The Riders attack the Eskimos and Seize their Former Head Coach!

It seems appropriate that it is official on Pearl Harbour Day. The Riders waited until December before getting their biggest win of the 2015 season with the hiring of Chris Jones as Vice President of Football Operations, GM and Head Coach.

I had to look this up, but on my September 7th Riderville Report , I raised the possibility of Chris Jones being the GM and coach of the Riders. Add to that my recent Jon Cornish update and getting the Bruce Springsteen Box Set of The River on Friday and the Rider Locker Room sale coming up on Thursday, I am feeling exceptionally well chuffed with myself.

I had heard rumors of egos clashing in E-Town long before this, and tonight one of the sweetest things I have done in quite a while, Friday actually when I put on the Springsteen material, was read the Edmonton Eskimo fan site and drank in their bitter tears.

 I remember in the 1980s when they used their pocketbook to buy themselves a great team and a taxi squad where all had jobs in addition to stepping in when needed. Now that we have poached them and while I have a couple of reservations about Jones, one of the more important things is we have weakened a western rival. When the assistant coaches contracts expire on Dec. 31, expect to see Stephen McAdoo as OC. Mike Scheper as OL coach. Phillip Lolley as a defensive coach. Ed Philion as DL coach. Jarious Jackson may not as he may get an OC gig, perhaps in BC.

 Personally, I would love to wind up Deadmonton even more and offer Jason Maas an assistant head coach and GM spot and offensive coordinator which would send the Schmoes screaming into the North Saskatchewan River.

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A couple of interesting things in this fast breaking story – Jeremy O’Day is staying on which helps Jones because he has no media skills whatsoever and O’Day can do the public relations stuff that Jones despises. In addition, Jones is weak on identifying Canadian talent and O’Day has more experience with that. I think Jacques  Chapdelaine, if he is not kept and McAdoo is the new OC, goes to Calgary to work with Dave Dickenson, and they have worked before.

The free agent lists take on greater important and the Riders will no doubt target Ted Laurent and Almondo Sewell. Laurent’s mother lives in Montreal so I would expect him to probably go there, but Sewell will be a fine addition with John Chick to the D Line. I no longer expect the Riders to go after Ricky Foley. The big winner in all of this will be John Chick who will enjoy some monster seasons

Craig Dickenson will quickly decide whether to follow Jones to the City that Rhymes with Fun or Calgary for family matters. We get Craig back and that will be a coup and a slap at Former Rider HC Cory Chamblin who canned him for having an offseason business. Speaking of Chamblin, he was on the sidelines at the Steelers – Colts game and if the Steelers pick him up, that is a nice financial load off the Riders back.

There are those who say Jones is a mercenary and will be gone in two to three years. Which could be true but if he rebuilds this team and wins another Grey Cup, is that not a reasonable price to pay? The message this sends across the CFL will be a massive one and as I pointed out, this weakens Edmonton and tarnishes their Grey Cup celebrations which works for me.

The Riders did not do the convenience hire and went to the fences for this one. Jones is not without his faults, but if he brings winning football back to Saskatchewan and if Jeremy O’Day learns something in the next three years, then it will be time well spent.

The Riders problem has been identifying talent and Jones has an eye for talent, and he has an eye for defence. I remember how Junior Mertile jumped out of the way of Adarious Bowman in a game against Edmonton allowing the Eskimos to score and beat us. Jones will not put up with that. It will take a few days to see how things shake up, and more importantly, how the roster is developed, but the 2016 season is officially underway in Riderville.