Apparently Anything Can Happen Now

For those who enjoy blaming Darian Durant for everything, his performance for the first three quarters did nothing to dissuade them, but a few plays showed the importance of Durant to the team.

They came in the fourth quarter when the Riders were driving for a tying field goal and Durant took off on a 13 yard yard which set up Armanti Edwards five yard touchdown run. The other came in overtime when Durant faked the toss and then went over the left side for a six yard touchdown run to win the game.

Both runs brought back memories of Kerry Joseph winning the Labour Day Classic in 2007 on a brilliant draw and Durant’s performance in the 2013 Western Semi-Final where his running finally broke the back of the BC Lions in the fourth quarter.

With Roosevelt out, it was time for players like Armanti Edwards, the former Carolina Panther receiver and former NCAA quarterback to show his stuff. Edwards had been injured in a Rider mini-camp, came to training camp and got nicked and has been biding his time waiting for a spot.

Edwards showed some good stuff, along with Caleb Holley, but the problem for the Riders was penalties. Apparently the Riders want players to ignore the no yards in the end zone because teams rarely accept those penalities.

The other penalties were no impressive as the Riders continued to draw penalties for plays made in an emotional reaction to something the Eskimos did. Another really questionable call was a time count violation at the end of the fourth quarter which pushed Tyler Crapigna out of field goal range for a potential game winning field goal in regulation time.

Those types of brain farts, which Chris Jones explained after the game was the result of not watching the clock closely and wanting to leave as little time as possible for the Eskimos to try to come back. To be hopeful, those may constitute growing pains by the staff and players, or they may be indicative of some deep flaws within the Riders coaching approach.

Another interesting surprise was Curtis Steele, the former Argonaut running back who came off the injury list and showed some signs of why Jones held on onto him despite a less than inspiring performance earlier in the season. Another interesting addition was Jarriel King, the offensive lineman signed as a free agent who was injured in training camp and only now became available to the Riders.

The offensive line still has its problems with Durant being rushed and with the wind tunnel that was Taylor Field on Sunday afternoon, that was not the most conducive for an offense fireworks. The Riders showed that with some consistency in their lineup, they can deliver results which result from players playing with each other and knowing what works and what doesn’t.

The Riders are still not officially eliminated, although playing “Rider Math“ where you try to figure out the perfect combination of Rider wins combined with other team losses would lead to a possible crossover spot is always fun. Instead of focusing on the possibility of crossing over, the Riders would be better served to work on their execution in the next few weeks.

For example, with Roosevelt out for another five games, the Riders will need to see who else they have for receivers because Roosevelt is a free agent after this season. He could re-sign, but I would think he would look at either another NFL shot or perhaps another team willimg to pay him more.

There has been talk about whether the Riders will re-sign Durant, but he had a great case for him coming back with his performance on Sunday afternoon. What got Durant the job back in 2008 was how he won when he got into the game and wins and losses are how quarterbacks are measured for success.

This makes the Riders trade for BJ Daniel interesting. The Riders had traded his negotiation rights to Hamilton for quarterback Jake Waters who has been resting on the injury list ever since. Daniels was in the Chicago Bears camp and looked like a fit to stick with the team.

However Daniels got cut and is out of eligibility to sit on a practice roster because of the years he has spent down in the NFL. So unless a team is going to put him on their starting roster, he is not going to be able to get on a practice roster and if he wants to continue his football career, it will have to be in the CFL.

This may be a contingency plan by Jones in case they don`t want Durant back, or if he doesn`t want to come back. Then again, it may be to have the strongest possible quarterback combination in the event of injury.

With Jim Popp stepping down as head coach, Montreal still has a $300,000 salary cap gap to bridge which can only be done through trades since after Labour Day veteran salaries are guaranteed for the rest of the season. It is possible the Riders could pick up some players, but it would depend on which player and what situation they would fill.

Chapdelaine was the former Rider offensive coordinator last season and actually did a pretty good job considering the dumpster fire he had with the Rider offense. Where this may get interesting is Noel Thorpe, the Montreal defensive coordinator who was stopped in his attempted move to Edmonton to be the defensive coordiantor there, was bypassed for the head coach job, but then again, Chapdelaine speaks French, which is an asset in the Montreal market.

Now I would like to say a few words about my encounter with Toronto Argonaut fans at the Rider game, something that does not happen every day.

Gareth Cunningham is a long-time Argo and CFL fan who currently lives in London Ontario and runs a nice little CFL pick èm pool which I joined three years ago. It was interesting to listen to CFL fans and transplanted westerners in southern Ontario talk CFL and I brought a nice western Canadian perspective to things.

Well Cunningham has not been to Taylor Field and with this being the last season, he managed to get out here with his brother in law, who has absolutely no interest in football, but was a good sport. I met Cunningham on Saturday night with Trevor Doroschenko, formerly of CKBI TV and who now lives in Regina.

Cunningham told us how the Argos are trying to build an atmosphere for games with tailgating (Ontario version) and his eyes were wide as I took him inside the Rider store to buy stuff for his family. The pre-game party on the practice field was another eye opener where he saw exhibits that engaged kids, the next generation of CFL fans.

This is the first year of Maple Leaf Entertainment owning the Argonauts and the amount the Argos are charging for Grey Cup tickets has rubbed many long time CFL fans in southern Ontario the wrong way. However it seems the team is trying to make some moves in marketing the team.

While holding a place in line in the store for Cunningham, I ran across two more Argo season ticket holders who took in the Toronto-Winnipeg game the day before and continued out here to take in the Riders. They were astonished to see football fields with line painted on them since Toronto Football Club fans who previously has sole occupancy of BMO Field, hate the idea of sharing the field with another team and keep telling Argo fans their team will fold in a couple of years.

The passion of Rider fans, especially on the practice field where a couple from northwest Ontario/southeast Manitoba asked us to take a picture of them with Taylor Field as a back-up. The woman from Manitoba hates the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and was glad to talk football and Cunningham and his brother in law got a glimpse into the passion of CFL football west of Thunder Bay.

So while some may wonder why talk CFL with someone from southern Ontario, I look at it this way. I remember when the Riders paid a share of Damon Allen`s contract because the Argo ownership at the time had flown the coop and unless we have strong fan support in all cities, the league will not do well and Rider fans will end up paying for another star`s salary on another team to keep that team afloat.

I would rather the Riders spend the money on stuff like player contracts, scouting, training facilities etc. That`s why I will even tolerate drunken Bomber fans. I don`t want to pay for their Dollarama Stadium.

So the changes announced today may just be the tip of the iceberg. Well, however they shake down, at least the Riders gave us a reason to smile this week.

by Riderville

Apparently Anything Can Happen Now

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