Riders Get Stuffed, Make Playoffs and Continue Freefall

The 2014 Saskatchewan Roughriders are a playoff team in freefall following a hilarious 40-9 collapse in Montreal.

The Riders lack of faith in their quarterbacks was demonstrated in the first half when Anthony Allen touched the ball on 24 of 26 plays. Running for 105 yards, Allen was the only spark and perhaps the logical start to try to get Montreal to back off of pressuring Tino Sunseri and perhaps open the playbook to play action passes.

Then boom, Allen fumbles, gets benched, Sunseri gets blindsided and fumbles and Montreal scores and the rout was on.

The defense then imploded with sloppy tackling, not bad work on the defensive coverages that was undone by exceptional catches by the Montreal receivers. Special teams had nothing to write home about. In short the Riders loss was a total team effort.

On Tuesday Rider running back, Jerome Messam, posted a picture on twitter of former Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed standing on the sideline with Cory Chamblin on the turf of Molson Stadium and the headache factor increased by a factor of 10. Reed, the special team’s coach of the infamous Rider 2009 Grey Cup squad, is apparently working on his MBA in contract negotiations. If he is coming on as a consultant, the Riders now look like rats on the Titanic desperately looking for some flotsam to ride out the rest of the season on.

National

Ottawa to remove 30% investment cap for Canadian pension funds

2h ago

Budget woes

Golf and curling centre faces grim season without financial boost

6h ago

Raiders AGM

Raiders impact on Prince Albert local economy continues to go up: AGM report

Dec 12, 2024

The return of Kerry Joseph was another vote against the work of Sunseri and Seth Doegge at quarterback and as a move, it cost the Riders nothing, but there is no guarantee of any sort of return. Joseph at age 41 is looking to retire as a Rider and is a natural for the third down and short quarterback position, but there are calls for him to start against Edmonton.

The question I have been wondering about is why Sunseri does better coming in on relief than in starting the game. The only thing I can think about is that with an initial game plan, it may be limited to plays designed to limit mistakes rookie quarterbacks are prone to making. When the back-up comes in, the game is usually going out of reach and the playbook is opened up.  

So would the Riders be better off starting Joseph against Edmonton? I watched the Edmonton-Winnipeg game and how the Eskimos took apart Winnipeg and how their defense chased Drew Willy out. In terms of experience, maybe Joseph would be in better shape to respond the Edmonton rush and not be afraid to run.

But Joseph got into town on Thursday, ran one play on Monday and would he have an idea of the playbook to be comfortable to run a more varied offense – I don’t know. Perhaps it is worth a try because as the Riders slide down the standings, they are in danger of losing second place.

To put it in dollars and cents terms, the Riders will make $1 million hosting a playoff game. If the Riders don’t turn the ship around, their attendance will be reduced this Sunday against Edmonton. If they go to Calgary and get killed, which is likely at this point, attendance for the final game of the regular season will be somewhere around 20k.

The Riders will lose money on the last two home games if they slide to third or fourth and if fans have nothing better to cheer for than the occasional point. If there is no sense of the team getting their act together for the playoffs, interest in the team will drop off as fans numb themselves to the spectacle they saw on Thanksgiving Day.

The Riders need to answer some major questions in the next two games, or mentally and emotionally, they are dead. If the Riders cross over to the east, they lost in Toronto, Montreal and Hamilton, three of the possible locations they will be playing in the playoffs. It is not a sure shot to the Grey Cup going the eastern route, although that is increasingly becoming their location.

The Grey Cup feeling is over from last season and the Riders are doing everything they can to try to salvage this season. Darian Durant will likely dress in the final game against Edmonton and that raises an interesting question of whether he goes in and what shape he is in.

If Durant is not fully recovered from his elbow injury, would putting at him at risk for further injury that could cost him the 2015 season be worth it? I would say not, especially if the rest of the team does not raise its level of play.

Can Joseph do the job? Maybe by the time the Calgary game rolls around, Joseph may be familiar enough with the playbook to give him a shot at the lead.

I don’t mind Sunseri coming off the bench, so let the starter be Doegge or Joseph and if they falter, put Sunseri in. If Joseph starts, he can run the basic vanilla offense and perhaps avoid the sacks until Edmonton puts a stop to him. Edmonton right now is probably playing the best football in the league and the Riders would rather be here playing them than going to Edmonton to play.

I have not quite lost faith because I remember 1989 how the Riders limped into the playoffs, waiting for players to get off the injured list, and made an inspired run through Alberta. Durant’s return may spark a similar result, so the Riders may have to swallow hard and accept losing the next three games while getting their positional play cleaned up for the playoff run.

This means we are looking for two new quarterbacks next year – but that’s another story.

Ottawa at Hamilton – Ottawa has a slim chance of making the playoffs and have to start by going to Hamilton where Hamilton is 4-0 in their new stadium. Ottawa got taken apart by BC and come back east, but Hamilton is ticked losing to Toronto in a one point game that they had well in hand before deciding to put a linebacker on Toronto’s best receiver. Ottawa goes down swinging in a game effort but loses to Hamilton 24-19.

Montreal at Toronto – This is likely the game of the week where Montreal with their gunslinger quarterback who is 5-1 comes off the high of the Anthony Calvillo day and meets a Toronto team that escaped with a one point win over Hamilton. Two of Hamilton, Toronto and Montreal will make the playoffs and the intensity will be impressive. Montreal has a good defense, but they are not the greatest on the road. Toronto squeezes another close one out 24-23.

Calgary at Winnipeg – Calgary is coming off the bye and Winnipeg is coming off a thrashing against Edmonton. Winnipeg is in free fall and likely joins Ottawa as the second team eliminated this year from the playoffs. Take Calgary to win against a game Winnipeg team 28-20.

Edmonton at Saskatchewan – It seems like Kerry Joseph will start, but I doubt miracles will take place at Mosaic Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Riders will play better at home, but Edmonton is on a roll and having moved two points ahead of the Riders, will want to win the season series and solidify second place. Edmonton wins this one 27-22.