Riders Wrap Camp – Go to Edmonton for Final Exhibition Game

So the 2016 Saskatchewan Roughrider training camp has struck their tents and headed off to Edmonton for a Saturday game against the team that Rider GM and Head Coach Chris Jones led to a Grey Cup last year.

It was a week of questions like where is Justin Capicciotti and Jeff Lynch on defense? What about the quarterbacks and who might step in if Darian Durant gets injured? Who is switching position today?

Well Capicciotti will apparently play some on Saturday night and Jeff Lynch will not. With the Riders facing a first week bye, the hope is that Lynch can use the extra week to get ready for that one. In the meantime the Riders will be looking at who will be their replacement for Lynch with Samuel Eguavoen of Texas Tech leading the charge.

One of the more impassioned debates is who will be the backup quarterback and after reviewing the game I had recorded, I think I have a sense of where Jones may be going with this issue.

The plan is to have Darian Durant start and probably end up playing a third of the game to allow him to get his rhythm back as a passer and get over that sense of being snake bit he may have felt the last couple of years. Against BC Coleman threw three interceptions, including a pick six, and while Smith threw a touchdown, he was dancing more than the contestants on Lip Synch Fever. Coleman is 27 and has been out of football for a year while Smith is 25, the same age as Phillip (Predator) Simms, the man who makes Nik Lewis look in shape.

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So while the anti-Smith crowd point to how poised Coleman was in the pocket, the interceptions indicate that Coleman hasn’t made the transition to the CFL with its wider, longer field and 12 men instead of 11. In an ideal world, that should be correctable, but I have said that about many other Rider quarterbacks in the past.

Smith makes things happen with his legs, but he relies on his legs too much. The jury is out whether he has the smarts to recognize a defense and take advantage with an audible or two.

BUT – Smith is competitive and in the last game against Montreal he came off the bench and led the Riders to victory. He also underthrew a touchdown pass that Clarence Denmark caught for a touchdown and probably a role with this team.

I get the impression that Simms will be on the practice roster and it is unlikely any other team will call on Simms, unless it is the KFC team looking for a new front person. But what I heard out of Saskatoon is that Simms seems to have grasped the offense quickly and made some plays. I’ll be interested in seeing how this works out, along with the rest of the province of Saskatchewan.

The other battle will be at punter where Quinn Van Glyswyk is locked in battled with Josh Bartel, the former Aussie Rules punter. Bartel has been kicking consistently, not really giving Glyswyk room to stake out at least a claim at punter. But I think Glyswyk will end up on an injury list, stashed away until the Riders figure out who has a better hold on their punting or placekicking situation.

The Riders weren’t finished with their training camp moves, signing Int’l RB, Michael Dyer & Int’l LB, and Korey Jones. Jones played in 17 games with Edmonton and provides good depth if needed. Dyer won a US college championship at Auburn, but then ran into problems like marijuana and a gun in his car. Dyer could and should have been in the NFL, but his off-field problems raised too many red flags, and it will be interesting to see how and more importantly if, he fits in here.
Kudos to the Riders for always looking to improve as I heard they saw over 3,000 players this offseason. It’s quite a contrast to previous years.

So tonight we have Toronto at Montreal on TSN, which cut back their exhibition coverage and to their surprise had two games last week ranking over 500,000 viewers. This will be interesting with the Argos dumping Adrian McPherson, who let’s be honest, never impressed me other than a clipboard holder. The Argos dumped Hamilton at the new stadium last week and face a Montreal team that brought seven quarterbacks to Winnipeg for an opening exhibition season loss. A lot depends on how the teams are looking to play who is remaining on their rosters, but I would have to think that Montreal wins just by not playing so many Canadian quarterbacks and bringing their linebacker corps in.

Elsewhere in the CFL we have Calgary going to BC in a battle of shiny bright jerseys. Wally Buono coached Dave Dickenson once upon a time, and Dickenson knows Wally, but for this game Wally was brought back to spruce the club up for a sale because nobody wants to invest in a loser. Dickenson knows the bullets are flying next week for real. BC for the win.

Ottawa goes to Hamilton and for something different last week, I listened to the Ottawa and Winnipeg game as Winnipeg proved once again why they are losers. In making my pick I am keeping in mind what Ottawa coach Rich Campbell said after the game that he would be leaving a lot of his starters at home. Say hello to an exhibition win Hamilton! Don’t forget to book the parade route for the Grey Cup win!

On Saturday the Riders go to Edmonton and Edmonton refused to allow the game to be shown on-line as part of building up this rivalry. Edmonton showed it to Calgary that they were just as good under Jason Maas as they were under Chris Jones ya betcha! Now expect to see something similar except that Edmonton still has player evaluations to go through and they have three more games with the Riders this season. Jones has more invested in this game and I’d have to go with the Riders in this one as Jones hopes to set a new atmosphere in Saskatchewan.