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Riders Out of Playoff but Lead League in Marketing & Attendance

Oct 13, 2016 | 9:55 AM

So, not surprisingly on Thanksgiving it became official; the 2016 Saskatchewan Roughriders were not going to make the playoffs. Not even an incredible display of “Rider Math” where everything from the orbit of a new mini-planet on the edge of the solar system to the amount of greenhouse gases put out by the province of Saskatchewan, would factor into whether the Riders could run the table and the Deadmonton Schmoes could stumble out of the playoffs.

That being said, the Riders remain a fascinating team to watch. This is partly due to their three game winning streak, partly due to their defense finally figuring out how to play together, partly due to the additions the team has made including Canadian linebacker, Henoc Muamba; American defensive lineman, William Jefferson; oft-injured receiver, Jeff Fuller and now Canadian defensive back, Andrew Leu.

Let’s not forget injured defensive lineman, Lindon Gaydosh who is now rehabbing in some hot tub somewhere, whom the Riders got in exchange for Canadian defensive lineman, Justin Cappicciotti and offensive lineman, Xavier Fulton.

Rider GM and Head Coach, Chris Jones, started off the season with a massive rebuild and brought his own people while cutting Rider fan favorites like Weston Dressler and John Chick. Some of the free agent signings like Maurice Price, Shawn Lemon and Kendial Lawrence did not work out and Jones, to his credit, cut the cord to Lemon and Lawrence when it became clear they would not be an asset to the team.

So while Jones has what fans would call, “his favorites” isn’t afraid to let players go when those players do not meet expectations. This makes the release of Dressler and Chick, likely for salary cap reasons, more understandable.

What makes Jones interesting is unlike say Don Matthews, one of his former mentors who was also a former coach of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, he does not appear set in his thinking. He has an ego which may make it tough to admit mistakes, but he does acknowledge them with cuts like Lawrence and now the trade with Cappicciotti.

Cappicciotti was a free agent signing and while he did not whine like Lemon about how he was being used, he was clearly not in a system that used his talents the best, which would have been say a traditional defensive system where the defensive ends rush the quarterback from the outside and herd him in to where the defensive tackles are lying in wait.

That got him a trade to Hamilton who have been assembling a defensive line for the ages as they struggle to overcome a lack of offensive firepower with a defense that should make any quarterback’s life difficult. That also explains the trade for Fulton who will go from guarding Darian Durant’s blind side to Zack Collaros or Jeremiah Masoli’s blind side, depending on whose in Kent Austin’s good books this particular weekend.

The Riders are likely going to move Jarriel King, another free agent signing who has spent most of the year on the injured list, over to Fulton’s spot and Brendan LaBatte, who signed a contract renewal and was practicing on Parliament Hill this week with the team may make an appearance sometime this season.

With the Riders officially out, Chris Jones was not tipping his hand, but expect to see the Riders try some new players in the lineup to see if they warrant an invitation to training camp next year. Some of those changes will be made by necessity as the Riders lost Jeff Fuller for the year along with Armanti Edwards. The Riders brought up Ryan Langford, who has been on the practice roster and seen spot duty at wide receiver and kick returner, Joe McKnight, a former Eskimo running back and kick returner who impressed many with his ability to fumble punt and kick returns, Int’l WR, DiAndre Campbell; Int’l RB, Marshaun Coprich; Nat’l DB, Raye Hartmann; Nat’l WR, Kelvin Muamba and Int’l DL, Davon Walls.

A couple of interesting notes, and keep your eyes on the roster postings over the next four games but Muamba is the brother of Rider linebacker Henoc Muamba, whose other brother Cauche is currently playing in Deadmonton. I suspect a steady supply of Muamba siblings and cousins is likely in the Rider future so for those looking to getting a jersey but unsure what number to put on, the Muamba name may be profitable.

The Riders also released Nat’l WR, Archelaus Jack, which was interesting considering the Riders seem to be short on healthy receivers these days. Curtis Steele is said to be banged up, so McKnight and Greg (Mercury) Morris seem to be the ones lining up in the backfield.

While I will hold my breath on McKnight and his penchant for fumbling, Morris intrigues me as a Canadian running back. Morris is said to have better Canadian junior stats than Andrew Harris, who had stats that were not to be sneezed at.

If Morris can learn this offense and if the Riders can assemble a stable of Canadian back up running backs, the Riders will have one of their roster spots solidified for years to come. As the trade for Andrew Leu indicates, the Riders seem to be dedicated to building their Canadian talent and depth from the days when Cory Chamblin had no respect for Canadian talent.

So even with the Riders out of the playoffs, there is still a reason to watch because this team has made steady progress since, I would argue, just before the Labour Day game when they showed Calgary they would no longer be a pushover.

OK, the Riders didn’t defeat Calgary, but Calgary had to work to beat the Riders and the Riders have had the fortune of falling into the Winnipeg Blue Bomber portion of their schedule where they are playing woeful eastern teams to beef up their record.

So, there are some fascinating games to watch this week starting with Ottawa at Hamilton.

Hamilton swung a big trade with the Riders, ridding themselves of deadwood in Gaydosh while adding Canadian depth in Cappicciotti and getting a capable left tackle in Fulton. Hamilton failed to bolster their receiving corps much, but adding Keon Raymond at linebacker and Cappicciotti will help the defense on the theory that defense wins championships.

