributed sacks and pressure, Brad Peters was a wild man and Rick Foley was happy to be hunting quarterbacks.

There didn’t seem to be any holes to speak of in the defense, which finds things get interesting on Saturday when they face Ricky Ray and the Argonauts. How Toronto lost to Winnipeg is still a question that vexes many, but Scott Milanovich and Ray have problems with Winnipeg defensive coach Gary Etcheverry, and if the Riders throw the same amount of confusion, they should get through the game in pretty good shape.

If there was a bit of an area of concern, it might have been the field goal kicking, even though a short field goal turned out to be a turnover for the Riders. The weather conditions were awful, but Bartel kicked well, with a 47 yard average. Milo could be excused for the wind and the rain, but there has to be a pick-up in his performance.
The Riders return teams seem to be pretty good with Ryan Smith having a major return. The Riders lost Troy Stoudamire to Winnipeg this past week as Stoudamire decided not to take a practice roster spot. Stoudamire had a return for a touchdown in pre-season and Winnipeg seems determined to build a pretty good team on who we leave behind. The Riders had pretty good special teams last year, and seem off to a good start this year.

One of the more notable aspects of the game was the appearance of Sports Illustrated writer Peter King, who was dedicating a week on the Sports Illustrated website to the Canadian Football League. Check out his Monday Morning Quarterback, one of the better written football columns, hell, one of the best written columns, on the net. What he wrote about football in Saskatchewan was pretty good, and pretty much confirms what we already know – those of us who cheer for the Riders are a special breed.

This week in the CFL will be marked by an event I am getting a little pissed off about – the inability of David Braley to sell the Toronto Argonauts to Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. Apparently, and this is something I will have to check with my recent CFL friends in Ontario, the Argos just have 3500 season ticket holders – but Braley wanted $10 million for the team and a percentage of Grey Cup profits. For an owner who wanted to do a hard line with the players, this seems to be in the realm of fantasy island thinking, and is incredibly frustrating for CFL fans who have seen a new stadium in Winnipeg, two new ones this year in Ottawa and Hamilton, BC got re-done and The Riders get theirs in 2017, while Toronto seems oblivious.

Expect to hear more on this situation, and perhaps the time has come to urge all of Rider Nation to contact distant relatives and friends working in the area to take in a game, even if it is just the Rider game, to give that poor benighted team some hope.

But this week, there will be no hope in Toronto, because while Toronto can claim to be surprised by Drew Willy, it was seriously screwed by the Winnipeg defense and here is a little known history nugget. The Riders usually play well in Toronto. It’s when Toronto gets out here that the real problems start. The Riders go into Toronto on Saturday afternoon, 1 p.m. our time, and will by 4 p.m. be leaving with a win and a 2-0 start just before one of the biggest games of the young year against the BC Lions. While the Riders running game took centre stage, look for their receivers to do some serious damage against the relatively inexperienced Toronto secondary. And let’s not forget former Winnipeg coach John Burke is now the defensive coordinator for Toronto. I do remember some good beat down’s of his defense.

The CFL week starts on Thursday when the Ottawa Redblacks, currently in first place in the least conference, go to Winnipeg. It was great and perhaps not totally surprising to see Drew Willy lead the Bombers to a win, much like Tom Burgess used to do. However, while Etcheverry and his defense will have the advantage of seriously screwing over teams seeing it for the first time, one they get film on it, you will be able to run on them. However, this week Winnipeg does the impossible and goes 2-0 with a win over Ottawa.

There is a double header on Friday with BC at Montreal being the early game. I was astounded how BC managed to lose to Edmonton, wondering if I had over-estimated BC or under-estimated Edmonton. I’m beginning to suspect I am underestimating Edmonton because after seeing Montreal struggle in Calgary, I can’t see them doing anything with Troy Smith. He is too inconsistent and Montreal’s receiving corps is seriously too good to be wasted on a reclamation project like him. I project Smith will be out shortly, but this week, BC gets its act together and knocks out Montreal to go 1-1.

Hamilton at Edmonton is the later game and Hamilton has opened its season with a three game road trip and probably the best shot of getting a win getting blown away Sunday night at Taylor Field. Hamilton is a work in progress, and I have faith in Kent Austin they will be better at the end of the season than they are now, but right now they are a speed bump, or road kill, for the other teams. Edmonton will go 2-0 with a win over Hamilton.