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Riders Add Insult Onto Injury – Also Trade Kevin Glenn

Oct 14, 2015 | 12:08 PM

The Saskatchewan Roughriders 2015 season is effectively over, although through some weird science, the Riders actually have three games left to play on the schedule.

The Riders choked in their latest and last “must win” game against Hamilton, allowing Hamilton QB Jeff Matthews to look like an all-star quarterback. I’ll say this for the 2015 Riders: they know how to make other young quarterbacks look really good.

I was on the treadmill for most of this game, watching in disbelief as the Riders looked like idiots on defense, blowing tackles and allowing a seven yard gain to go for 87 yards and a touchdown. I wondered if the Riders were told not to play pass defense on this day, so lacking were they in basic pass coverage skills.

One could blame the rule changes for the Riders defensive woes, but consider this: the NFL operates under the same set of rules and for spits and giggles I watch the NFL on Sundays and pay attention to how their defensive backs cover receivers. For the most part, they beat the crap out of them for the first five yards and then let them go. Considering how many pass patterns are based on timing, this makes sense.

Of course you can argue that our field is wider, there is more room for error, but if you line up on a receiver and hand fight with them for five yards, this will throw them off. I speak from experience playing linebacker and defensive back and I never had any problems with getting physical and then backing off. It all depends on how you are coached.

That, in a nutshell, describes everything that is wrong with the Saskatchewan Roughriders 2015 Edition.

They were not well coached and it started with Cory Chamblin and went downhill from there. The only area where there was a modicum of adult supervision in the coaching area was on offense and most people would agree that offense was not the problem, even after losing Darian Durant.

The defense was/is the problem and the most need of tearing down and repair. The Riders trade of Kevin Glenn to Montreal for a fifth round draft pick was a necessary move because Glenn would not help the Riders make the playoffs, and he was here for a one year contract only. In addition, Glenn stunk the place out in the first half against Hamilton and that sort of sealed his fate.

The only players not likely to be touched on the Riders would be John Chick and Weston Dressler, but it is hard to see who else might get picked up by other teams. It would be easier to fit in defensive players at this time of year, while offensive players would require time.

Helping Glenn with Montreal is Ryan Dinwiddie, his former back –up in Winnipeg, is now the offensive coordinator in Montreal. It may be Glenn’s last best chance for a Grey Cup ring, and that is by no means a sure thing.

There are some saying the Riders could have done better than a fifth round for Kevin Glenn, but at this point of having the Riders stomp on every bit of my faith in their supposed abilities, I would have been happy with a seventh round pick. We will see Brett Smith and Keith Price the rest of the way, which could be helpful, but at this point, a good Rider fan will suspend judgement.

The reason for that is there is no guarantee who the next GM or coach of the Riders is going to be. There was a good point made by former Rider Marshall Hamilton that whoever gets in, there will be film on pretty well everyone, since they tape practices, to allow the GM/Head Coach to make their own evaluations. What the Riders will be trying to sell is hope for next year.

This brings me to the insult portion of my rant. The Riders are increasing season ticket prices, mostly in an effort to prevent what they are calling “sticker shock” for ticket prices in the new stadium, which will have fewer, but more expensive seats. The Riders are also in the throes of deciding where the luxury boxes are going for the new stadium and there is no guarantee season ticket holders will get the same seats they once had in the current stadium.

Of course with a clown show like this, add on increased costs for beer, food and other stuff, and you have to wonder if season tickets for the Riders are really worth it. I look at it this way if I was still living in Prince Albert – $800 for a season ticket; $100 for gas a game with minimum 10 games – $1,000; $7 a beer, say four beer a game $28 and minimum 10 games $280; $8 burger over 10 games – $80; $10 50/50 ticket over 10 games – $100; Rider hat – $20; Rider fan jersey $200 – total cost $2480 or lets round it off to $2500 for just one person to drive from PA to Regina and back for a Rider season.

With the way the team played and was run this year, you have to wonder if is worth it. The flex pack makes sense, especially considering the weather, but also what makes sense is picking up a case of beer, ordering in a pizza and watching the game on TV. As the Riders and City of Regina work on paying off the stadium, they may find themselves pricing the Riders out of reach of more people in the province.

But in the meantime, this is how this week should shake down.

Winnipeg goes to Ottawa and the Bombers have got to believe they can live the dream and play in their home Grey Cup. Ottawa on the other hand seems like a good team but is unable to make the leap to being a definite winning team. Ottawa is in a dogfight in the east and is at home. Winnipeg is cursed by God and Man. Ottawa 26-22 over the BluBonic Plague.

Calgary goes to Toronto via Hamilton and Calgary should have good memories of their walk off win over the Tiger Cats in the wind tunnel called Tim Hortons Field. Calgary was interestingly flat against Deadmonton while Toronto overcame their natural tendency to whine by beating Ottawa. Is Calgary past their best before date or is Toronto for real? I would have to think Calgary’s injury lists are starting to catch up with them while Toronto may not be as bad as I think on defense, but sometimes I think too much. I like Toronto’s us against the world attitude, especially against the idiot Rogers organization that owns the Blue Jays, but fundamentally I think Calgary is sounder than Toronto 26-23.

BC goes to Deadmonton and one of the few pleasures I had this past week was exchanging messages with George W. Harcus, former ace photographer with the Prince Albert Daily Herald and unrepentant Eskimo fan. While Edmonton beating Calgary is seen as an epic statement in northern Alberta, flush toilets are also seen as a new-fangled invention that may one day overcome Deadmonton’s natural tendency to practice hygiene in the North Saskatchewan River. Deadmonton has a great defense, but their offense is just barely passable and faces Johnathon Jennings, who was blessed with an epic game against Saskatchewan, then an epic first half against Winnipeg and then disappeared into the black hole of hype on young quarterbacks who make the Riders defense look like amateur hour. Jennings can spread a defense, but I don’t think with the ability to step on the pedal and put pressure on Calgary, Deadmonton will allow their dreams of finishing first to go down to some guy the Riders wouldn’t sign out of a free agent camp – Edmonton 26 -21.

Hamilton goes to Montreal and well, Kevin Glenn is reunited with Ryan Dinwiddie, the co-coordinator of the Montreal offense and formerly Glenn’s back-up in Loserpeg. This was a trade Montreal had to make in order to make a push for a likely cross over spot and they get off to a good start by hosting Hamilton. This move is not as much a stretch for Montreal as perhaps Glenn going to Hamilton and a completely different offense. Montreal plays well at home and as good as Jeff Matthews seemed against the Riders, let’s remember it was the Riders. I would think Montreal should have the edge, but common sense says Glenn pays off for the Als with more than a day or two of practice. Hamilton 26-20.