Does this sum up what we saw on the Ivor Wynne turf Saturday afternoon? I can't remember a Saskatchewan Roughrider team playing as bad as what I saw yesterday. A 33-3 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats showed very little if anything when it came to positives.
At 0-2, I said championships are won in November and not in July, but after what happened yesterday, there will be no talk of championships in Saskatchewan this year. In fact, it has become very evident that when Ken Miller walked away as head coach of this football club that something left with him and has not returned.
Under no circumstances should this be taken as a fire Greg Marshall posting because it is not. However, after what I saw yesterday, I wonder just what is happening. This football team would run through a wall for Miller and I don't think they would have run to the store for a carton of milk for Marshall. Every football player that wore the white jerseys yesterday should be embarassed with their performance and every football player that wore the white jerseys should seriously be wondering if they will be around in the next couple of weeks after that effort. Marshall was embarassed by what he saw and he should be. I'm guessing his half-time speech and his post-game address would have been Rex Ryan-esque or Bruce Boudreau-esque with all the F bombs that must have been dropped.
Despite what a lot of you want, this team is not getting rid of Doug Berry this week and Richie Hall, Brendan Taman and Marshall aren't going anywhere. Some players have to be held accountable for their effort or lack of it and once coaches go through the game tape they will see who perhaps the guilty party or parties are.
This team has been beaten twice by 14 points and once by 30. This is not acceptable anymore. A team that I thought had the best talent on paper going into the season is now arguably the worst team in the CFL. Did I say arguably? There is still a lot of time to get this ship sailing in the right direction, but this ship is taking on water and is in danger of sinking.
I'm guessing it will be a sleepless week for Marshall and company. It should be. The same should go for players who simply embarassed the /=S=/ logo that they represent and the logo that so many wear across this country. It doesn't get any easier with Montreal coming up next Sunday in Montreal. I can't imagine how many members of the Rider Nation---including John Lynch---would even think the Riders could win that game after what was shown in Hamilton. Greg Marshall said himself after the game that no one will think his team can win in Montreal but they will take the 42 players that give him the best chance of winning. If some of those 42 take the same work ethic and attitude into Montreal that they took into Hamilton, well I don't have to tell you what will happen.
The ball is in the court of the players. Lets see how they respond.
11 comments:
Very well said!
This isn't just Miller leaving; we saw these problems last year. It was most bvious during the 4-game losing streak, but 6 of their 8 losses occurred because the team didn't show up mentally or emotionally. Now it seems they haven't bothered to come back at all. A culture of laziness has set in, and it's not all Marshall's fault.
There is no way this team doesn't start 0-5. The 99 team was a talentless crew but at least they made an effort.
And tell Lynch to stop using the humidity as an excuse...
There's something awful bad in the Rider dressing room and I suspect it started last year when Doug Berry walked in the door. For the most part it went undetected last year but several fans made postings about the disconect between Berry and Durant only to be shot down by the football experts in the Regina Media. Well, it's there and it's real and like the picture you posted, it stinks. FIRE BERRY!!!
Well said
Despite what you say about the coaches Scruffy, Doug Berry has to wrap his skull around DD's skill set and DD has to start playing like a winner. If these two can't get along and work together, we will be hard pressed to win more than 3 games all year. We let a young, bright talented coach by the name of Marcus Crandell go who was committed to the Rider brand and lived in Regina year round. These players are throwing Marshall under the bus for the tired old grandpa they once had who didn't hold much of them accountable and was lazy with work ethics. The Rider Spirit from the fans in this province and around this Nation is what got the team to the place it is now. If the players aren't going to play for their coach or coaches, they have to go. If the coaches can't get through to the players, they may have to go. Bottom line, we'll see how good of a president Hopson really is during this time of upheaval.
This team was starting to come apart at the seams at the end of last year. They rebounded and got to the GC, but there was something wrong then. I don't know what it is, but something needs to be done. Lets start with Berry.
To The Woz and Obammmmmmaaaaa -
Tillman - 3 and 0
Taman and "Coach Miller" - 0000000 and 3
SEE YA!!!!!
I live in small town Saskatchewan, in fact it's a village about 3 hours from Regina. Six people have season tickets and there's another 30 people that take turns hosting a Rider party for every game. In other words there's plenty of people wearing green and lots of coffee shop coaching before and after each game. Every one of those fans feel that there is a disconnect between Berry and Durant. I mean absolutely every one, they've all seen it either in person or on TV. It's painfully obvious. What I don't understand is why the Regina media choses to ignore the obvious. It's like there is plywood on the press box windows.
BB
The players are in need of a huge reality slap. Perhaps one of the vets needs to be let go (Cates, Lucas, Kornegay).
Count me down as one who would listen to an all-sports radio station. You would need the right people and you might need some patience, but I think it could work big-time.
Bruce
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