It Could Have Been Worse

Calgary had BC on the ropes for three quarters but BC managed to adjust to win the fourth quarter and the game. The most important key to the Riders beating BC will be what kind of game plan defensive coordinator Jason Shivers comes up with.

A lot of this will depend on who is available for the Riders defense. The Riders are currently missing three of their four starting defensive linemen. If say, Pete Robertson, who was leading the CFL in sacks, comes back, that will help the Riders defense.

A lot has been said about how Rourke has been able to deal with adversity, and it must be said that a decent pass rush is essential for throwing Rourke off his game.

Ottawa and Calgary managed to give BC problems with a pass rush, but the rush was not sustainable as BC’s offense managed to make adjustments and hit the gaps where the blitzing players had vacated in their effort to hit the quarterback.

Where Shivers will earn his money, and likely cement interviews for a head coaching position, is how Shivers will be able to balance the pressure with coverage changes that will force Rourke to think before he throws.

A defensive coordinator cannot just throw everything into blitzes or just rush three and drop nine into coverage like Chris Jones of the Elks did against the Riders. Dropping nine and just rushing three puts the pressure on the defensive secondary to cover the receivers and reduce the targets available.

The problem is if you have a receiving corps the quality of the BC Lions, Rourke can take shots with his receivers, confident they may be able to come down with seemingly impossible passes.

However, a combination of the two might be enough to take Rourke off his rhythm and that might be enough to keep BC’s offense from wiping the Riders off the turf at Mosaic on Friday night.

Now the offense, that is another matter. While for three quarters the Riders offense was more akin to a fussy baby burping up a pre game meal, in the fourth quarter the Riders managed to finally look coherent.

The talk the last two weeks around Riderville has been whether Fajardo can be considered an elite quarterback. There are two yardsticks to measuring a quarterback’s effectiveness. One is championships and the other is wins.

The quality of Fajardo’s play has been affected by the underwhelming play of the Riders offensive line, hit by the absence of Brendon LaBatte and the injury to Dan Clark.

The Riders were also hampered by the play of Na’Ty Rodgers who picked up three penalties on his own last week. Then there is this stat to consider.

Sacks given up by the Riders – 2019- 30 (18 games); 2021- 39 (14 games); 2022- 32 (9 games).

The regression is very real and you have to wonder if just changing out personnel explains this slide. The other would be coaching and while there are those looking to clean house with a new head coach, GM or offensive coordinator, finding an offensive line coach who can teach and get results would probably do more good.

So last week Montreal gave Winnipeg a taste of karma with two missed field goals and a Montreal 20-17 win. Winnipeg had run up a 9-0 regular season record by winning games that perhaps it had no business of winning but back to back championships has created an atmosphere where the team expects to win, not lose.

The problem is you can only operate on doing enough to win for only so long. The Bombers may be satisfied with their back to back championships, but complacency can easily creep in, along with injuries, and it will be interesting to see how the second half of the season goes for the Bombers.

As for the Als, Noel Thorpe earned his money as defensive coordinator by doing enough to derail a Winnipeg offense that did just enough to win. Two missed field goals is no basis to write off the rest of the Bomber season, but it shows not everything does go right for a football team during a season and it is the team that can adjust the best that will hoist the Grey Cup at the end of the season.

Montreal climbed within two points of the Toronto Argonauts for first place, which they could still win, but they will have to demonstrate some consistency or else their win against Winnipeg will be nothing more than a one off against a team that mathematically had to lose a game at some point.

Montreal’s defense will help them be competitive, and their offense continues to be a work in progress as they battle injuries and the tendency of Trevor Harris to be a streaky passer.

Toronto went into Hamilton and Hamilton was primed to blow this game big time. Matthew Shiltz was starting, but had to go out at half time due to what was described as a lower body injury.

Toronto had Andrew Harris go out with what might be a torn pectoral muscle which will affect their ability to run the game, something they had stumbled upon that might work as an offensive strategy.

Instead Toronto stumbled and Hamilton gratefully accepted a gift that keeps their playoff hopes alive.

The BC – Calgary game will probably go down as the game of the year and a changing of the guard from the Stampeders to a team that can go deep, at least until the next free agency period.

Bo Levi Mitchell of Calgary had it correct – Calgary is not good enough yet and Calgary may be another type of Rider team, flirting around 500 and perhaps capable of one upset in the playoffs.

Calgary is competitive, but they may not have enough ammunition to stay in contention with BC unless they can get BC in colder weather the Lions may not be able to handle as easily as their western brethren.

