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Monday, January 18, 2016

Something to "Mitch" About


The moves have been made and while many are starting to come around and see the moves to release Weston Dressler and John Chick take the Saskatchewan Roughriders out of salary cap hell, there are still some who believe Chris Jones might be one of the biggest buffoons in Rider history when he hasn't coached a game.

There are questions being asked after Weston's statement to the Rider Nation via Twitter on Friday morning like did the team want him around, what offer if any was made and what offer would have been enough to get him to stay. We may never know the answers to those questions, but when Dressler and Chick sign with another team, what will their salary be.

The other question being asked to me is "What's next?".  As has been stated before, when you are 3-15, you make changes and while those changes have started, one would have to think more are coming, but how many can you make.  If you take a look at the 2013 roster that won the Grey Cup, these are the only players left.

Darian Durant, Rob Bagg, Chris Getzlaf, Dan Clark, Chris Best, Xavier Fulton, Brendon Labatte, Corey Watman, Tearrius George, Alex Hall, Levi Steinhauer, