Riders show character in win over Montreal

Perhaps most impressively was the Riders ringing up six sacks to give them 21 for the season. Next on the list is 13. The Riders picked up two interceptions including a pick six for Nick Marshall to put the Riders tied for the top as best thieves in the CFL.

The front four of the Riders has been relentless and the was defensive coordinator Jason Shivers has them operating includes inserting Charleston Hughes in various situations that lend themselves to chasing down a QB.

When you add the defensive line to a linebacking crew of Darnell Sankey, Larry Dean and Derrick Moncrief and you have a front seven which may be among the best the Riders have ever fielded. The addition of Roland Milligan to the defensive backfield has been gold. This guy is a solid tackler and his coverage skills are also pretty good.

The Riders added defensive back Amari Henderson and the guy prior to the game billed himself as a player who is around the ball and had three defensive tackles and a fumble recovery.

The game was important for the Riders to respond to their first loss of the season, an old fashioned butt kicking in Montreal, where they lost Shaq Evans to injury. The Riders receiving corps now centres around Williams, but he needs other players to show up and Schaffer-Baker, Tevin Jones and even Mitch Picton who caught a TD showed the Riders can field a competent receiving corps.

Montreal had just two sacks of Cody Fajardo after having eight the week before. The extra days of practice for new Rider centre Logan Bandy certainly helped in addition to a game plan that brought the running game forward to take pressure off the young offensive line.

The only real blemishes on the evening were the special teams’ touchdown given up by the Riders, the second in as many games, and the penalties – the Riders had 16 penalties for 155 yards while Montreal had 11 penalties for 105 yards.

One reason for the penalties was the chippy play of Na’Ty Rogers, the 6’5” 305 lb offensive lineman who draws holding penalties but also gets under the skin of opposing linemen. I had been wondering about why Rogers was still in the lineup considering his tendency to draw penalties, but after seeing him get under the skin of a Montreal defensive lineman and getting his tossed from the game, Rogers may fulfill the Riders need to match the Bombers for nastiness.

The Riders may be in the position where they have enough talent to overcome their penalties as long as that type of play also throws their opponents off.

Let’s be honest, the only games that matter, really matter, are those against Winnipeg this year. The Bombers have the Riders number, they are inside of their head, but this year Winnipeg is posting a perfect record by capitalizing on other teams’ mistakes with a team that does not have a running game and may trade for Andrew Harris at the trading deadline.

To counter this, the Riders have to establish they will not be stopped and by having better balance offensively than Winnipeg, I would say that at least heading into Labour Day, the Riders have a small edge.

The Bombers served a bit of karma to the Toronto Argonauts who had won their first game when a Montreal kick went wide and on Monday night the Argos had a chance to send a game to overtime against Winnipeg but a convert went wide.

The win solidifies Winnipeg on top of the west with a 4-0 record. BC is 3-0 following a character win of their own against Ottawa when playing on a shortened week. Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke showed character in coming back from throwing two interceptions and that to me showed the guy may be more than just a Jon Jennings mirage, also the Jennings mirage did not show up until the second season when teams had tape on him to study.

Edmonton went into Hamilton and despite Hamilton dominating Edmonton for three quarters, Edmonton came through in the fourth quarter for a 29-25 win. What was most noticeable after the game was how Edmonton quarterback Nick Arbuckle came over to console Hamilton quarterback Dane Evans who had turned the ball over for the game winning points.

One of the most devastating team losses I have seen was in the New England Atlanta Super Bowl when Atlanta blew a 28-3 lead to New England and that team has yet to recover.

Judging from how Evans responded on the weekend, I think that moment has arrived for Hamilton. Hamilton will not be in the Grey Cup this year based on how they reacted to losing to Edmonton, all they can do is start putting the pieces in place to make a run next year when they host the Grey Cup.

So this week there are just three games starting with the second in the Calgary Edmonton series. Calgary won the first game 30-23 and Edmonton has been improving in each game, although their offense may not yet reach the imagination of their defense.