This week Edmonton goes to Ottawa and Edmonton is a team that is capable of doing great things but is also prone to stupidity on a massive scale. Ottawa for their part continues to mourn the injured Jeremiah Masoli, but let’s be honest, Ottawa with Masoli is no better than Ottawa without Masoli.

While Paul La Police is a nice guy who should not be penalized for the injured Masoli, La Police is also guilty of micromanaging the Ottawa offense and calling plays that perhaps are better left to the brains of someone who isn’t also responsible for how the defense and special teams are also playing.

Ottawa holds the distinction of beating Edmonton twice last year and may be capable of doing so this year. Like Edmonton, Ottawa has a good defense and special teams, while Edmonton has an occasional defense and an offense with a quarterback in Taylor (Planet of the Apes) Cornelius who is effective when he rolls out.

If La Police wants to keep his job in Ottawa past this season, this is a must win. Ottawa has the bye to prep for this game and La Police has to get past making excuses because of Masoli’s injury and fully use the capabilities of Caleb Evans and/or Nick Arbuckle.

If we are honest, Evans is a better quarterback or leader than Masoli, whose whining and sense of entitlement gets old really fast. Masoli could not score touchdowns in Ottawa and maybe Evans is no better, but if he can get Ottawa to score enough field goals and the defense can keep Hamilton off the board, then a win is possible.

Ottawa is coming off their bye and after seeing how the Riders beat Edmonton, Ottawa should be confident in keeping it close and perhaps beating Edmonton in a battle of field goal kickers. Like Edmonton, Ottawa has problems in scoring touchdowns so this should be a snooze fest with Ottawa likely emerging with a 15-13 win.

Hamilton goes to Montreal and while Hamilton fans think their team should be Grey Cup contenders, their record says otherwise. Montreal got rid of Khari Jones as head coach for perceived discipline problems which have continued and Montreal’s inconsistency does not put them into the Grey Cup contender status just yet.

Hamilton also suffers from inconsistency which means either this game will look like a scrimmage between two junior teams or it will be a game marked by whatever team makes the dumbest mistake.

Montreal is coming off a major win over Winnipeg and never underestimate the psychological effect of beating the undefeated back to back Grey Cup Champions. Montreal could be fat and sassy after their win, but maybe, just maybe, they believe in themselves and if they do, 26-17 win over the Tiger-Cats.

Calgary goes to Toronto and Toronto blew an opportunity to bury their opponents in the Eastern conference by blowing the game in Hamilton. Now they face a Calgary team that probably feels they are worthy of hanging with BC and Winnipeg in the west, but now have to temporarily battle the Riders for the right to remain in the western conference although the Riders should sink enough to make the cross over.

Calgary is a team that has come close against various teams and now has to work on correcting those aspects of their team game that fell short in various games. Toronto may not have Andrew Harris for this game as he may or may not have a torn pectoral muscle and his running absence will take away one of Toronto’s more effective weapons.

Calgary is a more balanced team despite knowing they blew an opportunity to beat BC. They are more balanced than Toronto and I think they will respond with a 33-21 win.

Finally, we have BC at Saskatchewan for the first of a home and home series and the Riders will have an opportunity to see if they can hang with the big boys of the CFL.

The Riders hopes of beating BC rest with their defense being able to balance blitzing with zone coverage to make Rourke think. The conventional thinking, at least for those of us who are armchair defensive coordinators, is that for a rookie quarterback, you need to blitz, blitz and blitz again.

The problem is Rourke is talented enough to see past the blitzes, know how to counter them, and respond accordingly. Therefore, the more the Riders can make Rourke think and question himself, the greater the opportunity they have to win.

However, as Calgary proved last week against BC, you cannot take the foot off the gas pedal after three quarters. Therefore, the Riders need a game plan that can adjust accordingly during the game.

On offense the Riders need to get Fajardo to have confidence in the pocket or in rolling out. Fajardo may be seeing ghosts in the defensive coverage he is facing, or seeing things that are not there, and that may be a major factor in seeing who wins.

A lot depends on who is coming back for the Riders from the injury list and whether they make the move to add Jamal Campbell to the offensive line, open a receiving spot to another American and get a consistent passing and rushing game.

The best defense against Rourke would be a ball control offense that takes BC off the field and if it can score touchdowns, then the pressure will build on BC to respond appropriately.

I suspect the Riders are a week away from that happening. This week, enjoy the atmosphere Rider fans, because BC wins this one.

by Greg Urbanoski

It Could Have Been Worse

What's Trending