As I entered the hallway to go into the Rider dressing room after their 42-28 loss to the Eskimos on opening day, John Lynch uttered the following words. "Have you ever seen a worse home opener?" I don't think I have and that stretches back a while.
It was hard to find any positives from the home side on this afternoon. The defensive line was non-existent----so much to the point that I wonder if they will be the next Riders featured on a grocery item seeing they could be on the side of a milk carton with the word "MISSING" attached. Many wondered if this team could find a way to generate pressure on the quarterback and they are left wondering that this morning as Ricky Ray had all day most of the day to survey the field and complete his passes. Yes, the secondary was exposed a little by Jason Barnes and Adarius Bowman, but when the QB has all day to throw the ball, it makes life a little stressful for the secondary.
As you know I'm a big Darian Durant fan and I admit, it wasn't his day on Sunday as he threw three interceptions, but Durant was man enough to stand there and not make excuses saying he has to be better and he can't turn the ball over four times.
Speaking of quarterbacks, I will give the game ball to Edmonton offensive co-ordinator Marcus Crandell. The former Rider signal-caller did a great job in calling the plays and keeping his running backs fresh as he rotated Calvin McCarty, Daniel Porter and Jerome Messam out onto the hot Mosaic turf that in the first half was over 40 degrees celsius. You can talk about the loss of many players in the off-season, but the loss of Crandell might have been the biggest. I was happy to see Marcus get a chance to become a coach when the Riders made him an offensive assistant two years ago because I knew he could elevate to an offensive co-ordinator and succeed. He showed everyone early on that he can.
As for the Riders, it is just one week and I'm sure the team is still trying to work everything out with the new faces it has and that they will get better, but the task is daunting next week as Montreal is here. Could they be 0-2? It wouldn't surprise me, but then again this veteran team seems to bring their "A" game against the Alouettes so we'll see.
Thus ends a crazy first week in the CFL in which three of the four underdogs won with BC just a Wally Buono brain-cramp away from perhaps making it four for four. Its going to be an interesting year, so strap it in and get ready.
Here's some sound from a quiet Rider dressing room.
MarshallJuly3 by mitchellblair
DurantJuly3 by mitchellblair
ShologanJuly3 by mitchellblair
16 comments:
Can we trade Doug Berry and Richie Hall for a used ice bucket?? On second thought I guess we're asking for too much.
The Rider coaching staff has to be called out on this mess. Are you going to tell me that THREE American first time starters should play ahead of Jason Clermont? There is something wrong with that evaluation.
42 points put up by the vaunted Eskimos. Somewhere Gary Etcheverry laughs.
Riley
Awesome picture!! You should post Mad Scruffy!!
Was Marcus ever considered for the o-c position when Marshall was hired?
LD
Barrin Simpson was the best player in a Rider uniform yesterday.
Until Durant learns to how play smarter football, this team will never accomplish anything. He killed us with an interception late in the 09 GC, he killed us with an interception late in the 10GC and he killed us in the 2nd half yesterday. He's been in this league too long to keep making dumb decisions. Very frustrating!
Mike
Did Schultz send a congrats text to Kavis? Hey Schultzie, shut your fat yap!!!
If Edmonton and that sadsack group puts up 42, what does A-C do next week. Welcome to Riderville Greg Marshall....you are facing 0-2 head on.
To Mike; That ain't going to happen as long as Doug Berry is around. Berry should write a book entitled, "How to kill a Blossoming Career". When Berry got the Rider's OC position DD was the western conference all-star quarterback. Yeh, he beat out Hank and Ricky both. Then Berry stuck his finger in the pie.
Where is Gary Etcheverry anyhow? I bet his grin was ear-to-ear when he saw that score.
Shame on Global, CTV, CBC, the Leader-Post and the radio stations in town, they told us that hail was falling, but they didn't tell us the sky was falling too. GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!! Its one game!
Trevor
Not many people know it, but Ricky Ray has his own cereal too. Shreddies!!!! That's what he did to our D yesterday.
Rick
6.6 million and we can't find two good defensive ends. CMON Taman do your job!!!
Would Szarka have helped give Durant some more time to throw yesterday. I'm just sayin'
CS
UUUUUGGGGGLLLLLYYYY!
The Eskimos looked better prepared, more efficient, and far more motivated than the Riders. It's useless for Durant to "stand up" and "accept responsibility" when he keeps making the same mistakes over and over again. The good news is that there's lots of veterans who know how to win. The bad news is that those same veterans take a lot of games off.
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