Is the Rider Season Over Yet?

The Edmonton fan pages are like seeing someone going through the stages of dying, anger, bargaining, despair and at times acceptance. The Elk moved offensive coordinator Stephen McAdoo over to a consultant role on defense (again, the football administration cap makes it apparently impossible to fire a coach, pay him out, and be able to afford hiring a replacement) while Jarious Jackson takes over as the offensive coordinator.

Taylor Cornelius, who has to be entered into some post traumatic stress disorder facility after this season, will handle the third down short yardage calls while Canadian Tre Ford and Jarrett Doege battle it out to see who starts.

The number of injuries to quarterbacks in the CFL this year might make it advisable to teams to figure out which of their quarterbacks might be actually ready to play because they could go in at any moment.

Success at the university is no guarantee of success in the pro level, because the game is faster and the players who succeed are those who work harder that those who are successful simply because they have the physical tools and figure all they have to do to get a pay cheque is show up.

If the Elk decide to tailor their offense to take into account the skill sets of Ford and Doege and assuming those two will do what they need to do to succeed, then the Elk might not be able to make a run to the playoffs, but they might be able to offer their fans something they have not had in a few years – hope.

Hope is something that may or may not exist in Hamilton, depending on which way the wind is blowing. Hope was Bo Levi Mitchell coming on the field and leading the Cats to a hard fought 16-12 win over the surging Ottawa Redblacks, despite throwing five interceptions.

Hope left the building when Mitchell on a quarterback sneak suffered a leg injury and Hamilton’s hopes of playing in the Grey Cup they are hosting are as hazy as the skyline.

The Crumback, as Ottawa quarterback Dustin Crum has become known, was not three times lucky, making one wonder if opposing defensive coordinators have figured out how to defend the out of nowhere quarterback.

It’s a question the Riders will try to answer this week, but the difference between Crum, and say a quarterback like Reggie Slack, is that Crum can also throw, not just run, although it is his runs that captured fans imaginations.

Mind you, Ottawa was more effective when Crum ran, so if you can make him run where you want, and not where he wants, that is usually a recipe for a successful defense.

The Riders as previously mentioned went to their second straight Touchdown Atlantic and while the defense put the stops to Toronto, the Rider special teams and offense made enough mistakes to give the Argos the win.

Toronto has a very good team and would have to be the betting favorite for the Grey Cup, but winning streaks usually don’t last forever. The Argos have learned the trick of good teams that if the offense is a bit stalled, the defense and special teams can kick in and make their own contributions to a win.

Toronto is operating on all cylinders which may be a source of cautious optimism to Argo fans dressed in their fancy new jerseys. That is usually a recipe for a championship team.

The Riders moved the ball, but they did not score a touchdown until Jake Dolegala did so in the last couple of minutes, or garbage time.. Immediately the call went out for Dolegala, who has a tremendous arm for long passes, but not consistency, to start against Ottawa.

Mason Fine, who started against two of the best defenses in the CFL and did not score a touchdown drive against either of them, had decent statistics, but there are fans who are calling for better results.

Some posters like to talk about “It” factor, as if quarterbacks were like supermodels. The “It” is the feeling of confidence a team gets with a quarterback they feel can win no matter what the score might look like.

I am not sure that Fine has moved into supermodel territory yet, but when you take the natural emotion of the long suffering Rider fan out of the equation, the sample size on Fine is not big enough to make any firm conclusions.

Regardless of who starts, inexperienced quarterbacks will either get a brief Cinderella phrase where they are the belles of the ball when they succeed, or they get beaten into submission like Taylor Cornelius. If Fine can survive his offensive line, he gives the Riders a chance, and that is all realistically the Riders can hope for now.

The Riders offensive line woes and their glass slipper wearing receiving corps makes it difficult for any quarterback to build continuity and confidence, so where are fans expecting the rest of this season to go?

The marketplace for Rider wear in town peaked about a week or so ago and is going down as people wrap their heads around the idea the Riders season is going nowhere. The Labor Day game may be the last hurrah and it hasn’t been sold out yet, which tells you people are not necessarily buying what the Riders are trying to sell.

As bleak as the situation may appear to be in Riderville, it does not compare to Edmonton where the Elk went into their bye week by managing to get shut out yet again by the BC Lions 27-0.

It was a game that established Edmonton as the champion North American losers with their 21^st consecutive home loss and showed an Edmonton team that has lost faith in the vision of the GM, Head Coach and Defensive Coordinator Chris Jones.

