Chris Jones Moves Into Tie with Bob Dyce for Rider Wins

If you were paying attention leading up to the game Saturday night at Taylor Field, the signs were unusually in the the Riders favor for a win.

A steady progression in play on offense and defense combined with a slowing down of a revolving door of players coming on and off the roster combined again with Hamilton losing a number of critical starters. At least on paper the Riders looked to be competitive.

The result was the Riders coming with a last second 20-18 win with Mitchell Gale leading the way after replacing Darian Durant because of injury and luckily managing to avoid fumbling to Hamilton an apparent 107 yard touchdown.

Yeah, the Riders short yardage follies made an appearance again.

The Riders are entering a bye week and fortunately Durant’s injury appeared to be nothing more than a headache.

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After Hamilton scored to take an 18-17 lead in the fourth, Gale lead the Riders on a drive into a once formidible wind to set Tyler Crapigna up for a 29 yard field goal on the last play of the game.

Before that, Gale had stepped into a short yardage situation as the Riders had the ball deep in the Hamilton zone in the second quarter. As Gale was stopped, he was stripped of the ball by Hamilton who returned it for an apparent 107 yard touchdown. Then replays showed Gale’s knee had touched down before he was stripped and Durant came back in and scored on a quarterback sneak.

The Rider defense played a solid game with Ed Gainey showing what he is capable of with another strong performance including an interception. The Riders only defensive lapse came in the fourth quarter when Jeremiah Masoli scored on a quarterback sneak made possible by the Riders Otha Foster III lining up too tight on the line of scrimmage and thus becoming vulnerable to a block that opened up a hole so big I could have scored.

If there is one word to explain why the Riders have suddenly gone on their first winning streak in two years, continuity would probably be best.

The ongoing training camp Rider GM and Head Coach Chris Joens ran for the first half of the season has shaken out some starters, with injuries being probably the main reason for player moves now.

That continuity is allowing the players to communicate with each other better, understand each other and bringing the defense to the place Jones is attempting to get them to. The result is a defense that has stifled two pretty good quarterbacks in Mike Reilly and Zach Collaros in crucial times and allowed the Riders to mostly ride the leadership of Durant to the wins.

The Rider offense was expected to maybe skip a beat or two with the injury to 1000 yard receiver, Naaman Roosevelt but the slack was taken up by Caleb Holley and Armanti Edwards and Rob Bagg stepped up after a quiet effort against Edmonton.

So with the bye week and the Riders next game against Ottawa, this allows the Riders to either bring in some players from the NFL cuts to evaluate for next year, get some injured players healthy, or work on their timing and understanding of the teams playbook to continue their drive to the end of the season.

There is a phenomenon called “Rider Math “ where you could hypothetically figure out where the Riders could finish was tallying up potential wins and loses.

Edmonton at 6-7 is holding the cross over berth with a better record than Toronto at 5-8. The Riders have to finish ahead of Toronto and with a better overall record than Edmonton considering Edmonton beat the Riders two of three times this year.

The Riders have games against Ottawa in Ottawa, Montreal here in Regina, Toronto in Toronto and two against BC with a home and home set.

The best the Riders can do is run the table and finish at 8-10, but to be realistic, 6-12 is more likely and I would think realistically 7-11 is where the Riders will end up.

Edmonton plays Winnipeg in Winnipeg on Friday and considering Winnipeg almost beat Calgary, that may give the Bombers the confidence to think they are for real. Then Edmonton has Montreal, BC, Hamilton and Toronto.  All things considered, I would give Edmonton the Montreal and Toronto games and they should finish 8-10 or at best 9-9.

Toronto has two games against Calgary, one against the Riders, one against Montreal and Edmonton. I see Toronto finishing realistically at 6-12, although if they can do us a favor, 7-11 would help if they can beat Edmonton. That would give Edmonton a 7-11 record which means the Riders need to run the table to have a chance.

That’s why we call it Rider Math because it requires a bit of a suspension of disbelief, but still leaves room for the occasional miracle.

In the meantime, the CFL was rocked with news of the death of Calgary defensive back Mylan Hicks after being shot outside a Calgary nightclub on Saturday night. One thing American football players like about Canada is the apparent lack of US style gun violence, but even so it seems to have leaked over the border.

Even here in Regina you may remember the charges against Taj Smith for assault outside a Regina nightclub that were stayed after a long wait because the people involved were not willing to follow through. It’s a societal issue and a warning to be aware of your surroundings at all times.

The feeling here in Riderville is maybe the team has finally stopped spinning its wheels and is getting a bit of traction on the field. It maybe a little late for a credible charge to the playoffs, but this season has certainly been filled with unpredictable moments and the Riders appear to be willing to take it one game at a time, which is the wisest course of action.

So there is still a reason to keep watching Rider fans because if 106 years of history have taught us anything, it’s that this club is capable of the most unbelievable things in the most strangest moments.

Just ask Mitchell Gale.