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The sweetest wine is that which comes from Blue Bomber fan tears

Sep 2, 2014 | 8:24 AM

Who would have seen the Saskatchewan Roughriders actually get to a 7-2 record at the start of the season?

Rider Head Coach Cory Chamblin didn’t, and after the classic struggle on Sunday between the Bombers and the Riders, resulting in a Rider 35-30 score, the Riders now stand at the brink of making a major push in the west or folding and allowing the clown cars with Friendly Manitoba and whatever they are calling BC these days to play catch up.

The addition of Weston Dressler was not anything that made itself obvious on the scoreboard. To expect Dressler to come in with three days practice and absorb the whole offense and fix everything wrong with the Riders was asking a bit much.

But it is the idea of Dressler which I enjoyed seeing in action on Sunday and will look forward for the next couple of weeks because other teams will be forced to account for him. But they will not account for his hard work so when he breaks through, and let’s say that’s in a week or two, his presence on the field will force other teams to chance how they defend our receivers.

We are seeing that to some extent with the 59 yard broken coverage touchdown pass to Taj Smith, and the yards and receptions that Rob Bagg has picked up. I expect that to pick up with the more familiar that Dressler gets and his presence will open up things for everyone.

But, and there are a lot of buts in this game to give one pause and hope. Chris Best was gone from the line-up and he was seriously the most valuable player last year from our Grey Cup team. His absence lead to the Riders being unable to run consistently and that was not cured until he came back and turned our offensive line into the angry unit it is today.

Dan Clark filled in for Best and did pretty well along with Cory Watman. Clark is a local kid who has worked like a dog and should be brought up to Prince Albert as an example to high school kids that if you are willing to put in the work and the hours, you can be an offensive lineman in the CFL.

The Riders offensive line is starting to go through a bit of a change, because it appears that Brent Jones, the centre for the Calgary Stampeders who played for the University of Regina Rams and hails from Weyburn, will be a free agent at the end of this season. If Jones comes back to Saskatchewan, it will be to play with LaBatte and set up Weyburn as the offensive lineman capital of the province. So if you want to be a CFL all start offensive lineman, go to Weyburn because they do a good job.

If Jones comes back, Dominic Picard will likely go and he would head to Ottawa. If Picard is under contract and they sign Jones, they could trade Picard and bring back either Keith Shologan or Zach Evans, both of whom were let go by the Riders in the expansion draft. This is an opportunity for the Riders to audition their younger offensive linemen, get them some playing time, and see who is ready to step forward and who is just picking up a pay cheque.

The Riders with their three headed rushing committee, seem to have stumbled onto the best combination of running game to fill in the gap from Kory Sheets. Relying on just one person has not been proven to be too prudent, so having three runners of varying styles keeps the opposing teams honest.

Will Ford seems to be the opener using his quick cuts to expose potential weaknesses in opposing defenses. Allan and Messam are the battering rams being used in the second half. Messam has a shoulder injury, but they are trying him out at tight end due to a run of injuries to Canadian players that has cut back depth. Allan seems to have shed his fumbling habit and the Riders still have Tolston on the practice roster, who is also a truck with no breaks who can play that role with the team assuming he learns how to block. Blocking to ensure Darian Durant does not get hurt is the most important skill an offensive back can have at this time.

As the offense learns its running identity and how to use their home run hitters, the defense is continuing its work bending but not breaking. The few leaks that did emerge were due to poor special teams tackling, and those are due to the number of Canadians on the injury list. The Riders need to get some of those players back soon to ensure special teams is not going to screw up much like giving up returns for touchdowns against Winnipeg and BC have hurt, but not killed us the last two weeks.

The Riders may have an injury to Robin Bartel, our Australian rules punter whose interesting punting style is encouraged by the Riders to keep the other team off balance. Bartel has been comparable to Ricky Schmidt, who kicked the living Be-alzabub out of the football last year. But Schmidt is in BC, so the Riders have a kicker in camp, but may need a punter who can operate in cooler temperatures at night.

The opposing teams have looked at their tapes and found John Chick is for real. What they are finding now that he is getting extra players sent against him, is that the Riders have other defensive players more than capable of sacking their quarterback. I think all Rider fans share the belief that as long as someone is doing so, what does it bother us here on the ground?

So I went 2-2 last week, blowing both eastern games, but doing very well in the west. This week is mostly repeat match-ups which are always fun because bragging rights are on the line, and if done right, the right team goes into the week after higher than a Turkish vacuum cleaner.

On Friday we have BC at Ottawa. BC is obnoxiously cocky as Winnipeg is prone to do and this time they are dead last in the west and will probably need to win out to grab a playoff spot and a chance at a hometown Grey Cup. I see them beating Ottawa, but for them to get into the top four in the west means showing something they have refrained from doing so this year. A heart. BC takes this one.

Calgary at Edmonton goes at 5 p.m. Saturday, an interesting time, but probably the best in holing up everything till getting another fight underway. It wasn’t much of a first game, and I’m not expecting much of the second, but I do know they put on one of the most entertaining of the year.

A lot depends on whether Mike Reilly is able to return to Eskimo sights or will need to go through a bit of a change in the offense. Calgary will give Edmonton all they can handle, the real magic is whether Edmonton or Calgary are walking the dog when it comes to refine accordingly. Calgary wins again.

For the banjo bowl, I thought of how many times Winnipeg has tripped up the welcoming line and how we often go home with hobos. This year the prospect of shutting down Winnipeg and turning their team into a basket case is too good to pass up. It is extremely tough to come out of there with three wins I’d go with the Riders
Hamilton at Montreal – the biggest new development is involvement of so many relatively useless characters. I`d go with Hamilton, mostly because they used their luck Nah, let`s see Hamilton beat it and prove they deserve to be on this team”