Riders Give Team and Fans a Teaching Lesson

Riders give team and fans a teaching lesson Thursday Friday against Edmonton, but was anyone listening?

This week there is an expression that goes something like – these are not your Daddy’s Riders – that seems somewhat appropriate after the Riders dropped a 39-36 decision to the Edmonton Eskimos.

It was Rider GM and Head Coach Chris Jones’ return to Edmonton. OK, make that second return after an exhibition game, but this time it would be televised. The last time he was up, the Eskimos did a shock and awe campaign designed to show Jones the team has moved on from when he coached it to a Grey Cup last year.

In a sense you can’t blame the Eskimo organization for being petty. Back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when there was no salary cap, the Eskimos could buy a Grey Cup contender every year. Now that there is a salary cap and free agency, Edmonton goes about a decade between Grey Cups, but being typical Albertans, they love to look down their noses at the rest of us.

So when we stole their coaching staff, it stung even though the Eskimos were not going to pay their coaches past the Grey Cup when coaches contracts end at the end of the year. This has the makings of an interesting rivalry, although judging from the results of the game, the Eskimos have a defense with the consistency of Swiss cheese and Mike Reilly their Grey Cup MVP quarterback has become Mike Whiney who cries to the ref every time he doesn’t get his way.

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First off – the Riders should have won the game, especially after scoring a touchdown with 19 seconds left to lead the Eskimos by three points. Jones took the blame for being too conservative with his defense allowing Edmonton to get within field goal range to extend the game to overtime.

The Riders blew a convert, but more importantly they blew three third and a yard opportunities to get a first down, including a crucial one in overtime. Some blame the quarterback, and other blame the centre for not getting the snap into the quarterback’s hands.

I was tempted to blame the centre Dan Clark, but upon reviewing the game I saw Clark had been injured earlier in the game with an unspecified injury and had to be helped off the field. Although he returned, if his injury bothered him, it would have affected the snaps.

A Winnipeg Blue Bomber fan I know loves to slag the Riders and said Jones paid the price for his cocky coaching. I mention this comment because among some Rider fans, it may seem that Jones was being cocky in going for it on third and one in overtime, but bear with me.

The only reason the Riders got back into the game was due to taking advantage of a fumble recovery and a short kick, which was a gutsy move in of itself. The message Jones sent the team and fans was that if the team cannot get a third and one yard to go, then it doesn’t deserve to win.

The team appreciated the gutsy calls and properly accepted blame for doing a Richie Hall style of prevent defense at the end of the game. However the team now knows there is no substitute for winning, and if the coach goofs on determining what kind of coverage the defense should be in, he will call himself out on it.

I’ve been watching practices for two weeks and while Jones has been successful with his no tweeting plays or lineups, I have been impressed with the energy and the speed of the team. Last year under Cory Chamblin, the team was tense and tentative, afraid of playing all out. When Chamblin got fired and Bob Dyce took over, it was halfway through the season and no one knew what the future had to bring.

Now there is a purpose and Rider practices have become the hottest free ticket in town. Jones has managed to bring the Rider fans inside the circle of trust and after practice; you can get a picture of yourself with the coach or any other Rider.
The 2016 Riders are learning to play together, but they are also learning what they are capable of. Standing up to the defending Grey Cup champions has turned some expert’s heads, but I think this is just the start of what could happen.
The Riders are not content to sit back and rest of whatever respect they earned by taking the Eskimos to overtime.

They made a couple of more changes and may even make more as they try to build up areas of the team they regard as weak.

The first saw the Riders send a negotiation list player to Hamilton, likely quarterback BJ Daniels, for the rights to quarterback Jake Waters. Waters had broken into the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars as an unsigned quarterback before bouncing to the Seattle Seahawks and then coming up to Hamilton.

Hamilton just brought Zach Collaros off the six game injured list, and there was no room for Waters, especially as Hamilton is panicking over losing two in a row and more importantly how they are losing them.  The Riders send BJ Coleman to the six game injure list, which was where former Rider QB Phillip Simms was spending his time before he was cut last week.

The Riders lost defensive lineman Jonathan Williams for six games and perhaps the season with what appears to be a knee injury. So the Riders traded for international defensive lineman Cedric McKinley and a negotiation list player from the Edmonton Eskimos. In exchange the Riders have sent a negotiation list player as well as a conditional future to the Eskimos

This move provides depth to the defensive line in addition to bringing someone in that Chris Jones as played in his system.  The Riders also added a former top 10 NFL draft pick from 2007.

