Riders Circle Wagons against Lions

Oh it has been such fun in Rider Nation this week with the bonehead decisions of Rider Head Honcho, Cory `Chamblin being questioned by one and all and resulting in his making a statement that he doesn’t care’ blah blah blah.

Of course, of more interest was the ongoing injury situation.

The Riders have lost Levi Steinhaeuser (backup D-lineman and long snapper) and Weldon Brown (apparently on making a face mask play on a BC Lion which proves that karma is the proverbial one). When you add the two offensive tackles lost by Calgary (say what you want about all the games this past weekend, that accomplishment is the most remarkable in my eyes) in the same game and Johnny Sears proving he is paper mache tough in Hamilton following his hot tub days in the city where hope goes to die – Winnipeg, and the injury situation in the CFL is really remarkable.

Personally I don’t see Chamblin going during this season. He will be given the benefit of a doubt, but a loss Friday and something more terrifying than booing or angry 13 year old boys posting on message boards will take place.

People will start to tune this team out and write this season off.

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I used to live in Prince Albert and going to Regina for a football game was a four hour trip one way, so you compute eight hours for a return trip and you usually had to do it in a group to share the driving. Those were fun trips, but while supporters of the Bombers, Argos and Lions can point to the Rider games and call them tremendously entertaining, I don’t see many of their fans spending eight hours on the road to see their team choke in the last two minutes of the game.

 So I expect that following a defeat on Friday, the out of towners will decide they don’t need to bother to drive in to see a team that has a coach which finds it hard to admit he made some bonehead calls, or his defense is about as aggressive as my 11 year old Himalayan laying contently in a sunshine puddle. The elephant in the room is the stadium, that I think is half done, rising a couple of blocks away and looking to be filled in two years. It will not go over if fans decide to shift their funding of the most financially successful CFL franchise into other directions and leave the stadium half full.

So for whose benefit was Chamblin’s “I Shall Not Be Moved, but if I Am It’s OK Because I Will Be Coaching Tomorrow” speech?

That is an interesting question.

Rider GM Brendan Taman did the media rounds defending Chamblin the day before Chamblin spoke up after practice. The Riders read the message boards and they know how upset the fans were over what have been at least two unnecessary losses and both due to bad coaching decisions.

Considering Greg Marshall was canned after eight games in 2011, it is not too early to raise the possibility for Chamlin, but perhaps the best comparison would be not with Marshall, but with John Gregory. Three years after winning the Grey Cup, Gregory lost Kent Austin in the first game and had nothing but Craig Worman throwing and Gregory lost his job halfway through the season. Kevin Glenn is doing much better than Worman, but unlike Gregory, Chamblin has staked his professional reputation to the defense, and it is the defense that is the sieve on this team.

Now, the Riders also are having problems with Canadian injuries, and part of this is due to their lousy development of Canadian talent. For whatever reason, it seems tough for the Riders to develop Canadian starters and hang onto them.

With the Riders bringing back Paul Woldu, I suspect it will not be long before they reach back into their training camp reference book and bring back some other Canadians. The Riders are currently trying to develop Rod Connop at defensive tackle and that is a result of losing Keith Shologan and Zach Evans to Ottawa, then low balling Dominic Picard who took off to Winnipeg.

I think the circle the wagons approach chosen by Chamblin may rally the team in an “Us versus the world“ way, but then again, I think the crucial thing will be if the Riders continue losing, and losing in new and exceptionally stupid ways, people will decide not to show up. And for a team that puts a premium on the bottom line, that will a state of affairs that will not be tolerated for very long.

But in those discussions should also be questions about how the team is scouting and how the salary cap is being managed. If the Riders are unable to sign either Ben Heenan or Brent Jones if either comes available in the fall, then the fall out should not just be limited to Cory Chamblin but Brendan Taman.

So after going 0-4, I just gird my loins and keep in mind the words of the prophet Bill Murray in Meatballs who said prior to the big summer camp battle to rally his misfits – It just doesn’t matter, it just doesn’t matter!

Hamilton at Montreal – If I wasn’t already an ongoing addict of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, predicting the Montreal games would certainly turn me onto heroin. In retrospect, Raheem (no green hornet here) Cato played a perfect game against Calgary, but is again a rookie. And Winnipeg is just a hateful place to play anyway and if memory serves me correct, didn’t Montreal do better at home last week? Hamilton on the other hand is another MASH unit but seem to have more of their guys together. The problem is this game is being played in Montreal and this is where the Als tend to come up with upsets. But not this week I think – Hamilton 27 at Montreal 23.

Edmonton at Ottawa – This fulfills the Cancon requirements of one weekly slaughter being followed by another. As much as I wanted to believe that Ottawa, like the kid in the PG 13 teen movie was really going to get the girl this year and be taken seriously, they blow up against an Edmonton team with Matt Nicholls who is not that bright as Zach Evans would probably admit to if you bought him a beer. If Ottawa comes back and gains vengeance, maybe they can be taken seriously, but Deadmonton`s defense is just too good and Henry Burris is not that bright. Edmonton 27 at 21 Ottawa.

BC at Saskatchewan – In times like this I ask, what would Keith Richards do and he never fails to inspire me. So Jack Daniels and Jim Beam and I will view this game, watch the Riders patchwork defense attempt to play zone defense when the Head Coach Chamblin was known knowing nothing but man to man defense. For example, Chamblin was defensive backfield coach in Calgary and his strategy for playing the Riders was mugging Andy Fantuz when we came to cash Calgary`s check at the western semi-final. The Riders problem is their defense cannot mount much pressure, can`t play zone defense very well, and is so injury riddled that Geoff Tisdale and Dan West are being signed as cannon fodder. Oh, Paul Woldu came back so the Riders special teams may improve. BC was interesting because Lulay played a great game, but looking at his throwing motion, and maybe someone better versed in arm mechanics can confirm this for me, but I think his shoulder injury has changed his throwing motion and he aint going to get any better. After two overtime games, I see no reason to end the streak, but this time – BC 30 – Saskatchewan 30.

Winnipeg at Calgary – Dave Dickenson showed why he is ready to move into the head coach position with how he handled losing two starting right tackles, both of whom Canadians, against the Argos and still managed to win. Part of that I put down to a failure of nerve by Toronto in not putting any more pressure of Bo Levi and just playing their normal style of defense. When you have a chance to win in Calgary with two injuries like that, you take full advantage. That being said, Winnipeg comes to down with their usual group of toothless goons looking to rumble and build on the inspirational return of Drew (Free) Willy last week. The problem is that even with two starting tackles gone for I believe the season, Calgary is still better than Winnipeg and it will be a close game, much like the Argo game, but with the same result as Calgary moves into sole possession of first place – Calgary 26 – Winnipeg 25.

For what it’s worth, my TSN fantasy team apparently moved to 989th place, an increase of four light years, because I had the good fortune to have Hazelton of Toronto and Sutton of Montreal on my list of warriors. So this week I have Kevin Glenn because the Riders passing offense leads the CFL, Jerome Messam because he can catch and run, sometimes at the same time and in this offense gets lots of opportunities, SJ Green because Cato has to throw to someone and I think he leads the CFL, Jamal Richardson because he was cheap and I wanted to get under the cap – he is good for three catches and may see more action this week. I think I took Brandon Banks as my flex guy, the kicker from BC because he is cheap and I chose the BC defense because the Riders are a good bet to choke.