To Tweak or Rebuild that is the question

Saskatchewan Roughrider fans are asking me wherever I go these days on coffee row are the Riders entering another rebuilding era or are Tillman and Austin just tweaking the existing team which is the reason they were supposedly brought here to do as it was felt that the 2006 aggregation was a pretty darn good team with just a couple of things missing.

McIntyre's,s dictionary defines Tweaking as "to fine tune a project or program by making a few necessary adjustments to bring it to a successful conclusion".and to this end you have to feel the Rider brass are striving .The changes on the offensive side of the ball have to be seen as tweaking with the addition of offensive lineman Wayne Smith and wide receiver D.J. Flick from Hamilton. for quarterback Rocky Butler and Canadian draft choices. In turn the club released veteran offensive guards Andrew Greene and Fred Childress. The addition of the speedy Flick gives Saskatchewan breakaway speed on the outside.

There are those who are suspect of this trade and wonder why the Ti-Cats would give up two starters of this calibre particularly a starting Canadian lineman like Wayne Smith.The answer is very simple as they coveted QB Rocky Butler ever since he picked them apart in back to back big Rider victories last year.In addition they have two highly regarded Canadian recruits who were starters in American College football the last two years coming to camp .The two were drafted in last years Canadian Draft. One is offensive centre Cedric Gagne -Marcoux a six foot three inch two hundred and Eighty pound offensive centre from Sherbrooke Quebec who graduates this spring from Central Florida University and is a cinch to be the Ti-Cats starting center. As well the man they feel will easily step into the spot vacated by Wayne Smith is London Ontario born offensive tackle Peter Dyakowski who stands six five and weighs 321lbs and has been a stater at LSU the last two years and who had some big games in 2006 on The Bayou Bengals fourth ranked team Nationally.

Mike Abou-Mechrek another Canadian offensive lineman who stands 6' 6' 290lbs who can play either guard or tackle was acquired from Winnipeg via the free agent route at the insistence of Mike Gibson the Riders new offensive line coach who held the same position in Winnipeg the last three years.The Rider coaches feel the younger Abou-Mechrek and Smith will improve the Rider offensive line more so than hanging on to the aging veterans Greene and Childress thus the release of the veteran pair.

Thyron Anderson who joined the Riders on the weekend from the Alouettes gives the team another veteran receiver who is tall and rangy with good speed who fell out of favour with the Montreal brass after failing to make the Detroit Lions of the NFL last year and returned in midseason to the Als and failed to make what the Alouette braintrust felt was much of a contribution and had an attitude problem.

There is no doubt that the verb Tweaking applies to the offensive adjustments the club has made to date.because the newcomers are all proven experienced CFLers.who should make the offense better and more productive.

There can be an argument put forward for the verb Rebuilding defined in Mcintyres dictionary as " to start a project or program from scratch or to make changes to an existing program or project using unproven or inexperienced personnel"being applicable to the defense as many feel that is what is taking place on the defensive side of the ball. The release of the Man Moutain veteran defensive tackle Nate Davis raised more than a few eyebrows.and the subsequent signing of his possible replacement veteran Jermaine Haley who has not played for a season and a half has the rail birds talking .The loss of veteran defensive back Omar Morgan on the corner who was a three time Western All -Star and twice All-Canadian via free agency to the despised Eskimos was seen as a big blow to the secondary by most of the Green and White faithful and the loss of another veteran via free agency Davin Bush on the inside who had his best year ever as a Rider last year and led the team in interceptions and has moved over to the Blue and Gold of Winnipeg has many veteran observers concerned.

This means that the club will quite likely start the season with two defensive backs with very little or zero CFL experience and when you take into consideration the fact that outside of Eddie Davis at the other DB position with twelve years experience ,Tristan Clovis the starting safety has one year of experience and the other starting corner James Johnson was also a rookie last year.the word rebuilding most definitely applies to the Rider secondary and some think the entire defense.

It really comes down to interpretation as a case can be made for either verb except the word Rebuilding has been used to much in Saskatchewan over the years for most fans liking and there are those that get very annoyed when it is whispered that 2007 might be yet another one.Personally think Tweaking is the word I prefer event though it may not be realistic.