Something To "Mitch" About

Its over! The 2014 Riders season came to a frustrating end in Edmonton on Sunday afternoon as they lost the Western Semi-Final 18-10. Who's kidding who, this was a game the Riders could have had, they should have had and they might have had it.

Yes, a lot of blame has to be pinned on Kerry Joseph, but I am not going there. This game ended in the 2nd quarter when Josh Bartel decided to kick one down the middle of the field to Kendial Lawrence. Lawrence did what many players did this year-----he went through an atrocious returns team to take it 88 yards for a touchdown. The only TD of the day for the Eskimos who were just as bad offensively under Matt Nichols.

Head Coach Corey Chamblin said the one bad thing about his team came back to bite them in the ass again! No kidding!! Would the Riders have won that game if Lawrence doesn't take it back for a TD....we will never know, but I'm guessing the entire texture of that game changes if Lawrence doesn't and at the end of the game Tino Sunseri would have been getting his team into position for a Chris Milo field goal then a touchdown and a two point conversion.

As for Kerry Joseph, his post game comments hit right to the heart. Joseph said he let the Rider Nation down, he let the province of Saskatchewan down and he let his teammates down with his efforts. He came right out and said he sucked and he was horrible. It was not the way he wanted to go out, but Kerry Joseph has no reason to apologize to the people of Saskatchewan and the Rider Nation for what he did. The loyal order of Rider Priders have loved Joseph since he went off the field in tears after winning the 2007 Grey Cup. That love affair continued well after he was gone and while many mocked his return, many saw the old guy could still play the game. I think many of us knew it was a pipe-dream to suggest the Riders could win the Grey Cup with Kerry at the helm, but he gave us a better chance to win than what Tino Sunseri and Seth Doege did. If one of those two had actually come through once Darian Durant got hurt, Joseph wouldn't have had a chance to come back because he would be sitting on his couch in Louisiana watching Drew Brees and the Saints play.  The last game was nightmarish, but one career can't be defined by your last game. Thanks for at least giving us some life in the final month of the season and some hope.

I'm guessing much like it was after the 2012 semi-final loss to Calgary that Corey Chamblin won't be taking any time off and will be spending endless hours trying to figure out how to make his team better in 2015.  It seemed like last winter we didn't want training camp to come around because it truly meant the 2013 season was over and all that was left were the memories. I think people around here will be waiting for this team to get back at it at training camp in June. They still have a solid nucleus, but changes will be made. What changes aren't known (however, shoring up special teams will be a big start), but what is known is this organization will not take what happened yesterday or this season lying down. There has to be a tremendous sense of disappointment about the way this team caved in when Darian Durant went down. Losing your leader was tough enough, but seeing the way the team reacted when the leader was gone was something completely unexpected.  As this season ends, that is the big question that must be answered. That question being "Why did this team let one injury derail their entire season!"

That's all I got. The floor is yours!