The Time has Come

The team has been remarkably focused and disciplined during the practices as they seem ready to accept the challenge posed by the BC Lions who stand between them and a berth in the Grey Cup.

The Lions emerged from their battle in the western semi final with the Calgary Stampeders with a 33-30 win. It was a win that could have gone Calgary’s way if they knew how to handle the last few seconds of the first half with time out but managed to bungle their way from getting a field goal or even a touchdown by not paying attention to the clock.

The BC win was welcomed by most Rider fans considering how the Riders second stringers had pushed the Lions in the last regular season game for both teams. The Riders had already won two games from BC, one with Nathan Rourke at quarterback, the other with Jeremiah Masoli at quarterback and Rourke seemed to have problems with the crowd noise at Mosaic and how the Rider back ups did not back down from the Lions starters.

Calgary had beaten the Riders twice this year, decisively, and then went out and squandered those opportunities by losing to Ottawa twice. Calgary had done a great job of turning around their team in one-year, jettisoning players and coaches to shake up the team culture caught in a conflict between veterans and new players who were maybe not as committed to winning.

The Stampeders added Vernon Adams Jr. at quarterback and built a defensive line that was extremely physical and came out with a running game that was extremely effective. In the end they were undone by depth because when the key players they had brought in went down with injury, Calgary did not have the same success as the Riders in bringing in their backups.

Calgary showed it was possible to move from finishing out of the playoffs to getting back in in one year and while Calgary can probably expect to lose some players to the NFL for try outs, they are going to match their recruiting efforts this offseason to try to keep up in the west.

Rourke is up for Most Outstanding Player from the west and are riding a seven-game winning streak. While both are impressive, the Lions also have a suspect offensive line when it comes to protecting Rourke, did not open up many holes for their running game against the Riders and their receiving corps had to battle against the Rider regular players.

There will be snow before the game, most of it on Thursday and there is a forecast of snow on Friday night. The forecast Saturday has a high of -4 C with a low of -12 during the evening so with a kickoff at 5:30 pm, if you are going, dress warmly.

In last year’s western final between the Riders and Stony Mountain Blue Bombers, the Bombers went deep on the Riders in the first quarter, got ahead and kept the Riders at bay for the remainder of the game. Expect the Lions to use their receiving corps to try to get deep on the Riders before their defense gets settled.

The difference is this year the Riders secondary is better with Tevaughn Campbell getting big plays in at cornerback and making the Riders tough to move on. The Riders used their injuries this year to get playing experience for their Canadian receivers and expect them to play a major role playing in conditions they are used to at this time of year.

BC is apparently favored as an example of how superficial betting lines when it comes to evaluating teams. The Lions are the better match up for the Riders and even though this game is not a slam dunk, the Riders should be disciplined in their pursuit of Rourke and keeping him in the pocket and confusing him with their defensive coverages.

Both teams should be trying for a ball control offense to keep the other team off the field and more importantly, shivering on the sideline. The Lions haven’t shown they can run with a running back against the Riders, although Rourke has been breaking runs in either deliberate plays or because of trying to avoid being sacked.

In the end, the Riders have more and better depth than the Lions and since I picked the Riders to win the Grey Cup at the start of the season, this is no time to stop, especially since the game is in Winnipeg and the Riders can go into Princess Incestuous Field and win the Grey Cup in front of Bomber fans who may be on the verge of saying goodbye to Mike O’Shea as head coach. Riders win 27-26 because the Riders rarely blow people away.

This is because on Wednesday the Ottawa Redblacks stunned the CFL by announcing they had hired Ryan Dinwiddie, formerly the coach of the Toronto Argonauts as their new GM and Head Coach, replacing Shawn Burke as GM and Bob Dyce who was let go last week.

There were some hints Dinwiddie may be going to Ottawa, but considering the lack of leaks, it was a great job by Ottawa by poaching Dinwiddie who went through a difficult season in Toronto with a team decimated by free agency that failed to make the playoffs to defend their Grey Cup championship.

A case could be made Dinwiddie lost the locker room early by promising to make changes to the team after a loss to Saskatchewan and then not doing so. The Argos did not bad without Chad Kelly seeing the field as a quarterback after breaking his leg in last year’s eastern final, but the Argos losses on the defensive side of the ball made things tough for the Argos to dig out.

O’Shea comes into the picture because his current contract is expired with the Argos and after the Bombers failed to extend their run of Grey Cup consecutive appearances to six, there was a lot of finger pointing, first by Zach Collaros who said the team worked plays in training camp they did not use during the season.

Add to this running back Brady Olivera who is from Winnipeg, indicating he will not be giving a home town discount to the Bombers and wants to go to a team where he is presumably the focal point of the offense and probably wants to get paid more, and you get the picture the age of Bomber dominance (I refuse to use the word dynasty because losing three Grey Cups in a row does not constitute a dynasty, even in this age of participation medals) is drawing to a close.

O’Shea is from Ontario, is high profile enough that Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment would see him as a credible coach for the Argos and may be able to attract maybe a few dozen more fans to see Argo games. Whether O’Shea would go or whether he would want to try to deal with a Bomber team that will have to reload is a question he will have to answer in the next two weeks since the CFL has an embargo on non-Grey Cup news during Grey Cup week.

Which leads us to the Eastern Final where Montreal has quarterback Davis Alexander riding a 12-game undefeated streak as a starting quarterback. With Alexander, Montreal is efficient, without him, they are less so.

Montreal also has some injuries and suspensions on their defensive line to deal with which became an issue during their 42-33 win over the Bombers. Montreal built up a big lead at the half only to let the Bombers back into the game before finally driving a stake into the heart of Bomber fans and nailing the coffin shut.

The changes on defense may provide the key to Hamilton and quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell getting back to the Grey Cup and perhaps ending the drought for Hamilton who last won a Grey Cup in 1999.

If Hamilton can run the ball on Montreal, they can keep Alexander on the sideline and demonstrate they are a team that can beat other teams with a winning record. This uncertainty over Montreal’s defensive line and their run defense has me thinking Hamilton can punch their ticket to the Grey Cup in a 28-26 win over Montreal.

The Grey Cup is next.

by Greg Urbanoski

The Time has Come

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