Riders Roll Over & Play Dead -Argos Unimpressed

The Riders may have a prairie mile of talent at their disposal, but that talent is about an inch deep as the Toronto Argonauts shelled the Riders 48-15 on Saturday.

The Argonauts demonstrated to the Riders where they need to improve, including running back, a bit on the offensive line, and the entire defense which seemed to play as if they had just left a KFC buffet line with greasy fingers unable to make anything resembling a tackle.

It got to the point where Dwight Anderson faced off against John Chick on the sidelines, and even though Darian Durant and Weldon Brown broke up what would have been an embarrassing blow-up, it pointed out this team can no longer rely on the glory of the 101st Grey Cup to carry them through this season.

This incident appears to have been the tipping point for the major move today of the Riders trading Dwight Anderson to Toronto for a conditional back-up. We remember how Anderson went ballistic in his first game in Edmonton as a Rider with a number of unsportsmanlike calls and picking a fight with the guy whose work ethic could not be questioned on Saturday showed yet again that Anderson has a problem that his physical talent can no longer cover for.

The trade will definitely get people’s attention around the locker room, and it is not like the Riders are not without the talent to cover for Anderson. His trade also frees up cap room which cannot be stressed enough if our running game is turning into three carries and a fumble and we need to sign Kory Sheets in a bidding war.

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Watching players give up by just trying to arm tackle was really disheartening. It was also disheartening to see how the Riders use their running backs, with Neal Hughes running the ball when Anthony Allen got benched for more fumbles. Then when Hughes got injured, Allen had to go back in, but the Riders had to re-jig the rest of their offense to cover for the absence of Hughes and his blocking in the backfield.

The Riders may had had only two practices, but their lack of mental toughness would have made even a full week of practice a waste of time as once Toronto got ahead, it stayed ahead by making big plays. The Riders did come close, making the score 25-15 in the third quarter, but then Toronto roared back and the Rider defense seemed more interested in getting off the field than stopping what Toronto was doing.

That kind of attitude is what we usually see in a Calgary team, and despite Calgary having a superior regular season record, it usually finds a way to self-destruct in the play-offs. The Riders seem to be becoming the heirs to that attitude, which is unfortunate because the schedule does not do the Riders much of a favor.

On Saturday the Riders play BC who are a surprisingly 0-2 despite being pegged as Grey Cup contenders. BC hired a new offensive and defensive coordinator, both of whom have relatively little experience, and word out of the left coast is that if the Lions lose on Saturday, there will be a massive shake-up in their ranks, with perhaps the return of Wally Buono.

The Riders only play BC twice, so winning now would ensure at the very least a split in the season series in determining standings. The Riders next game with BC is August 24 and who knows who will be leading what in BC at that time. If the Riders lose at home to BC, they stand a good shot of getting swept, and perhaps even more disturbingly, will likely sink to fifth place in the west.

The Riders will need to evaluate their running game and see if Anthony Allen with his fumble a game average offers enough to the club to have them keep him on. After Allen’s second fumble, he was benched in place of Neal Hughes, who ran until he got injured and Allen had to return. Allen’s benching reminded a lot of how Jock Sanders was benched last year after fumbling on punt returns and the Riders have Hugh Charles and Keith Tolston ready to go if the stick-um doesn’t work on Allen’s fingers.

The Riders receiving corps looked a bit tentative, allowing Toronto to make some fine interceptions. For the Riders, maybe it is time to have their quarterback call up the receivers, have them run some plays, then eat some burgers. If Tom Brady does this on a regular basis with an ever changing corps of receivers, then nothing should keep Durant from doing this with his receivers as he finds out how they like the ball and what balls would be best for the other person.

It would be nice to hope the Riders will get the message and respond after the Anderson trade. They will get the extra days, but for the Riders to win, they need to be mentally tough. It is tough to pull that off when you have to babysit a talented hand grenade like Anderson in your locker room.

It was an entire team failure on Saturday, starting with the coaching and working its way down. And if you are going to bench your running back for fumbles, something that you knew may be a problem from before, and then have the smarts to have an actual running back that can come in instead of shifting people around.

This season gets more and more interesting.

There is a double header on Friday with Winnipeg taking their 2-0 record into Montreal. I would have said Winnipeg easily but that was before Montreal beat BC at home. Montreal has talent at pretty much everywhere but quarterback. And this is where Winnipeg’s Grey Cup dreams take a hit. Montreal wins here.

The second of the Friday double header is Ottawa at Edmonton. Ottawa started strong but could not sustain against Winnipeg in an interesting and entertaining franchise opener. Here they have an Edmonton team that appears to be more solid than people are giving them credit for. Edmonton wins here.

A double header on Saturday with Calgary going into Toronto for the first game of the two set. Calgary had the bye last week after beating Montreal handily, or perhaps more accurate to say they watched Montreal beat themselves. Toronto impressed me with how they took us apart, and picking up Anderson in a trade will make them more obnoxious on the field, in addition to giving their secondary more CFL experience. If Ricky Ray gives the same show as last week, Toronto wins easily.

BC comes to town for a 730 p.m. start under the lights on Saturday. Before the Anderson trade, I was willing to make BC the slight favorite to win this game mainly because I have been hearing if BC does not win, there will be major shake-ups on the Lions, starting with coaching. The Lions must have known they would take some lumps with two rookie coordinators, but when you are hosting the Grey Cup, the pressure is to have a team contending for it no matter what level of inexperience.

The Anderson trade shows me the Riders are not willing to wait around and will move to cut out problems before they fester. With that message getting out to the players, I think focus will be easier to find on Saturday – Riders now slight favorites.