I think that pretty much symbolizes a large majority of the Rider Nation this morning. I don't think there are too many people that thought "Canada's Team" would be 0-2 to start the 2011 CFL season, but that is where the /=S=/ stands after two weeks of the season. To make matters worse, the Eskimos are 2-0.
It wasn't pretty on the Mosaic turf as Anthony Calvillo shredded the Rider defence for 400 plus yards and five touchdowns. However, lets remember this was Anthony Calvillo and not Buck Pierce or Cleo Lemon. Its not like Calvillo, who will go down as one of the top 5 QB's to ever play in the CFL, hasn't done this before a time or two.
As Darian Durant said after the game, you just sit on the sidelines and pray that the guy makes a mistake. He doesn't. He just looks for SJ Green or Brian Bratton or Jamel Richardson for catch after catch after catch. While what he did pains the Riders, it really was a thing of artistry. He calls his play, he drops back and fires pass after pass after pass that is caught by guys he has worked for years with. It is a treat to watch this guy play in person and you leave the stadium wondering if that's the last time he will ever visit Mosaic wearing the Montreal colours.
With the Riders being 0-2, the knives are out. Greg Marshall was a mistake, Doug Berry should be fired, why does Brendan Taman keep getting a paycheque, etc. etc. etc. Hey I'm not happy that the Riders are 0-2 and you shouldn't be either, but its mid-July and not November. There is a lot of football to be played yet this year. Yeah, the Riders are staring 0-4 right in the face with road games in Hamilton and Montreal coming up, but they could come home 2-2. Where would the haters be then? In this wild and crazy CFL, you never know what is going happen from week to week.
CFL commish Marc Cohon was in attendance for Saturday's game. I wonder if he left feeling a little embarassed about the work done by the stripes. Andre Proulx looks pretty good now doesn't he? That might have been the worst collective officiating I have seen in this league in a long, long time. It was bad on both sides. I know working the Alouettes sideline that they were choked over the way some things were called and I'm guessing it was that way on the Rider sideline as well. What made me laugh is how Shea Emry could come up from behind Marc Parenteau and knock him down after a play right in front of the referee and how that referee could not throw a flag. What was he looking at? If Tom Higgins says the replay of this one, he will cringe and hopefully make some phone calls to chew some out.
The next couple of weeks will be interesting. Greg Marshall said after the game that we'll find out who our friends are. Many of his "friends" sent a message by leaving early which only proves my "We aren't the World's Greatest Fans" as some claim. I applaud those that stick around till the end, but I have no time for those that get up and leave early. Is it to rush to their phones or keyboards to bitch, mope and complain. The Riders won't finish 16-2 this year, but as Marshall told John Lynch (who accidentally opened his yap at the wrong time), they won't finish 3-15 either. If you are giving up on this football team two weeks into the season, don't come back in October now ya hear. There's a long ways to go.
28 comments:
Typical Regina media guy complaining about the fans. When YOU start paying for tickets, then maybe you have a right to complain. Until then, go pound sand.
Calvillo throws to spots and those guys are open. Darian used to be able to do that with Fantuz but he can't anymore. He's close with Dressler.
Take nothing away from Calvillo, but did anyone notice a majority of his passes were down the middle of the field. I'm guessing Butler didn't want to get burned deep in his first game thus allowing Montreal to have 15-20 yards. I thought the kid was OK, but I dont think Patrick would have allowed that. Just my two cents.
Ed
Hey Scruffy; Are you on the Rider's payroll? If not then you sound pretty stupid trying to defend them. I'm not talking about the players, I mean the staff. Oh, that's right, you might want to interview one of them this week so you have to be nice to them. Grow some balls and call a spade a spade. Now that's a novel idea; you would be the first person in the Regina media (radio, TV and newspaper) to do it.
When are you media hacks going to start picking apart Sean Lucas? The guy has been brutal this year and was the last half of last year too. We kept Lucas and got rid of Bullock. WRONG!!!!
