A disgusting loss

One of my best friends a die hard Rider fan who drove from Victoria for last weeks game against the Lions called me after the first half of the Eskimo game stating how thrilled he was with the first half performance of the Roughriders and that our fortunes had finally turned around under the direction of our new saviour Kent Austin. and that he knew we would indeed bounce back big time from the BC loss and the first half effort against the hated and despised Eskimos was evidence of that .He did not phone me after the game .I watched the first half with former Rider President John Lipp and I suggested to him that it could have been the best Saskatchewan first half performance in Edmonton in the last ten years and he quickly replied" How about ever". Unfortunately there are two halves to a football game.

The Prairie sod busters still have not won a regular season game in the Alberta Capital since October 28th 2000 and have not beaten the Eskimos period since September 18th 2005..However this one hurts more than most as Saskatchewan put on a dazzling display of football supremacy in the first half in all phases of the game offence ,defence and finally special teams highlighted by Jason Armsteads ninety yard punt return for a touchdown where he looked like the Jason Armstead of 2005 in Ottawa.

The Roughriders had a commanding 20-1 lead at half time and everything was rosy with the Rider fans.They have not been in that kind of euphoric state for years because of the Eskimo domination over their favourite team and surely with a veteran CFL coaching staff with 42 combined years of experience there would be no way a let down in intensity and concentration would be allowed to occur in the second half. After all the Eskimo coaching staff led by the little cuddle puppy himself Danny Maciocia and still wet behind the ears Co-ordinators in Jacques Chapdelaine offensively and Hugh Campbells boy Rick defensively could turn things around in the second half.and engineer a come from behind victory. Well we all know what happened as the Eskimos pulled off one of the great comeback victories in their history similar to their Grey Cup win over Ottawa in 1981 when they were down 20-0 at half time and came back to win their fourth Grey Cup in a row 26-23.

The second half was one of insanity as the Riders kept doing the same things over and over and and they were not working.and their tendency to offensively continually throwing the long bomb was surprising as it is a low percentage play.




It would have been logical and good football strategy to throw some screen passes and attempt to cool down that fierce Eskimo pass rush in the second half. The Eskimos had only three QB sacks going into this game the worst in the league but with their second half performance looked
to be one of the best front sevens in the league as they from the Riders first second half possession were putting a ferocious rush on Kerry Joseph which had the right affect forcing him to release the ball quicker than he wanted to and to throw on the run while avoiding the rush.

The Riders demonstrated the killer instinct of a smallish humming bird in the second half.I was reminded of past Rider defences .Sit in the zone and prevent the opposition from making the big strike. Well Edmonton took a bunch of little shots and got big strikes very quickly resulting in a touchdown on their first series in the second half as the Riders were reeling from the aggressive Eskimo attitude to start the second half.

It is obvious to all and sundry that Kerry Joseph is not a pocket QB.He needs to move around and make simplified reads. He is not quick enough otherwise and when blitzed and harassed has trouble finding the open receiver which is why it is imperative that the offensive line give him protection as he just does not have the kind of ability Ricky Ray has to get rid of the ball quickly and find the open receiver,.

The big talk on coffee row after the game on Saturday morning was what did Danny Maciocia say or do at half time to inspire his troops.? And why would a veteran Rider team with a veteran Coaching staff rest on their laurels of one half and loose their intensity.

The vaunted Saskatchewan offensive line that easily controlled the Eskimo front seven in the first half crumbled in the second half as they could not pick up,the exotic blitz and stunt package that the Northern Albetans threw at them. The same thing with the defense which had nullified every tactic that Ricky Ray and the Green and Gold offense attempted in the first half only to see Ron McClendon on screen passes run wild in the second half .The Roughriders seemed completely confused by this Edmonton second half change of strategy and were obviously not expecting it.

So now its the return match at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday afternoon July 28th that the Riders will have to focus on and their will be a lot of head scratching and teeth gnashing as the coaching staff look at the films of the loss and try to determine what went wrong. The fans are confused as to which is the real 2007 edition of the Green and White ,the one that demolished Calgary and beat Montreal outscoring their first two opponents 65-15 or the team that has been outscored 63-32 in their last two contests.The truth probably lies somewhere in between.