You have to look at things from a positive viewpoint and the fact of the matter is that we still have the best record in the CFL despite the embarrassing trouncing in Winnipeg in The Banjo Bowl . The Riders are seven and three with eight games to go split evenly between four at home and four on the road. Their vaunted number two ranked defence going into the Winnipeg game fell apart allowing Kevin Glenn to complete 25-33 for 285yards and kill the Rider secondary with his quick release which is with Dave Dickenson on the injured list the quickest release by a current CFL signal caller .The fact that he has three receivers of the calibre of Milt Stegall, Terrance Edwards , and Derrick Armstrong and a running back like Charles Roberts at his disposal makes the Bomber offence almost impossible to stop.
The bottom line is Winnipeg executed , we did not. We left too many big plays on the field.The big plays we made last week we did not make this week. Kerry Joseph has to make quicker reads against this kind of defence. -our offence should be set up for quick passes like Winnipegs
offence. Use that to set up the deep ball.
The fact of the matter is the Bombers won the game in the trenches with their offensive line anchored by former Rider great Andrew Greene and Dan Goodspeed doing a sensational job of protecting Glenn and allowing him an extra second or two to pick out his second or third receiver if his primary target is covered.He has access to three of the top five receivers in the league with Stegall number one and Armstrong and Edwards being fourth and fifth.Charles Roberts at tailback with his ability to squeeze thru the smallest opening and then accelerate and pick up critical yardage in crucial situations makes the overall offensive personnel a Quarterbacks dream.
The Bomber defence which is now amongst the league leaders in Quarterback sacks performed at a high level as well constantly forcing Kerry Joseph and later Marcus Crandall to get rid of the football quicker then they wanted to or else be sacked. Their front four composed of defensive ends Gavin Walls and Tom Canada and defensive tackles Doug Brown and Jerome Haywood is the best in the league and middle linebacker Barron Simpson is in a class by himself. Their secondary and linebacking crew which just got better with the arrival of cornerback Jauron Bolden and linebacker Ike Charlton from the NFL after being final cuts of Tampa Bay and Detroit should rank near the top in the league by seasons end.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders have had a terrible time winning games in Winnipeg as since 1991 they are two and sixteen in the Manitoba capital and one and 13 in the last fourteen played at the back end of the Labour Day week.
The Bomber domination was exemplified by the fact that their punter Rob Pikula did not punt until the eight minute mark of the third quarter.
The Green and White had won five straight going into this one after a dissapointing last minute 21-20 loss in Edmonton on July 20th. The last game where they were totally outplayed comparable to Sundays whipping was on July 13th when they were hammered by BC 42-12 .
The question is can they rebound again and how serious is Matt Dominguez there leading receiver hurt. If they win all four of their remaining home games that would give them eleven victories which should almost certainly qualify them for the playoffs and most likely with the tight race in the West give them a home playoff birth.
The next game in Calgary will indeed be another challenge as the Stampeders are red hot having defeated the Eskimos twice within five days and Henry Buriss is playing as well as he has ever played as he and offensive Co-ordinator George Cortez appear to be finally on the same page.The Stampeder receiving aggregation is pretty good as well with Jermane Copeland, Nick Lewis ,and Kenyon Rambo all breaking out of their early season slump and Canadian off season acquisition Ryan Thellwell from BC had his best game as a Stampeder last week in Edmonton.
The facts are the facts and three of the Stampeder five victories have been over Edmonton and the Calgarians have yet to beat a team with a winning record although they did tie the Lions. If they win on Saturday they would be one point behind the Roughriders who need the victory badly to stay ahead of BC and the Stampeders.
This game will be a true test of how good this Roughrider team really is and how badly do they want to finish first in the West.
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2 comments:
Right on John, Calgary will be a true test of our desire to finish first or second. We will need a full team effort to win, anything less will result in another loss. Desire and emotion wins ball games - do we have it?
We shall see tomorrow.
I guess the answer to your question was a 44-22 loss! The defense has been over-rated and is now sinking like a stone. Personnel changes are in order but it may be too late. The way we've lost the last two games has exposed how bad our defense is right now. No amount of rah rah will change the fact that something has to be done.
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