Jones can build a defense, but has no idea about offense and is probably a better scout than a general manager. The formula Jones followed in his first stint in Edmonton and to some extent in Saskatchewan has fallen apart in his second run in Edmonton.

The football administration cap, brought in after everyone whined about the Riders hiring Jones and almost all of his former staff, now serves to punish fans by forcing them to endure a coach/general manager who by virtue of signing a four year contract, has handcuffed his team and fans into enduring what will likely be another million dollar loss season but with no hope of rescue.

Dane Evans took the quarterbacking reins for BC and acquitted himself well by not imploding. This sets up the Thursday night match-up with Winnipeg with first place on the line quite nicely.

Calgary went into Montreal with an opportunity to move into a tie for third in the West, and lost on a pick six to Montreal 25-18. Montreal gave up just one sack allowing the Riders to take the lead in the worst offensive line for this week.

Montreal is a competent team, and may be a contender if they get on a roll, but they need to beat a team with a winning record to get included in that conversation.

So, this week we start off with two winning teams in BC and BC returns to the scene where they dented Winnipeg’s aura of invincibility. This time the question is how well the Lions will do with Evans at quarterback, or Adams comes in despite his knee injury against the Riders.

The game will hinge on the best tackling defense I have seen this season in BC. Winnipeg may make noises with Kenny Lawlor talking about going for 2000 yards in receptions, but Winnipeg deals with mismatches more than speed, and BC’s tackling secondary is probably good enough to put a cork into Winnipeg’s receiving corps.

When it comes to BC’s defensive line, which made the Bombers look like the Riders in their loss to BC, BC has the speed which can make offensive lines look ordinary. Winnipeg can pound it on the ground, but speed kills, and BC has sure tackling to go along with the speed.

Evans does not inspire the same wariness that Adams might, but the Lions just Evans to manage the game and let their defense take it over. Winnipeg rebounds from their last performance against BC, but BC winds 24-21.

Toronto goes to Calgary and while the other Dickenson, Calgary Coach Dave, said his team either has to start making plays or other players will be making those plays in place of the current group.

Calgary should have beaten Montreal, but quarterback Jack Maier, who threw the game away, a consistent factor in other Calgary losses, is not really stepping up with the “It” factor as quarterback observers in Saskatchewan seem to be obsessed with.

Toronto used its special teams and defense to beat the Riders with an inexperienced quarterback while their offense was not its usual efficient self. The Stampeders will have looked at how the Riders look the stops to the Toronto offense as perhaps a blueprint for taking down the last of the undefeated teams.

The problem comes on the offensive side of the ball for Calgary with the injuries to its receiving corps – there is not enough continuity for quarterbacks to get comfortable with what receivers can do and receivers comfortable enough to figure out what their quarterback is looking to do.

Toronto has a fast defense to make life difficult for Calgary and they will continue to do so with a 32-22 win.

Montreal goes to Hamilton in what is shaping up to be a battle for second place in the east. Montreal comes into the game with a team that is good against teams with worse records than theirs, but not so good with teams with winning records.

Hamilton has recycled yet again through Bo Levi Mitchell and Ti-Cat fans may be looking at what they could get for their Grey Cup tickets. Hamilton has experience, but perhaps too many people collecting pay cheques that are not performance based.

Montreal has had their own share of injuries, but nothing along the lines of what Hamilton has experienced and if you accept this is a year of potential redemption for Cody Fajardo, then Montreal seems more solid than Hamilton and while Montreal will not blow anyone away, they will walk away for a 27-21 win.

Ottawa comes to Riderville looking to get back on track after a tough loss to Hamilton. Ottawa arrives with a Rider offense in search of points, if not an identity, against an Ottawa team that despite going through four quarterbacks, may have more a future this season than the Riders do.

The Rider problems stem from their offensive line which forces the team to adjust its offense to try to give whoever is quarterback a chance. Ottawa is young but has the type of coaching that makes the most of the abilities of the players there.

The Riders will be trying to get a read as to how Fine does against a defense that is good, but not quite in the Toronto/BC level of defenses. They may look at shifting their ratio to get another American into their offensive line because their Canadian offensive linemen are not inspiring any confidence.

This means another Canadian receiver or perhaps a running back, which means the Riders will be in a shotgun formation almost every play to try to give their quarterback any semblance of a hope

As the Riders look at their season starting to slowly slip from grasp, they must be wondering what they did to deserve this. The only rational response is probably they didn’t do enough to prevent it.

Ottawa wins this one 24-21.

by Riderville

Is the Rider Season Over Yet?

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