How Will the Riders Respond to Getting Beat Up?

Whether it is a better scheme to account for an inexperienced offensive line and no receivers other than Kyran Moore who can go deep, or coaching up the offensive line to make the most of their opportunities against the Bomber rush, the Riders may have the schemes, but not the players to carry out those schemes.

Defensively the only problem was not treating Andrew Harris like the pariah he is and tackling him. However, that being said, Winnipeg has a very physical offensive line and in Zach Collaros, they have a much better quarterback than what they did in Matt Nicholls.

Simply put, if the Riders are going to win the Banjo Bowl, they will have to not just scheme better, they will have to take a page out of the Winnipeg book and impose their will on the Bombers. I just don’t know if the Riders are at that stage yet.

The Riders lost out on a chance to improve their defense when the Edmonton Chronic Wasters, sorry, Elk, signed linebacker Derek Moncrief who got cut in the NFL. This makes the signing of Deion Lacey as middle linebacker even more important as Lacey seems to be the type of leader that someone like Solomon Elimimian was two years ago.

If Lacey can keep the Riders defence cool and not explode with stupid penalties because Winnipeg will be needling every play, that is one step the Riders need to take to defeat this curse brought on by the Bombers. The status of the Riders DBs is not yet certain and it is not yet known if Micah Johnson is ready to come back, so the result this week could be worse than last week.

Offensively it was Cody Fajardo’s worst game as a starter and there were no sprinkles of Jesus that could save him scrambling wide. Instead the only yardage he picked up was up the middle, which was about the place where he got injured in the first quarter.

Richie Hall, the defensive coordinator of the Winnipeg Major Crimes Unit, did a great job in recognizing that outside of one player, the Riders don’t have the receivers with the speed to send many (Roy) shivers through defenses. When your receiving corps is mostly possession players who specialize in the five yard outs that have been a hallmark of the Jason Maas offense, it is easy to take away the deep throughts and just wait for Fajardo to force the ball and then pick it off.

In addition to playing an excellent zone defense, the Winnipeg Major Crimes Unit took advantage of a relatively inexperienced Rider offensive line and come up the middle and around the outside with ease. This is easily the best defense the Riders will play this year and it is an excellent yardstick to measure the progress the team is making towards either contender or pretender status.

Unfortunately I don’t see that ending relatively soon because the only cure for the shaky O line play is playing together on a regular basis and on Sunday that was just the fourth game they had played together. It will be interesting to see what offensive line coach Stephen Sorrells does to coach up his unit to relieve the pressure on his players and Fajardo by extension.

Now this will be a controversial statement but I suggest the Riders take a page out of the Ottawa Redblacks playbook in their first game against the Edmonton Chronic Wasters. Ottawa has virtually no offense, so they have to rely on their defensive schemes and special teams and that even includes the odd trick play to take the opposing team out of their comfort zone.

Winnipeg should be supremely confident going home to face the Riders. Willie Jefferson made waves by saying the Riders are over rated because they haven’t played anybody and the Riders seemed to prove him right. Andrew Harris, PED poster boy, said it would be fun to shut up 33,000 Rider fans and I guess for him it was.

Winnipeg appears to have the momentum while the Riders are on their back feet trying to back peddle to stay in the game. If the Riders lose a close one and look competitive, then they can go through the remaining nine games and get their timing together for the playoffs where I feel they will play Winnipeg again.

If the Riders get blown out, then the waves of self doubt amidst the team, never mind the fan base, will harken back to the 1980’s when the Riders mostly missed the playoffs. If the Riders win, then all bets are off, except for the Riders and Bombers meeting for a third time in the playoffs.

Rider Coach Craig Dickenson made it clear the staff was still trying to build the roster to contend for the playoffs and Grey Cup and who appears on the field now may not be there in November. Add to that the interesting news that only three players are not vaccinated and the fun part will be to see who does not make it on road trips because of the testing required.

So the Bombers are back in their favorite role as bullies and until the Riders beat them, there is nothing to be said to shut them up. I am not sure that will happen at the Banjo Bowl, but it is not the Banjo Bowl that interests me, it will be the playoffs when you need to be peaking.

Well, considering my prognostication average, instead of consulting the CFL stats, which seem compiled by…SATAN!….I consulted the Book of Revelations to try to determine what is going on this weekend in the CFL.

So Friday is apparently the sequel to the Cats-Argos Labor Day special in which the Argos demonstrated the consistency of a slab of butter on the side of a hot Ford F 150. Hamilton now has their swagger back and as they head back up the highway to the spiritual home of the Commish, the question is, McLeod Bethel-Thompson, Nick Arbuckle, or heavens, what about Ryan Meier of Calgary to lead the Argos.

The interesting thing is while John Murphy has assembled a talented crew, the only thing that will work for them is playing together and developing consistency. So while the Argos have the consistency of a dysentery patient with no bowel control right now, that doesn’t mean their sphincters won’t pucker up when it gets colder outside. However, environment Canada says Friday is not that night – Hamilton 21 Toronto 20

A triple header on Saturday and the first game is where the Book of Revelations comes in handy. Revelations talks about the beast, how everyone worshiped the beast and wondered aloud, who could defeat the beast, or Bombers as we know it in these parts?

Certainly in the place where Dreams go to Die, Winnipeg, Labor Day was like a shot of Viagra, combined with the news that each fan will receive a fresh set of Depends when they check into Dollarama Stadium. Winnipeg was clearly the better team and the question is will the Riders fold like Matt Nicholls arm or will they bounce back like Andrew Harris on his special formula?

In the Riders preseason scrimmage I thought the O line would be the weak link, so the trick is can the Riders come out with something other than five yard outs to keep things honest? The Rider defense did its best despite some stupid penalties and I expect a chippy affair after what was really an honest game enlivened by a drone and the worst roughing the kicker penalty seen in the western world in the past five days. After seeing the Seinfeld episode where George Costancza picks the opposite, let’s say the Bombers win this one 20-18.

Calgary goes to Edmonton and the question is, will Bo Levi Hobble out, point to the Royal Alberta Hospital and say take me there at the end of the first drive? Calgary is one of the best 1-4 teams going, but the difference between them and the Argos, is the Argos have more ex Calgary players who just need to play more together.

Calgary just needs to write this season off as a growing experience and screw with every team they come across. However they face the Edmonton Elk, or Wasting Disease as we called them in PA, and unfortunately Trevor Harris is on a roll. He will eventually get off the roll, but not this week. Edmonton wins 21-20.

Finally we have Ottawa at BC and the question is, will Ottawa trade for Ryan Meier of Calgary who will be a free agent at the end of this season? The decision to go with Matt Nicholls may have based on finances, but Arbuckle has been spotty with his own performance so Meier might be the better pick up. Just don’t tell Dominique Davis that now and Rider fans should look at picking up Nicholls if Ottawa makes that trade so they can find out what kind of playbook buck pierce has. However, this week Ottawa comes west and plays at would be 10 pm their time. BC will be laughing through this one 24-17.