Defensive lineman Amobi Okoye has signed with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. The 26-year-old was originally on Ottawa’s negotiation list and was set to sign with the Redblacks, but after reviewing medical reports team doctors felt like there were too many unknowns and risks.

Then Saskatchewan added Okoye to their negotiation list, signed him and promptly placed the Nigerian on the suspended list. He’ll likely reside there until the NFL veteran is physically ready to play football again.

Okoye selected 10th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft by the Texans. He registered 177 combined tackles, 16 sacks and three forced fumbles in six seasons with Houston and Chicago.

Okoye joins Eric Norwood, the former Hamilton defensive lineman who is rehabbing on the injury list. With these additions, the Riders are looking at amping up their defense probably in time for Labour Day and a run for the playoffs following that.
The Riders need to work out their offensive centre – quarterback issues and learn how to get more than a yard when they need it. It seems to be a sickness that is all over the league, but the Riders are determined to do their own thing and not worry what the rest of league is going.

Ottawa goes to Toronto on Wednesday and this should be an interesting game. Toronto sucked in its season opener but beat the Riders in Regina and BC in Vancouver while Ottawa opened with two wins and then tied Calgary. Ottawa`s weak point is going to be its lack of a running game, but it is July and as Bill Murray once said in Meatballs…It Just Doesn`t Matter.

But let`s consider this. Trevor Harris got off to a great start in Toronto last year before opposing defenses caught up with him. While Harris is gifted with Chris Williams, eventually teams will learn how to defend Ottawa and if they haven`t come up with a sound ground game, Harris will likely slide down the bench to be replaced by Henry Burris when he recovers.

Toronto knows Harris well and their defense with the addition of Shawn Lemon provides a steady stream of pass rushers and Toronto has a fairly nifty receiving corps of its own. Ottawa may have had a hiccup against Calgary, and they will be in tough against Toronto, but they will win 29-25.

On Thursday, Edmonton visits Winnipeg and this game has become a lot more interesting than it might have been two weeks ago.  Ottawa shooting Edmonton`s pass defense for over 500 yards was revealed by Saskatchewan to be no mirage as the Riders basically moved the ball against Edmonton and had no problems with Edmonton`s non-existent pass rush. Edmonton`s offense is not suffering the loss of Chris Jones and Jason Maas is favoring an up-tempo type of offense, but Mike Whiney, uh Reilly, can get stumped on a credible defense. Winnipeg is coming off a six turnover present from Hamilton that bought Mike O`Shea time to continue as coach of Satan`s Team.

So the question here is whether the Winnipeg win is the start of a magical run to the Grey Cup, or was it a cruel gift of fate to give Bomber fans hope before it is cruelly taken away. I think it’s a bit of both because I can see Edmonton`s defense letting Winnipeg do some running around. Believe it or not, Drew Willy has added to his garbage time stats and while Winnipeg has cruelly cut Tim Sanders who would have sparked years of Simpson’s jokes, they have Andrew Harris who should be able to get yards against Edmonton. This one is closer than it should be Edmonton 32-30.

On Friday Hamilton goes into Montreal and this is the first game after Montreal melted down and lost SJ Green for the season and maybe Duron Carter for a game after running into Ottawa`s head coach Rich Campbell. The unknown factors are if Carter is going to play and the other is if Zach Collaros is ready to go after ACL surgery. Hamilton is hitting a bit of a panic button after Jeremiah Masoli shows after a good first game in a win against Toronto, that he cannot be a clutch quarterback against BC first, then Winnipeg. Hamilton risks falling behind even more Toronto and Ottawa. There are a lot of unknown variables at this stage so let`s say Hamilton 22-21.

Finally on Saturday we have the BC Lions coming to Taylor Field. The Riders as we know are coming off what to fans would be an emotionally crippling loss, while the Lions fell to Toronto in a game they thought they should win. BC came here in the exhibition season and took advantage of turnovers and trust that Wally Buono will use former Rider Anthony Allen a lot on the ground while seeing if Johnathon Jennings needs to hit his reset button. BC should be about a touchdown favorite, but I like the Riders to continue coming out of nowhere and beating the Lions 27-20. I hope.