They Suck That Bad and Don’t Seem to Know How to Get Out of it

You really had to wonder Saturday night, what the hell the Saskatchewan Roughriders were doing on the Amazing Race as opposed to being in Mosaic Stadium to face off against the BC Lions.

This is not the defending Grey Cup Champions. In fact, this team will be lucky to sneak into the playoffs on a cross-over because from the coach on down, they don’t seem to know what to do.

For example, during the telecast of the game, which I viewed again just to see if that was actually what the hell I saw; Chris Cuthbert said the 11th commandment in Saskatchewan is – Thou Shalt Not Fumble. We first saw this last year when Jock Sanders was benched for fumbling on kick returns and when Sanders made it back, he did his time in the penalty box, but it seemed to work out.

The difference between last year and this year is there was a hell of a lot more depth last year where you could sit Sanders without losing much in the return game. When Hugh Charles (brought in when Anthony Allen fumbled last week in the loss to Toronto) lost the ball on a fumble at the end of the first half and allowed BC to kick a field goal that changed the game around, he sat out the second half.

The Riders went into the toilet with no first downs, no points scored in the second half. There were other plays that were just as damaging as Charles’ but for which nothing seemed to be done. Tyrone Breckinridge got an absolutely stupid unsportsmanlike penalty for taunting a BC Lion and allowing them to prolong a drive to score. If Brackenridge felt like mouthing off, how about taunting his team mates to make a friggin’ tackle to slow the BC Lions running game down? Another defensive tackle in the black hole of defensive tackles that is the Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive line decides to do a little rough play, prolongs a BC drive and they score.

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And then, Elron Riley, a skinny hockey stick of a kid gets an absolute gift of a pass in his hands for a touchdown and he drops it. Now, do any of these guys get the running back treatment? Their actions not only took points off the board for the Riders, they allowed BC to score points. If I ran things, the 11th commandment would be – Thou Shalt Not Make Stupid fricking plays or you can watch from the sidelines.

Watching Rider Coach Cory Chamblin trying to weasel his way through his inconsistency in the post-game press conference was fascinating. When Charles was the only back who was producing and he gets yanked for a late fumble, Chamblin condemned the Riders to a slow death in the second half. He also punted with a minute and a half left instead of going for it on third down when he was down by 13 points. Essentially he had given up at that time, and yet he takes a strip out of his players for not giving their all.

Now I’m not a Hugh Charles fan. At best he is a change-up running back. To base your running game on him is an experiment due to failure. Still, until we get Kory Sheets back from the NFL, we need whoever seems able to spark the team and move them. As a former linebacker, watching the array of arm tackles just made me think the Riders have seriously taken a step back and no one is stepping forward. I would rather play guys who try and maybe don’t have the talent than guys with talent who don’t try.

So the Riders have a break in their schedule after blowing two games that conceivably, they should have won. Watching Toronto die against Calgary after how they kicked our collective arse, was another agonizing exercise in frustration. The Riders are simply not good.

So what should they do?

Everyone has suggestions; including bringing back Joe Lobedahn at middle linebacker to hold the fort until Chad Kilgore recovers from a broken thumb. That might not be a bad idea, depending on how Joe’s knees are. It does seem clear the Riders do not have a legitimate middle linebacker, and the extra weight that Sam Hurl put on to play middle linebacker has made him slow and awkward.

In theory you could bring Tyron Brackenridge down to play linebacker from safety and maybe move Hurl or Brad Peters back to safety. That would work except Brackenridge has not played middle linebacker and would have about a week and a half to learn a new position.

I think back to the Pros and Joes night when Rider GM Brendan Taman posed the question of what one player should the Riders go after and I went with Solomon Eliminion and won myself a Rider contract for $400 K. The Riders know they have a problem with middle linebacker, and they need someone to step in and a capable back-up. The Riders depth is truly just an inch deep.

I think getting a fix at middle linebacker would help the rest of the defense, although the matador tackling again seriously sucks. Rey Williams would be ideal because he would brook no crap from anyone and you either manned up and played or got the hell out. Dwight Anderson was traded because he started a fight on the sidelines with John Chick, and Chick is one of the few on the Rider defense who is seriously earning his cheque.

Players usually take off during a bye-week, but the Riders would have been better served by having the players stick around and work with their various units.

For example, the defensive linemen should be working out together, both lifting weights and doing their dance steps to finesse their pass rush.

The linebackers should be looking at film, and in the case of Hurl, working with a trainer to do more than just bulk up and to get some of his speed back. Hurl gets around the ball a lot, but that was before he bulked up with no good plan and didn’t realize that with increased size did not come with increased speed.

On offense, Darian Durant and the quarterbacks should be sitting down with the backs and the receivers and going out to various parks around the city. They should be throwing the ball to the receivers on various patterns every night so the receivers get to know how their quarterback throws, and the quarterbacks know how the receivers tend to run and adjust the throws accordingly.

If Tom Brady, probably the best winning quarterback in NFL playoff history, and Peyton Manning, probably best regular season quarterback, both do this with their receivers each week, then why not Durant? Durant can talk about what a fishbowl it is here in Saskatchewan, but the thing is, over half of your receiving corps has no idea who you are, or don’t really care about some comment someone made on an Internet forum. They need a quarterback to lead by example, not someone who keeps away from them.

Winning quarterbacks lead by example and their team would follow them through hell because they believe their guy has a road map that can get them out and they have practiced how to escape many times. If Durant wants to make history by becoming the first QB to win more than one Grey Cup, then take control of the receiving corps and tell them they need to figure each other out or the rest of this season will just back up in someone’s toilet.

The thing is, this should have been going on long before this. The CFL contract fiasco and the Riders curiously misfiring marketing program has the players believing they can just turn it on and everything will be fine.

I’ve said in the past this team has not shown the mental toughness required of a champion. Unfortunately, and pending further review, my statement stands.

The Riders need to mentally toughen up and be prepared to make sacrifices, or they will be tuned out first by their opponents, and later on their fans as it becomes obvious they were content to ride their year on the coat tails of last year.

This week starts Thursday with Edmonton at Winnipeg for first place in the west. Go with Edmonton in a close game.

Toronto goes to Ottawa Friday for the inaugural home opener for the RedBlacks. Toronto has been all over the place winning and losing big, while Ottawa has been competitive. Toronto should win this one by 10 points.

The second game Friday is Hamilton at Calgary with Hamilton starting their back-up and Calgary coming off a convincing win against Toronto. Go with Calgary on this evening.

The game on Saturday is Montreal at BC. BC went to Montreal and lost big time a couple of weeks ago but came up big against the Riders. Montreal does not travel well to the west coast. Go with BC.