NOW We Have a Football Season

It’s pretty rare when the fourth game of a regular season is a must-win, but the relief and fireworks heard and felt around Rider Nation about 11 p.m. Saturday night proved the exception to the rule.

The Riders 37-9 win over the toothless Toronto Argonauts got the Riders back to 500 and two games behind Edmonton and Calgary for first place. It was a win predicated on the running of Will Ford, former Bomber running back, who picked up 113 yards rushing and three touchdowns and a relentless rush from the Riders defensive line sacking Ricky Ray four times.

Now pause and reread that sentence – sacking Ricky Ray four times and then getting two interceptions off of him. That sort of stuff just doesn‘t happen yet it did on Saturday night and so Rider Nation, let us be grateful and start to wonder about the next two weeks.

The Riders are on a two game road trip starting in Ottawa to play the Redblacks. The Redblacks have been competitive and a couple of weeks ago racked up their first home win. Ottawa has a secondary you can throw up on, which brings up an interesting question. Where is the Riders passing game?

Ford led the Riders with three receptions while rookie Dan DePalma (ok, he had time with the New York Giants) had a 56 yard reception to lead receivers with yardage. Clearly Darian Durant and his receivers are not yet on the same page, but getting out of Dodge and the relentless scrutiny Rider practices attract may be exactly what the doctor ordered.

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If the Riders, and I offer this advice free of charge, get Durant and the receivers to a park where they can practice running routes and throwing, and then get them eating burgers or whatever health food stuff is available, there will be a chemistry formed that will improve the passing game. And if that is good enough for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, then Durant shouldn’t have too many complaints.

The Riders seem determined to muddy the waters who their running back is going to be and if they have a three headed running back by committee featuring Ford, Jerome Messam and Anthony Allen – well, I can live with that. The Rider problems in getting their running game together certainly makes one appreciate Kory Sheets even more, especially as NFL camps open. Right now it seems like we have a stable unit, it’s just going to be interesting to see how the Riders deploy their new look running game.

Durant took a nasty hit off a video board when he ran out of bounds on a scramble and to say he is moving slowly this morning would be an understatement. If the Riders can jump Ottawa and maul them early, expect to see Tino Sunseri in to clean up as the Riders look to set the table for their first of three games against Winnipeg the week after.

The other interesting change was Dan Clark taking over at centre over Dominic Picard. Clark took over after Picard had injured his hand during practice and did pretty good in the heart of the Rider line. Clark will likely continue starting, although the Riders will face former Riders Zac Evans and Keith Shologan on the Ottawa defensive line. These two will have something to prove to the Riders.

The Riders though are short on import receivers. On Monday the Riders picked up Kerrie Williams, a former BC Lion, due to receiving injuries in the Rider ranks. To be fair to Durant, it is hard to establish chemistry with receivers when they seem to be going out with injury every game or so.

And if the Rider receiver ranks are depleted, then they have no other option but to emphasis the running game with as many new looks to it as possible. The trick to deciding who will win this season is the team with the best depth, but now CFL teams will have to become much better teachers of their Canadian talent or perhaps they will need to invest in an arena football league for Canada to ensure rookie players get the coaching and playing time they deserve to make an impact.

The other question marks were at linebacker. The Riders have brought in Chancey Aghayere who is out of Louisiana and had some snaps with the Seahawks. Brad Peters and Sam Hurl looked better, but still didn’t look great and you get the impression the Riders are waiting for Chad Kilgore to come back off a broken thumb and then Chris Getzlaf to re-set the domestic line-up number agenda.

Now there are stirrings out there that JC Sherritt, sitting on the sidelines in Edmonton, could be available as a potential middle linebacker here. Sherritt is sitting because he got outplayed by a cheaper guy and his salary, boosted from a record setting tackling season, has made him difficult to move to another team.
The problem is in Edmonton wanting to use Sherritt as a centrepiece of the team ending up over-paying someone who doesn’t quite warrant that salary. The Riders are correct in not panicking and making inquiries as to Sherritt’s availability.

I would worry a bit about Ottawa’s running game, but for the next couple of weeks, the Riders have seemingly caught a break and can get to the first third of the season with a 4-2 record.

Okay, on with the games.

Last week I went 1-3 and TSN fantasy draft team was also comprised of old men, fat lazy cats and the seemingly shoeless.

We start Thursday with Winnipeg at Hamilton. Oh Winnipeg, it will be such fun to go into your stadium to boo you in two weeks. Go with Hamilton, they just broke the winless season and Zach Collaros is now on the six game injury list, leaving Dan LeFeavor passing for over 350 yards. Besides, I own a cat, I cannot break species solidarity

Toronto at Montreal – This could be either the ugliest game of the weekend or the most entertaining. Both teams have slunk home, but Montreal is coming off a break and those teams seem to do well. Go with Montreal.

BC at Calgary – BC ends the Calgary streak and the west is wide open.

Riders at Ottawa – Go Riders.