When the 2012 CFL season ends, the Saskatchewan Roughriders might look back at what happened on the MacMahon Stadium turf Thursday night as a very key moment. It was over! The Riders led the game 35-17 with nine and a half minutes to play and showed no signs of imploding. On Twitter and Facebook, people were saying it was over before it was and we all know in the CFL, that a game isn't over until its over. Calgary learned that lesson last week against Montreal in a negative fashion and they learned it in a positive fashion this week as they storm back to beat the Riders in overtime.
The blame can go around. The defence became non-existent, the play-calling was less than stellar, Weston Dressler inexplicably dropped a pass that likely would have resulted in the least a game winning field goal attempt by Chris Milo at the end of the game, Chris Getzlaf dropped a touchdown pass in overtime. Darian Durant threw a costly interception. Its a game that the Riders should have won and won going away, but they didn't and as a result, they now face questions about what happened for the first time.
Just some early thoughts
--I loved the way the Rider offence was playing for three and a half quarters. They looked crisp and they were moving the football. There was some originality on first down and Darian was getting everyone involved as Justin Harper and Efrem Hill were key targets and made big catches.
--Kory Sheets continues to show us what a great find he was. Brendan Taman should be saluted for recruiting Sheets here as he is perhaps better than what Kenton Keith was. Taman should also be saluted for trading for Chris Patrick. Early on, he has been their best lineman and he has made some huge blocks to open up holes for Sheets.
--Nick Graham had another tough night. I have to wonder what his future is.
--After going on Sportscage and saying I would rather have Jon Cornish than Andrew Harris because Cornish is a threat catching balls out of the backfield, he looked horrible by dropping at least three. Thanks Jon!
--Nik Lewis. I HATE THAT GUY!!! You gotta respect what he's done and what he's doing though. As Chris Cuthbert said, "He's seemingly getting better".
--I will always maintain that CFL overtimes start at midfield. Its too easy to score in OT.
--Is John Hufnagel losing control of his team. What an undisciplined bunch? Hufnagel should tell Dmitri Tsoumpas that he has a spot on the bench for the Stamps next game as he cost them not once, but twice with stupidity.
--If Eddie Russ suffered an injury that will keep him out long-term, do you place a call to Lance Frazier. Lance is still in Regina and says he has been working hard to stay in game shape in case the phone rings. It might be worth it.
--Richie Hall has taken many knives for letting teams off the hook in the past. I am guessing Richie will take a lot of the blame for this one getting away as well.
--After the B.C. game, Chamblin said he hates giving up gift points like singles off of missed field goals and conceeding safeties instead of punting from the endzone. The Riders gave Calgary a gift two points on the high snap over Chris Milo's head. While a lot happened between that play and the end, if Milo gets the kick away, the Riders might still win. I wholeheartedly agree with Chamblin's stance on giving away freebies.
--I don't mind Jock Climie as the host of the CFL on TSN as he takes over with Dave Randorf on his way to London for Olympic duty.
--The loss sucks, but for 52 and a half minutes, this football team continued to show us that 2011 was just an anomaly. Chamblin knows his team let one get away tonight and he told Carm Carteri after that he doesn't expect that to happen again this year. If it does, look out!
12 comments:
At the end of the day, they are 3-1 and how many people thought that would be the case? Yeah, the loss sucks, but did anyone think they would go 18-0?
Brad
Richie Hall and his famous prevent defence kills the Riders again!! WTF!
What is it about the Riders and blowing 4th quarter leads in Calgary? This one doesn't hurt as much as the GC loss obviously, but what a damper this puts on the weekend.
perry
What is it that you guys are seeing in Kory Sheets that I can't see? He broke one run!!! He totaled 24 yards on the other 14 tries!!! All I see is a heck of an athelete that is hesitant to hit the hole.
Too bad we gave up the 2 points on the botched snap. But in a team sport, a loss is a team loss and the team needs to evaluate their mistakes, make some changes and move forward.
Dressler catches that ball 99 times out of 100! We have seemingly become cursed at McMahon.
Scott
I agree with the undisciplined comment regarding Calgary, but to me the TSN turing point was when Tsoumpas was disqualified. It was like a wake up call and Calgary stopped taking stupid penalties, which really helped the Riders for three quarters.
My real question is what happened to the offensive line? Calgary got two quarter-back sacks at critical moments in the end of the game that could of sealed the deal for the Riders - WTF? You called out most everything except this one point.
Lots of tape to review and this will help the Riders in the long run.
Iron Mike
I'm with you Brad!
If you don't want to bring Lance Frazier back, may I suggest Tad Kornegay?
It was a team loss so lots of blame to go around. A good learning experience not only for the players, but also the coaches. I thought both Hall and Dyce made some questionable calls in the 4th Q. On D we were far too soft and the DLine looked tired and didn't get much pressure on Glenn. Question - was Zach Evans being rotated in? I didn't see it and if not, I'm curious why as Sholo and George needed to be spelled off. On O, Patrick was great in run-blocking but had trouble handling Charleston Hughes (who is a beast) on speed rushes. So why did Dyce empty the backfield and not leave in an RB or FB for blocking help? Cost us 3 points in regulation time and pushed us back to the 50 in OT (nice kick there by Milo).
Finally, as much as this pains me to say, I gained a lot of respect for Nik Lewis last night. Not only was he unstoppable, when he scored his 2nd TD in the 4th Q he didn't yell, dance or preen...he knew they were still losing at that point and his demeanor was all business.
Starting at the 55. An interesting thought.
Afet Nik Lewis scores he leans back an bellows like a Jackass. I for one am not impressed. Why Richie Hall cannot come up with a plan to neutralize him especially on 2nd down amazes me. Whenever Calgay is 2nd and long I think watch Nik Lewis but no, he is wide open. WTF kind of coverage is that?
I was impressed with Baumann. He had a breakout game and showed what he could be. However. one must wonder was he playing well or taking advanage of the soft prevent coverage?
Dyce needs to re-think the empty backfield. The QB has to get rid of the ball in about 3 seconds or he is sacked. The receivers need to shorten up routes and look back almost immediately and expect the ball right away.
The running game needs to understand the strenghth of its RB. Sheets is effective outside not a "Cates" shotgun draw type play. Why does every team use this stupid play? It has ZERO chance for sucess with the Riders. Never has been a good play never will.
I hope this is a wake-up call for the team and they learn to continue to play hard for 60 minutes.
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