The Riders run out of punch against Bombers By Greg Urbanoski

The Riders still have Keesean Johnson but opposing offenses have double teamed him and, in his efforts, to contribute, he has dropped a few balls. Dhel Duncan Busby has also stepped up, but he has also dropped balls and the physical play of the Bombers defense forced the Riders to try arcing the ball towards the sidelines and hope the receivers could run under it and get out of bounds.

The Riders seldom went downfield but resorting to the sideline passes showed the Bombers had shut down the Riders receiving corps and the game was effectively lost at that point. The Riders could have stuck with their running game, but they seemed to abandon it in the second half as the Riders fell further behind.

A lot of Rider fans have criticized the play-calling of offensive coordinator Marc Mueller, but I am not sure what Mueller could have done with the receiving corps he had in Princess Otto. Our receivers need to learn how to recognize and play against physical defense like the Bombers used against the Riders, but this is not something that happens overnight.

Hopefully the players are reviewing game film during bye week and seeing what the Bombers did to them. Their coaches should be able to instruct them on how to recognize and shed the coverage and they are going to have to learn to take a hit and hang onto the ball.

My comments on officiating could be seen as a biased commentary by a disgruntled Rider fan, but after watching the two Rider-Bomber games, a few things stick out for me.

At the Labor Day game, Collaros was in the process of being wrapped up and a hand brushed his helmet and roughing the passer was called. Many thought it was a chintzy penalty, but the rule says any hit to the head, and I thought, OK, they are being consistent.

Then in the rematch Trevor Harris gets pancaked after attempting a pass with full body weight put on by the defender and right in front of the ref and no penalty called. The lack of consistency is what is hurting the CFL, not field dimensions but if changing those brings a couple of teams into the league, I can live with field dimensions.

There were face-masking calls that were missed, and I felt the inconsistency in the calls highlighted a problem the CFL has been afraid to address, probably because it will cost money. Pay the refs to make them take it seriously and get better in their work on the field or better yet, pay me to make calls and I think I can do much better than what was demonstrated on Saturday.

While the Riders are struggling with depth at their receiver position, the CFL is struggling with depth with their referees, and they do not have four crews who are competent and can all work on the same day as a quadruple header. Is the league looking at the U Sports and Junior Football leagues for referees who have some knowledge of the game and bringing them in?

I mention this because the last game of the day, a BC 48-29 win over Montreal ended up in a brawl which makes me wonder about the relative experience of the refs in these games and how well they can maintain control before the players take it over. Now some elements of cheap shot play become a factor when the game is a blowout or a beat down and the winning team wants to show total domination while the losing team tries to save face.

This can be avoided by keeping a close eye on the game and flagging people when tempers seem to be getting out of hand. Hopefully it will be another 31 years before we have another quadruple header.

The Riders did have some good things coming out of the game. Cameron Hodge, the new kicker, made both of his field goals. The defense apart from a busted coverage on the Bombers only touchdown and a deep pass to Nic Demski down the middle, kept the pressure on Collaros and even forced him from the game with an injury he incurred running down a Rider who dared intercept him.

The Bombers brought in Dru Brown who has been probably as inconsistent in Stony Mountain as he was in Ottawa, but at that time, the Bomber defense had the Riders in their hip pocket and all they had to do was run the ball and ensure the Riders didn’t score a TD to salvage the point differential between the teams in the two games. So if the Bombers finish tied with the Riders, Bombers get the higher spot.

The Riders have a bye this week and can use this to monitor the progress of their walking wounded. This is the stretch where the Riders need all hands-on deck with games against BC, Calgary, two against Montreal and the final game against Edmonton.

First place is maybe getting out of reach, but if the Riders are at relatively full strength heading into the home stretch, they are capable of winning. At this point, perhaps setting one’s sights on second is more realistic because the western conference is very competitive this year.

Toronto got a walk off field goal against Ottawa to keep Ottawa winless and pull Toronto within a win of clinching a playoff spot in the east. The west looks like it will be cross over to take the final playoff spot and Toronto is almost as inconsistent as Calgary is.

I am not sure what else Ottawa can do but try to rebuild on the go and maybe get a win to salvage some pride. The other issue is the constant losing tends to reduce fans who don’t see the point of spending their money without a responsible expectation of a win.

Toronto gets their second home game in a row against Edmonton while Ottawa goes off to Calgary, who got demolished by Edmonton in the second game of their Labor Day series 53-16

Edmonton is feeling good about themselves clinching their first playoff game since 2019 and in facing Toronto, will have to deal with the manic playing style of Chad Kelly. When he is good, he is very good, when he is pressured, he comes apart like Donald Trump.

Toronto will have something to play for in clinching a playoff spot and Edmonton could use this game as guide to determine what else they need to work on before hitting the playoffs.

The Elk seem to have simplified their offense under quarterback Cody Fajardo, while their defense under defensive coordinator JC Sherritt has come into its own. The question with Edmonton is playing with discipline and when you know Toronto is coming out passing, and probably not running, you can focus your defense accordingly.

Edmonton is multidimensional in their offense and defense and Toronto hasn’t demonstrated the same level of consistency. It should be an entertaining game with lots of offense, and Edmonton picks up a 31-27 win.

Ottawa and Calgary wrap up the week and both teams are stumbling into this game. At this stage Ottawa needs a good sports psychologist because losing like they have and with all the player moves, the locker room culture is in flux and the players need to believe something good is coming out of this or next year Ottawa will be losing all the free agents they have signed the last two years.

Calgary fell apart in the second half of their rematch with Edmonton and Calgary needs to respond well after the Edmonton game or the Stampeders will find themselves sliding out of playoff contention and Grey Cup tickets in Calgary will be face value or cheaper as Stampeder fans look to dump their tickets.

Following the Edmonton loss, I thought for a bit that Calgary maybe the best hope Ottawa has for a win this season. But then I thought Ottawa would beat Winnipeg. I won’t make that mistake again.

Calgary 35-28 over Ottawa.

The game to kick off this weekend comes Friday when Montreal goes into Hamilton. Hamilton is coming off a bye week and its up in the air who Hamilton starts at quarterback.

For Montreal who got their noses broken in BC Place, they will have to demonstrate they can get back on the horse with a win over a team that can stay with Montreal for a quarter or so. Montreal with their aggressive verbal style are setting themselves up for an upset in the eastern final or Grey Cup.

Hamilton who announced Bo Levi Mitchell will not be back this season has not yet run the white flag up on this season, but maybe this is the time where Hamilton identifies which quarterback or quarterbacks can help the team be competitive if Mitchell does not return or again gets injured next year.

In other words, this is an early start to training camp for Hamilton and Montreal will beat them 32-26

by Greg Urbanoski

The Riders run out of punch against Bombers By Greg Urbanoski

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