To anonymous #1. You are the exact "fan" I can't stand. You come to the game with your Rider garb on proclaiming how great they are and then do nothing but bitch at this or bitch at that for 3 and a half quarters. Then you get up and go. WHAT A HERO YOU ARE!!! Why bother going if you don't stay till the end. Do you leave a concert midway through? Do you leave a movie halfway through? The real fans are the one that stick with this team through thick and thin--the ones that were buying tickets when Barrett was here and before that. Idiots like you anon 1 are an embarassment to the Rider Nation.
Shawn
I've been going to games for 15 years and I have never once left before the game is over. When those that do start leaving, myself and a bunch of others who are right by an exit just start abusing those. Yeah, we get our fair share of comments and middle fingers, but we are not bandwagon fans unlike many others.
Stick it Shawn; the Regina media acts like there's plywood over the windows of the press box. If the fans are displeased it's only because they are seeing a different game than the media is selling.
Shawn, I do not now ,nor ever have, claimed that the Riders are great. I also don't bitch and moan when they don't play well. My beef is with the
Regina media.
They are nothing but hacks, and 99% of them probably couldn't get a job in another city. That includes Pedersen, Vanstone, McCormick, Ball and especially Scruffy.
You can go help Scruffy pound sand.
If someone wants to, or maybe even needs to, leave a game a few minutes early - who the hell are any of you to judge?
It's my money, and I'll spend it how I see fit. If I don't feel I'm getting value for my $$ and decide it's time to leave, that's my call. If you have nothing else going on in your little life and want to stay to the bitter end, that's your call. To each their own.
Obama Lite
Couldn't agree with ya more Shawn! Great post! Everyone was all over this team at the end of last year and look what happened---they got back to the Grey Cup and everyone said they were right with them. Some Rider fans are great, but many others are hypocrites and Mr.Sandbox is leading the parade.
GS
Yep, blame it on the fans it couldn't be Hall, Berry or Taman's fault. Damn fans.
I will never understand the 'I'm a real and you're a bandwagon jumper' bullshit that some people insist on having. I've been a season ticket holder, and I still pay good money to see a handful of games every year. If you are someone who thinks I'm less of a fan because I have my own reasons to leave a game early, then you are the kind of mentally unstable person who I likely have nothing to do with in my day to day life. Good luck to you, though, with your constant 'who's got the biggest dick' mentality...I'm sure that'll work out for you.
Riders winning---everyone is happy and there are no complaints
Riders losing---everyone snaps at one another and everyone must go.
The real Rider fan is the person that goes to games and cheers from start to finish. Yeah, they can say they don't like this and they don't like that, but they aren't leaving in the 4th quarter. Those that do that are a joke as far as I'm concerned and I don't care if its the old "I live far away excuse" or "I want to beat traffic" excuse. You're not that way if the team is winning.
Where does it say in this post that the performance of the Riders should be blamed on the fans? Nowhere! What is being said (and I agree) is that its disgusting for people to come to a game and then leave before its over. I sat beside some idiot in 202 yesterday who was griping before he even got there and was moping after the first TD. He and whoever he was with left as soon as the 3rd quarter stretch ended. Its "fans" like this I can't tolerate.
You've got the mouthbreathers riled up now Mitch!!!
The Riders didn't play well yesterday and I won't go into reasons as to why the window of opportunity is closing on this team. However, I am still confident that they can pull out of this and get back to being the team I know they can be. I would rather be 0-2 to start the season than be 14-2 and lose my final two going into the playoffs. Speaking of which, didn't this team lose a bunch of games going into last year's playoffs and rebound. Some of you really need to relax for a while.
Adam
My my aren't we getting fiesty! Surprized by so many post-ing as "Anonymous" rather than having a handle. If we want to say it, take ownership for it.
Definitely our D has to make some serious adjustments between now and Saturday in Ti-Town. Anyone know if we have a Stud D lineman on the PR? The guys playing now are not getting the job done.
To Mike; The best way to fix the defence would be to run Richie Hall out of town.
