The Honeymoon is over.

Most of us have experienced the joy of meeting and courting your life long mate where everything is beautiful and nothing evil comes along to spoil the scenario which culminates with marriage and a Honeymoon .Then after the Honeymoon is over harsh reality sets in and some times it is not kind.That is the kind of world the 2007 edition of the Saskatchewan Roughriders find themselves in today.

The first nine games of the 2007 season under new Head Coach Kent Austin were incredible from an achievement point of view. The club won seven ,five in a row and had a record of seven and two and were perched in first place in the Western Division of the CFL something the Saskatchewan crew has not done since 1976. The team was third or fourth in most offensive categories and second or first in points scored for most of August and defensively they were the unbelievable leaders in 20 of 26 defensive categories as well including till this past weekend fewest points allowed. It was heaven, a fantasy world, Rider fans were delirious as they could not believe the teams good fortune.


Mosaic Stadium at a capacity of 28800 was being sold out on a regular basis and some long time die hard fans were already planing the Grey Cup Parade route. Austin was being touted as Coach of the year and Kerry Joseph as player of the year Then came September with the annual Labour Day encounter with the Bombers where the team played lousy but managed to squeak out a last minute 31-26 victory.

Then one week later in the Manitoba Capital harsh reality set in when the team was manhandled by the Blue and Gold 34-15 and many say the score flattered them. However everyone felt they would rebound like they did after the 42-12 shellacking at the hands of the BC Lions at home in July.They were also playing the Stampeders next who had five wins of which three were over the Eskimos and one each over the Argos and Ti-Cats .They also had one tie with the BC Lions but for all intents and purposes had not beaten a team with a winning record and Saskatchewan had according to them a sensational week of practice in preparation for the Alberta jaunt

Saturday afternoon in Cowtown belonged to the Cowboys as they dominated the game in every area from start to finish hammering the Prairie folk 44-22 which means The Green Machine have been outscored 78-37 in the last two weeks The 44 points scored by the Stamps were the mostthe Riders have given up this year in any one game..The concerns that Austin had about the lack of proper tackling and the confusion that was displayed in the secondary in the Winnipeg game were even more pronounced on Saturday afternoon. We all were concerned about the lack of experience in the secondary coming into the season but felt that the worries were unfounded after the first nine games ,however the secondary has been dissected by two former Rider signal callers Kevin Glenn and Henry Burris in the last week giving up huge chunks of yardage.

One must remember the club has not faced receiving corps of this calibre all season long as Winnipegs Milt Stegall, Terrance Edwards , and Derrick Armstrong are one , three and five in the CFL,s current reception category. The Calgarians have three of the best as well with Nick Lewis, Kenyon Rambo and Jermaine Copeland all of who were off to a slow start but now seem to have found a groove. Still the fact of the matter is that the Rider secondary was beaten badly in the last two games and you have to wonder how can they have played so well in the first nine games and then collapse completely in the last two.It has to drive a perfectionist like Defensive Co-ordinator Richie Hall crazy.

This team at one time led the league in Quarterback sacks but have had only three in the last three games as it appears "Chunky and Chick" Marcus Adams and John Chick are not getting the job done pressure wise on the one side of the defensive line similar to what proven veterans like Scott Schultz and Fred Perry are doing on the other side. The puzzling factor is that they had been effective earlier in the season. however in the last two game Burris and Glenn have had all day to pick out their open receivers.


The Riders miss the great Matt Domiguez their leading reciver and number one yardage wise in the entire CFL who they lost on Labour Day for four to six weeks but even he could not have affected the result on Saturday.

Austin was noticeably shaken up after the game and in addressing the team stated that immediately every aspect of the team was going to come under review including his own coaching staff. It has to be annoying, frustrating, maddening or whatever other adjective you want to use for the Rookie Head Coach to see this 180 degree turnaround of his charges in the last two games and answers have to be found quickly as next Saturday the BC Lions who are now one point ahead of us in first place will be in town. It is hard to comprehend how the players that played so well in the first nine contests could have all of a sudden lost it.Stay tuned.