Riders Attempt Clean-Up To Keep Fans Filling Seats

The real problem was the offensive line and that is honestly a responsibility to be shared with GM Jeremy O’Day and Sorrells. The Riders seemed to wager their season on the hopes that experience gained last year would help the motley crew of misfits on the offensive line but giving up a team record 71 sacks would suggest otherwise.

The fans needed a sacrifice, and that demand ran headfirst into the reality of the football administration cap. This cap was brought in after the reign of Chris Jones who larded the salaries of GM, head coach and defensive coordinator into one hefty bundle for himself.

This cap was meant to prevent teams from spending money on position coaches for every position which is not a luxury all teams can afford. COVID has shown the CFL that while on the field fierce rivalries demand no quarter be shown or given, off the field the league needs to work together and not undermine each other, at least in terms of overspending for coaches and GMs.

The Riders of course spent to the top of the football administration cap and with another year to go on the contracts of O’Day, Dickenson, defensive coordinator Jason Shivers and Maas, the problem the Riders were facing was if they cleaned house, they would not have the money to hire plausible candidates because coaches and GMs contracts are guaranteed and need to be paid out, even if they are fired.

So the Riders at a minimum started to address the problems on offense with dismissing the offensive coordinator, who likely gets hired in Ottawa or Montreal and therefore the Riders save some money there; and Sorrells whose underperformance as offensive line coach was the absolute minimum firing demanded by fans.

The release of Moore was interesting and maybe was tied to lack of explosiveness in the receiving corps, but more likely was a reaction to Duke Williams costing the Riders a football game was getting a penalty called on him even though he was not dressed for the game and was standing on the sidelines.

The lack of discipline shown by Williams was something that spilled over into other areas of the team, like the defensive line and the Riders maybe hope this sends a message that it will not be tolerated in the future.

Combined with the unique Rider shunning of quarterback Cody Fajardo in favor of the underwhelming Mason Fine, and one gets the impression the Riders are trying to address a dicey locker room situation that may have dated to last year when Fajardo seemed to throw his receivers under the bus and publicly called for a receiver that could win toss up passes.

Ron Lancaster or Kent Austin would not have made such a statement and while no one would question the quality of Fajardo’s character, his honesty and to some extent his naivete are probably not suited to what is the most pressure packed job in the province.

Lancaster was the ultimate team guy and would shoulder the responsibility himself before saying his receiving corps was lacking talent. Austin had no problem in snapping at his own receivers who gave less than 100 per cent when going after the football.

The talk seems to be the Riders are going after Bo Levi Mitchell who has seemingly reached the end of the line in Calgary as a starting quarterback. A shoulder injury seems to have taken his deep ball ability but assuming Mitchell would come to Saskatchewan ignores the offensive line giving up 71 sacks and asks us to assume that a quarterback with a shoulder injury would sign with a team that has no offensive line whatsoever.

I would say Mitchell would be more inclined to go to Toronto where he would be better protected, have better weapons and would be easier to make media connections since Toronto has nothing else going for it. Toronto also has the former Stampeder quarterback coach Ryan Dinwiddie as the head coach so Mitchell would not be entering into unknown waters in Toronto.

You might think this would mean Toronto would have a great one two punch with McLeod Bethel Thompson and Mitchell, but I suspect Toronto would be willing to trade Thompson or release him and the Riders would have to consider maybe packaging Thompson and Fajardo at a renegotiated contract.

I am not inclined to see Mitchell as a slam dunk for Riderville, but if the Riders do not interview Marc Mueller, the grandson of Ron Lancaster, for offensive coordinator, then they are nuts.

I was on the board of directors for the University of Regina Rams when Mueller was starting for the team, and it was amazing to stand on the sidelines and listen to the players talk when Mueller went into the game. If the Rams were within a touchdown, the players had faith in him, much like they did with Lancaster when he played.

Mueller has been serving an apprenticeship in Calgary the last five years, but he knows the game and he knows quarterbacks. Whoever the Riders bring in as a starting quarterback will need someone who can provide a playbook better suited for a young team with not very good retention skills.

Calgary is already working to add more responsibilities to Mueller’s duties while recognizing he is a talent to hang onto. Offensive coordinator is a natural next step for Mueller, but with Dickenson on a one-year contract, Mueller may be looking for something a bit more solid.

For that reason, expect to hear the Riders have signed Paul La Police to head up the offense to be followed by Michell going to Toronto and Thompson to Regina. How Thompson does may be academic if the offensive line is not substantially reworked or someone who is a technically great coach is hired by the Riders.

So, this week we have the eastern final between Hamilton and Montreal. Hamilton went on a bit of a run at the end of the season to take the final playoff spot in the east although winning two games against Ottawa should not really count towards the “building momentum” storyline being floated by the intelligentsia of the CFL. Then again, this is a league that issued an all-star roster and then had to rescind it when it found it had miscounted.

The story in Hamilton is whether it made the right choice in going with Dane Evans over Jeremiah Masoli. Evans had a Fajardo style season in Hamilton, finding unique ways to lose games and leading the CFL with fumbles and fumbles lost.

Evans has played better, and Hamilton has been helped by the play of its defense. They are facing a Montreal team that seems to live or die based on the big play.

Montreal has arguably a better quarterback in Trevor Harris, who has his own chip on his shoulder but when he is hot, is near unbeatable. Montreal has their own penalty problems and lacks a proven running game.

So, while Hamilton could be argued to be playing better, again, beating Ottawa in back to game games at the end of the season is not something you want to base a Grey Cup run on. Hamilton’s defense is better than Montreal’s offense, but Hamilton’s offense is lead by a quarterback who is as likely to throw a pick six or fumble the ball away as he is to be completing a deep touchdown pass.

Noel Thorpe is the type of defensive coordinator who can drive quarterbacks insane with whatever coverages he wants to disguise. Hamilton has a pretty good receiving corps but today, today belongs to Montreal, let’s say 24-21.

Calgary goes to BC and this game sees the return of Canadian quarterback Nathan Rourke from ankle surgery. Rourke started off like a house on fire as the quarterback and while he has come back faster than expected, you wonder if the one quarter that he had against Winnipeg was sufficient.

As much as BC is now the second favorite team in Riderville these next few weeks, BC has a fatal flaw when it comes this game. Calgary has three running backs who can all legitimately claim to be capable of rushing for over 100 yards in this game.

Expect to see Calgary run all over BC because as much as BC has a great passer, they do not have the same when it comes receivers and more importantly, running backs.

There is talk the game Sunday may attract a crowd of at least 40,000 and having sat in BC Place for a 50,000-seat game, there is no place louder. BC will have the advantage of crowd noise, but if Calgary can consistently run the ball on BC, it can take the crowd right out of the game.

The ability to run the ball will determine the winner and Calgary has a better running game than BC and is probably better able to handle Winnipeg in a one game showdown.

BC will be missing Lucky Whitehead at receiver and some offensive linemen, and you run against Calgary at your own risk. Calgary has all of their weapons and BC does not so Calgary wins this 31-20.

by Greg Urbanoski

Riders Attempt Clean-Up To Keep Fans Filling Seats

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