So, Does Anyone Else Feel Cheated?

The Saskatchewan Roughriders went out of the 2016 season with a whimper in an embarrassing 41-18 loss to the BC Lions that showed for all intents and purposes, the longest ever training camp that saw over 100 players suit up for the Riders and did not result in any improvement.

Sure there was a stretch of four games that raised hopes, even in myself, that this team may have turned the corner and was finding the consistency that comes from playing together.

A three game losing streak, starting with a Rider team taking a Montreal team for granted in the cold rain of the second last game at Taylor Field, to back to back losses to the BC Lions, showed the reality is the Riders are not that good. Period.

So with the season in the books, I reviewed the games and used the criteria of if the Riders lost by more than seven points, I counted that as a loss, and anything seven points or less would be a possible win. Likewise any Rider win of less than seven points was counted as a loss.

My thinking was to determine, based on the season results, what were the likely outcomes for Chris Jones and his team and how much was due to luck, good or otherwise. It’s a variation of the “Rider Math” where you figure out what might happen based on everything going right or not.

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So based on the Riders hanging on to their wins and winning the games they lost by seven points or less, the Riders record would have been 9-9, which is what I would have thought would have happened at the start of the season. By using the criteria that the Riders would have lost games they won by fewer than seven points and counting their losses, the Riders record is 1-17, probably the worst case scenario.

The wins that could have easily been losses were the two games against Ottawa, the final game against Edmonton and one against Hamilton. You could argue the Riders won those games on merit, you could also argue the Riders benefitted from either touchdowns being called back (game against Hamilton), missed field goals from other teams (Ottawa) simple miscues (Edmonton).

So the Montreal game was one where I think the Rider players started to believe their own hype and didn’t take Montreal seriously until they lost. Then the final game at Taylor Field was anticlimatic because the Riders offensive line was of Swiss Cheese category.

The final game in BC was nothing more than an exhibition game, starting with the late breaking news that Darian Durant would not be making the trip, raising speculation he would not be signing with the Riders when he becomes a free agent. That put Mitchell Gale, GJ Kinne and Brandon Bridge into the rotation at quarterback in a seemingly random order.

The Riders had mentally, or emotionally, checked out long before the kickoff of the final game, raising questions of whether Rider GM/Head Coach Chris Jones would raze this roster to the ground like he did with the 2015 roster. This combo of Jones along with John Murphy as player personnel guru and Jeremy O’Day as whatever he does, had some misses with players like Maurice Price being traded for and then retiring after pocketing a $20,000 bonus, Shawn Lemon being signed and then traded when he balked at dropping into coverage (Lemon I believe was tied for the lead in sacks this year), Justin Cappicciotti being signed and then traded when he was found to be not quite up to the demands of the Jones defense, a few other players the Riders traded for who prefered to retire than show up.

Let’s not forget former Riders like Weston Dressler who had over 1,000 yards receiving for Winnipeg, John Chick who was a monster for Hamilton at defensive end and maybe Ryan Smith for Winnipeg, when he wasn’t injured.

I doubt those players would have made much a difference for this team but the question has to be asked is, what kind of culture the Riders are creating? Rider CEO Craig Reynolds gave Chris Jones the keys to the franchise to create sustained winning, but the revolving door of players resulted in a lack of continuity which was in contrast to the Roy Shivers/Danny Barrett years where the Riders went with rookies in the defensive secondary, realized they would be taking their lumps, but that secondary grew to be one of the best.

By comparison, Jones tried a few of his projects, like converting receiver Steve Francis to safety based on his size and speed, and had quite a few first year players on defense who only got better when the Riders added defensive backs like Fred Bennett and Ed Gainey who have experience on their side, but also age which asks how long they might be good.

That kind of smacked of band aid solutions, but the Riders lucked out with the signing of Willie Jefferson and Henoc Muamba who added some pep and a nice ratio buster on defense for the Riders. The Riders will likely lose Jeff Knox Jr. who, two years ago, was the Rider everything in award nominations but had problems cracking the starting lineup.

While Jones is justified in saying he is concerned with winning all the games, some of his moves like reaching on challenges, having fans sign in to watch practice, and getting busted on stashing players left a bad taste in many fans mouths. His questionable handling of the quarterback spot and hanging on to former players of his from Edmonton when it was obvious they were not contributing much raises the question of whether Jones has been able to learn from his actions and will improve.

So while he goes off on a recruiting trip next week south of the border, which is a good way of getting out of town before he goes crazy from people asking what in Sam Hill he thinks he is doing, there are questions.

The Riders have been pouring money into finding players, which is something which should have been done years ago, but the question should be asked with over 100 players suiting up for the Riders this year, what didn’t work in identifying players who can play here, and in particular, players who can play Chris Jones’ system? Are the Riders getting their money’s worth?

These are questions that will have a great deal of importance for the Riders because next year season ticket holders in the new stadium will pay the same price they paid in Taylor Field, but those prices will go up the year after, as much as $800 bucks or so depending on where you sit.

So if the Riders don’t sign Darian Durant and go for James Franklin of Edmonton, then do another 100 player try out and end up with a record anywhere between say 1-17 and 9-9, will fans think they are going to pay the increased price to watch a team that seemed unaware of how important it is for the people of this province?

More importantly, if people see this team play like it did in the last three games, will they care?

The Riders merchandise sales should be relatively all right this year considering the last year of Taylor Field, but if the team starts playing like an offensive line made up of Swiss cheese, a defense that perfected the matador defense and an offense that is offensive, then the Riders ability to pay for what it wants to achieve will be called into question.

So realistically, Jones will have his full three years to see what he can do, but if he can’t boost his win total next  year and the year after, then this gamble will not have worked for the Riders. Jones seemed to have widened his scope to take in advice from people like Bill Parcells and he brought Gary Etcheverry in act as a consultant, but this upcoming year will be interesting.

Chris Jones has won Grey Cups wherever he has been prior to coming here and until this year never missed the playoffs. Now if you accept you learn more from failure than from success, then what Jones has learned and how he adjusts will be the difference in whether he will be regarded as a success or a failure.

The clock is ticking.