Will the Last Person Who Played with the Riders’ Offense Please Leave the Batteries Inside?

The Riders' problems lies in part at running back, in particular the fullback position. Earlier this season this spot was occupied by Neal Hughes until he was forced out with a foot injury. The Riders have moved Jerome Messam into the spot, and he paid off in the win over Winnipeg by battering the Winnipeg defensive line into submission.

However, while no one questions Messam’s ability as a runner, his ability as a blocker leaves something to be desired. When Darian Durant hit Rob Bagg for a touchdown, he got nailed by John Bowman and was almost forced out of the game. He stayed in and managed to pick up some crucial runs, but that play crystallized something that I had been thinking about since walking out of Investors Group Field in Winnipeg a winner the week before.

That win did not feature a Rider offensive touchdown, but was said to be a gritty character win because the stadium was mostly against the Riders, making it difficult for the Riders to call signals and getting them into all kinds of strange penalty problems. However, the Bombers did get some good pressure as a result of Durant not being able to call signals and poor blocking in the backfield forcing Durant to hurry throws.

Everyone remembers the start of the season where the Riders sat down running backs for fumbling and in the last two days, the Riders are plus 10 with no turnovers. The Riders don’t have Kory Sheets or Weston Dressler (yet) so they need to figure out how to get their running game going.

The Riders will need to have their running game figured out and operating at full capacity by the playoffs. We saw how a great running game paid off in the playoff games and the Riders will need to ensure that if any running back steps forward, they also step forward for blocking purposes to ensure that Durant does not popped from the blind side.

If Durant can be confident about getting a ball off without getting popped, he will hit his receivers. The overthrows seemed odd, until you think that if Durant has no confidence in his blockers, then getting the ball out his hands makes infinite sense.

The other cure is something that I have been advocating for over a year.

Have Durant, Tino Sunseri and Adam Doege take the receivers out to a park in Regina, get a few footballs out, throw some balls, run some patterns, and then go for some pizza or ribs afterwards. The throws being attempted seem to be intended for receivers either no longer here or on an injury list and activities like this, or bonding, off the field goes a long way to ensuring performance on the field.

The condo complex I live in in Regina has a condo behind me that used to be used by the Riders Omar Morgan and Ladouphyous McCalla who, during the season, would cut their teammates hair on the balcony.

They were great neighbours, even when my Mother was undergoing chemo and would try to sleep, but couldn’t because they had the stereo set up on the other side of the wall from her bed and used heavy bass. So I would have to walk over, ring the bell, and look at a room at 40 large defensive players and ask them to turn the bass down so my Mom could sleep. To their credit, they had food sent over for the next two weeks as an apology.

But that type of activity was necessary because the defense was young and the guys needed to get to know each other so they would have confidence in each other on the field. I don’t see that with the offense and I don’t hear of anything like that being tried.

At this point, it seems like Dressler will be back, and the Riders will have to compete with Ottawa for a monster contract. Sheets is likely to stay in Oakland, and the Riders passing game should step up a pace. If Messam is not too badly injured – he was in a sling at the end of the game – and if he has problems blocking, he could be moved to tight end when Hughes comes back. I’m not sure Will Ford is the answer, and the Riders intent with their running game is to feature whatever back they feel will best take advantage of the opposing defense.

Well, they are on a four game winning streak.

But let’s not ignore the elephant in the room that is John Chick. This Rider defense is performing lights out, and while people rightfully wonder if this pace can last the rest of the season, this defense is playing at a level that maybe hasn’t been seen since the 1960s.

Here is the scary thing .

I would expect John Chick to get double and triple teamed for the rest of the season, but that will open things up for the rest of the team. The secondary seems to be the strength of the team and Sam Hurl seems to be coming around as a linebacker and the Riders just welcomed Chad Kilgore to the linebacker ranks after he broke his thumb. If the defense remains relatively injury free, while the offense gets more proficient in moving the ball, the Riders will take some games they may not have any right to – except for desire.

And speaking of games this week…

So Mr Cocky went 3-1 last week and there are four games this week, with a Rider game on Sunday being the centrepiece of the week.

Montreal is at Winnipeg and while Montreal gave a credible performance, their players are probably asking why Tom Higgins, or Ned Flanders as some of us call him, did not go for two points after scoring the touchdown on a missed field goal. I didn’t care much either way, as I sat there like a reluctant drunk being told the bar was closed and it was time to go.

Montreal was sharper and their defense is not to be underestimated. Winnipeg is coming off two losses in a row, mostly as the result of a short week and a gutsy Rider win to start their short week off right. But, as much as I would love to see Winnipeg crawl into Regina for Labour Day on a three game losing streak, something is telling me that if the Riders are going to do things this year, they are going to have to earn them. Winnipeg will win this one.

Toronto at Edmonton – Toronto is the Exhibit A people point to when they say that how can Ricky Ray continue to throw so well when he is working with back-up while the Riders have such problems? To which I say, blocking and the getting acquainted with your practices where you learn how your receivers are likely to move and they learn what kind of balls you can throw as a quarterback. Toronto has their starting receiving group in the hospital ward, although I believe one or two may be ready to come back. Toronto is starting a massive almost two month road trip thanks to the Jays and the Rogers Centre out to screw over the CFL so they can come in with the Buffalo Bills (cue Supertramps’ Dreamer) Toronto has a decent running game, a decent defense and a first class quarterback. That makes an Edmonton win by a narrow margin more likely, but I wouldn’t rule out a Toronto win if the stars are aligned.

Calgary at Ottawa features a team with a 6-1 record that should be 4-3 and another with a 1-6 record that could be 3-4. Ottawa should have beaten Edmonton last week, but they demonstrated the more you keep the other team in the game, the more likely they are to come back and beat you. Jon Cornish says he is ready to return, but Calgary will wait a week and milk his return for the Labour Day spectacular against the Edmonton Eskimos. Calgary wins easily.

Saskatchewan at BC – this game is pretty important because since these teams play each other only twice, unless they meet in the playoffs, this will be the last time this season. The Riders have a 5-2 record while BC has a 5-3 and whoever wins this will move into a somewhat tie with Edmonton and Calgary. The Riders lost the first game of this series and BC is coming off a pretty good demolition of Toronto on Sunday. The Riders have seemingly no offense, BC hit their receivers pretty deep and has Stefan Logan running effectively. The difference in the closest game I have measured since the Riders beat Winnipeg is John Chick. One man equals one point – Riders by one.

by Riderville

Will the Last Person Who Played with the Riders’ Offense Please Leave the Batteries Inside?

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