Bo Levi Mitchell seems to have achieved a bit of chemistry with his receivers and Calgary is a young if unproven team with excellent coaching. The question will be if Edmonton’s trending line upwards for team performance will pay off here.

If Edmonton wins, they will move into contention in the western conference. A loss will drop Calgary out of the ranks of the undefeated but will not be too devastating since they will still have a game in hand on Edmonton.

Calgary’s offense averages 387 yards a game and Calgary gives up 300.3 yards a game on defense. Edmonton has 293.5 yards of offense per game while giving up 261.8 yards per game.

Edmonton has registered seven sacks this season with two interceptions while Calgary has registered six sacks with five interceptions. Calgary has more defensive continuity than Edmonton with a Calgary only giving up 92.7 yards on the ground while Edmonton gives up 148 yards per game.

Calgary has a running back and that will be the difference in what may seem an early season game but one with potential playoff implications. Calgary’s defense is better than Hamilton’s, but more importantly, so is Calgary’s offense. Calgary wins this one 27-24.

Ottawa comes to Riderville and after Ottawa gave away a game to BC it should have won, one wonders if the self-confidence level of the Redblacks is as low as it is for Hamilton. Ottawa drew short straw with a home and home with the defending Grey Cup champs and then the hottest team in BC, but now Ottawa comes to Regina and maybe looking at an oncoming combine threatening to cut them down.

The teams are relatively evenly matched. Jeremiah Masoli has Ottawa averaging about 353 yards of total offense a game with 291 yards coming through the air. Ottawa has given up six sacks in three games and one interception.

Ottawa gives up 105 yards rushing per game and their defense has three sacks and three interceptions so far.

The Riders average 359 yards in game offense this season with 264 yards passing being part of it. The Riders offensive line has give up 14 sacks tied with Montreal for the worst in the league and just one sack more than what Hamilton has given up.

The Riders have thrown three interceptions, but when you look at the Riders defense, they have 21 sacks so far after four games and six interceptions. They allow 54.5 yards rushing per game, which would be great considering Ottawa has William Powell coming in for his second game and Devonte Williams who is not bad.

It should be an evenly matched game, but a few things to consider – while Masoli has done well throwing the ball, he has only moved between the 30 yard lines and Ottawa has not taken advantage of its opportunities.

That may come with more repetition and practice but that may not come until half way through the season. The Riders are finding their rhythm on offense and with a consistent running game, that will make everything else run a lot smoother.

Riders win this one 31-18

Finally, we have the game of the week with Winnipeg at BC – two undefeated teams. Winnipeg has been winning with defense and an offense that can take advantage of mistakes.

BC has an offense that is all over the place and against Ottawa showed character in responding to two interceptions to lead the Lions to victory. The question will be will the unstoppable force that is the BC offense be able to overcome the immovable object that is the Winnipeg defense?

This game is in BC which you would think would favor BC, but the air travel between Winnipeg and Vancouver is not as bad as it is between Toronto and Vancouver.

The stats are interesting but skewed due to BC’s overwhelming thumping of Edmonton. BC averages 521 yards of offense per game, giving up two sacks and two interceptions in three games while rushing for 161 yards per game and registering 10 sacks and six interceptions and giving up 61 yards rushing per game.

Winnipeg averages 308 yards of offense a game, giving up seven sacks and three interceptions to date in four games. The Bombers average 78 yards rushing a game while registering eight sacks and five interceptions and giving up 74.8 yards rushing a game.

If Winnipeg can’t handle BC’s passing game, this is easily BC’s game. Winnipeg does have a problem in that it has no rushing game, at least until it trades back for Andrew Harris. BC has somewhat of a rushing game but whether Winnipeg will let them get underway is another question.

BC will able to throw the ball deep and while it might not hit all the passes, it should hit enough. This will be a fascinating game to watch with BC winning 35-29.

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by Greg Urbanowski

Riders show character in win over Montreal

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