Veeseven
Powder puff questions are the norm with the Regina media regarding the Riders...always has been the case and always will be. One of the media members should be asking Marshall why Patrick didn't play yesterday. I'm sure he'll say he was injured but that is the furthest thing from the truth. Do a little digging for once and ask the tough questions.
I have to laugh at the bizarre mentality and predictable behaviour of some Rider fans - when there is a losing streak no one escapes their wrath and blame - President, GM, player scapegoats, coaches (especially assistants), local sports media, and other fans who choose to stick closer to reality - and the trotting out of old and useless 'what ifs' or 'shouldas' i.e. Tillman, Womack, Austin, Baggs, etc. etc. Football season is indeed great entertainment and these blogs add to it.
Right on Shawn!! Right on!
Hey Scruffy, some "fan" wants to know if you are on the Rider payroll. Perhaps that "fan" should be taken to Riderville where you've been writing for the past two years. WAKE UP JACKASS!!!!!
Marshall tells Lynch the Riders won't be 3-15 this year ---- well maybe they'll be 2-16 or 1-17. Others are right - lucas is brutal, tackling was better when he was out of lineup last year.
I think that the Riders will be fine this year and will compete for first in the west by the end of the year but there are some coaching and game management issues that are huge intangibles in any game at any level that I think we are falling down on so far. These things are not the reason the Riders lost their first two games but they do make the difference in close games and separate the best coaches from the field, and in my view Marshall has not been great in this department thusfar:
(1) Down 22 with 8 minutes left in week 1 at the Edmonton 50 3rd and ten. Marshall punts. Game over, especially when the D is struggling and Ray is rolling.
(2) Down 15 to Montreal with 5 minutes left, kicking off from our 50 and not trying a short kick, especially when Calvillo is rolling. Brutal.
(3) Kicking off to start both the 1st and 3rd quarters. Lots of coaches do this but it is absolute stupidity. That is a turnover. Period.
(4) Critical 2nd and medium situations against Montreal in the 4th quarter and Simpson and Romero come out?? Absolutely ridiculous. There is no defensive play where it makes sense for Simpson to be on the sideline.
(5) Riders down 2 scores with 2 minutes left and 3rd and 3 at Montreals 45. Call timeout. You cannot use that timeout on offense, it has to be used on D to save 20 seconds later. Coaches have to do the math on that type of stuff and be a step ahead.
(6) No challenge on trapped Edmonton Int. Big play could be a game changer.
These are just a small sample of coaching errors from the first two weeks. Even when Miller was coaching I always said that it amazes me that some teams do not hire a "game manager" that is the HCs right hand man to advise the HC on clock and game situational type of issues including timeout usage, challenge usage, when to go for 2, short kick situations etc. Marshall and many others are great "coaches" but that really is different than being a great game manager. He has never had to worry himself about that stuff so why would he be good at it??
Another game management issue when your D is getting eviscerated (or even when its not) is to fake a punt or FG once in a while. Don Matthews was the master of this, and frankly it was as big a part of our Grey Cup loss last year as anything when it happened to us. It is soooo easy to design good fakes once you have film on your opponents cover teams and tendencies. It is almost unfair, and even if it just means teams have to waste time preparing for these things during the week it is a huge advantage for the "smarter" team that designs these plays. Being ruthlessly efficient in the coaching department will be the difference between a 9-9 team and and 11-7 team...I hope this coaching staff can step it up in this category as the team will be good enough to contend but they need this kind of help from the coaches. Austin was great at this stuff and how did that turn out for us?
Deron
Pound sand?????
Brilliant post Deron
Another one that bothers me is not making Montreal punt again from inside their 20 into the wind when they took a procedure penalty late in the 4th. The first punt was almost a best case for Montreal netting 38 yards. Make them punt again 5 yards back with the chance of a blocked punt, no yards, big return...almost guaranteed to be 10-15 yards better off anyway. Declining the penalty was ridiculous.
Deron
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