I’m not sure if that helps Hamilton’s defensive backfield or their woeful offense which resembles one of those Leper colonies you see on a remote Hawaii island, with all the drops they have experienced.

Then we have Jeremiah Masoli, who gets the call this week because Zach Collaros has a hangnail or something more pertinent than an annoying tendancy to throw interceptions.

There are those in Toronto who say losing Trevor Harris and Collaros doomed the Argos into letting Drew Willy hang out in place of the flaccid armed Ricky Ray. But considering Harris is being replaced this week by Henry Burris, I just want to point out one western Canadian’s observation.

Collaros when he started in place of Ray had a good start until teams had film on him and were able to adjust their defenses accordingly. The same can be said with Harris, who started strong until injuries and tendencies caught up with him.

I would argue that Collaros and Harris have plateaued and need to take the next step, which is winning significant games in October and November. Collaros is hampered by his tendency to play physically and get injured accordingly and is in danger of becoming a modern day Buck Pearce.

So Ottawa this week has Henry who throws a mean fastball but leads the league in whining and hopefully adds to his interception totals. Hamilton counters with Masoli who, when he is good is adequate and when he is bad is an honorary Winnipeg Blue Bomber. Don’t believe me? Watch the tapes of Hamiltons games against Winnipeg.

Ottawa has a slight advantage in Henry at quarterback but are suffering from Chris Williams being gone for the season at receiver. The Riders put a pretty good blanket on Ottawa’s receivers for most of the game last week and if not for a few stupid offside penalties would have won the game before going into overtime, where they won because Chris Milo was wide and to the right.

So nothing flusters Smiling Hank like getting pressured (take it from an experienced Henry observer) so Hamilton is hoping that Masoli can manage the game and leave it up to the Hamilton defense to win with reinforcements and the ability to rattle Henry big time. I would expect a close game with Henry managing to blow it in the last minute. Or maybe Milo goes wide and to the right again. Hamilton 27-26.

We have the Winnipeg Criminals versus the BC Lions in a rematch of the 37-35 game where Winnipeg won, thanks to a favorable ref’s call on an Andrew Harris fumble in the last minute. That kind of eclipsed the inventiveness of the Winnipeg fakes to build a quick lead only to watch BC roar back and almost win.

This game is for the marbles, second place at least, unless Deadmonton manages some sort of miracle run and its played in BC Place instead of the correctional facility in Winnipeg known as Dollarama Field. The thing with trick plays is once you play them, other teams have film on them and the element of surprise is gone.

Which begs the question of whether the Bombers need trick plays because straight up, they can’t compete with other teams.  It should be a fast track in BC Place and a likely preview of the western semi-final and if BC wins, only an Act of God will allow Winnipeg the chance to host a playoff game in Dollarama Field this year.

BC has a game in hand and a win will solidify but not clinch second. That’s why Winnipeg will pull out all the trick plays it can because playing indoors at BC Place will allow the elements to cooperate with whatever trick plays are available in Paul La Police’s playbook.

But I keep thinking about that second half and how BC almost and should have pulled off a win and I’m thinking this will be a playoff game filled with hits and big plays and BC pulling off a 27-26 win.

Meanwhile in Toronto, Canada’s team is fresh off practicing on Parliament Hill (Jeff Hunt of the Ottawa Redblacks is apparently looking for compensation for someone having a better marketing idea than he does) and a three game winning streak and heading to face a team on serious life support.

Scott Milanovich may have done some needed surgery in cutting four receivers who were more interested in individual than team goals but Toronto is now a team in preseason mode with Drew Willy learning a new offense, and new receivers getting used to some serious reps and figuring out the CFL game.

History may judge Milanovich who acted to cut out some tumors from the Argo locker room, but when you have been awarded another Grey Cup in four years while Hamilton has a new stadium and not a sniff as yet, you can’t afford to try to sell a Grey Cup with overpriced tickets with a team that is playing way below expectations.

The Argos may have lucked out because the Riders receiving corps looks like the LeBoldus Golden Suns (my old high school and current consecutive four time provincial 5A football champs) practice squad.

However that won’t matter because the Rider defense is shaping up to end the year on a great run.

The additions of Jefferson was a shot in the arm for the defensive line and made Cappicciotti expendable.

It will be interesting to see if Henoc Muamba plays a greater role in the defense, but the threat of him making plays will be interesting. The Rider defense is playing better than the Argo defense and while the game will be close, as Rider wins have been, the Riders make it four games in a roll with a 27-26 win because hey, sometimes math is fun!

Finally we have the assisted suicide bowl where Montreal goes to Calgary.

Montreal started its run until new coach Jacques Chapdelain by beating Toronto, which in hindsight was no big deal, but then they got demolished against Deadmonton at home and that showed why Raheem Cato is not that bright but more disturbingly showed Montreal’s defense looked more like a chorus line from a leper colony.

I have faith Calgary can be beat, although I now see stats showing Calgary’s offensive line is among the biggest in the league, which explains why building a strong offensive line is first and foremost in fielding a contender.

My faith in Calgary’s ability to be beat stems from 1989 when the 16-2 Deadmonton Schmoes got whipped by the 9-9 Riders in the western semi-final in one of the sweetest wins I have ever witnesssed.

Deadmonton lost them because they got cocky, and Calgary is not playing any significant games until the end of November. That is more than enough time to start believing your press clippings. But this is not the week that Calgary opponents are hoping for – Calgary 39-22.