Riders are Now in Garbage Time – Longest pre-season Ever for 2016

It was like driving past an accident on the highway last night watching the Riders drop to 1979 levels with a 30-5 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Part of it was waiting to see how quarterback Brent Smith would do and whether he would survive the first quarter and a blitz not seen since the Germans rolled over Europe in 1940. To everyone’s surprise, Smith seemed to be alive and the Riders seemed to be in it at half-time.

Then Smith threw two interceptions, one for a pick six touchdown for Edmonton and the Riders brain farts by players and coaches took over and the team gave up 20 points. Smith was eventually yanked in favor of Tino Sunseri who demonstrated he was no further ahead than when the Riders cut him.

Rider Coach Cory Chamblin after the game finally sounded about giving up on winning the Grey Cup, but kept on the wanting to prove themselves as a team. He also talked about his aggressive defense, which showed more but still folded like a cheap suit when it counted.

This latest effort by the Riders was a true team effort and begs the question – why watch them for the rest of the season? A lot of people are saying they know how the Edmonton Oilers feel being out of the playoffs by the first month of the season.

Event Centre funding

City may hire lobbyist for event centre money

14h ago

International honours

Raiders' Kubiesa to represent Czechia at IIHF U18 Men's World Championship

18h ago

Learn the signs

How often should you change your brakes?

22h ago

While the loss of Kevin Glenn may have put the brakes on bringing in a new coach, since 1-17 may be a pipedream and 3-15 could be excuse to hang a banner off the side of Mosaic Stadium, it doesn’t mean changes aren’t needed. The inability of the defense to master such basic skills as tackling means the defense first needs someone who can coach and call the team on fundamentals. The current coach is no doing his job.

While the offense seems to be passable when a third string can move the team, it does suffer from the ability to read the blitz and being able to handle opposing linemen. This offensive line gets quite a bit of holding penalties, which are somewhat understandable with a quarterback who holds onto the ball longer and is able to scramble, hence the need to hold onto a block longer than three seconds.

The receivers need to know the snap count because the number of illegal procedure penalties at home and away would suggest they have no idea when the ball is being snapped. Another problem with the team not being mentally in the game is the number of illegal procedure penalties being called because someone forgot to come into the huddle.

Smith showed better than Sunseri or even Seth Doegge last year which means he is the starter heading forward. With the Riders not posing a threat to teams, Sunseri and perhaps Keith Price will see playing time and the question arises of who is going to pay to see five exhibition games in Regina?

While Rider management at the board level may have given Chamblin and Rider GM Brendan Taman get out of jail free cards due to the injury lists, the fact of the matter is that this has been a team effort from the GM, scouting or lack of it, and coaching. To quote former Rider Scott Schultz on the BC Lions but applying this to Rider management and coaching – They are fat and sassy.

Attendance should start to go down and the problem for the CFL, never mind the Riders, is with the Riders being the main draw for teams in the CFL, if fans stop coming at home, they may decide not to come on the road to avoid the taunts of the home team fans – such as they are.

Chamblin keeps on with the comments that he is a great coach. Great coaches don’t get into 0-6 starts. Even when the New England Patriots lost Tom Brady, they missed the playoffs, but they won games. The Riders look like victims from the start and they seem happy to wrap themselves in that role.

Portraying themselves as victims gives them the excuse not to look at the mistakes that brought them to this stage – the arrogance of the head coach who wanted to prove he was a good defensive coach as his mentor Mike Tomlin of the Pittsburgh Steelers; the inability of the GM to bring in players and especially to develop Canadian players so they can start and back up; the inability of the scouting department to bring in American and Canadian players that can be developed for the long term. The players too share responsibility for not having their crap together enough by taking the initiative to work together after practice.

Since we have these losers for the rest of the season, it will be fascinating to watch how they handle the situation and who steps forward and who doesn’t. However at the same time, it is kind of like watching a friend you know getting really hammered and you know it’s time to take him home before he continues making a fool of himself.  Since forfeiting the season is out of the question, maybe getting hammered will be key to coping with the 2015 season.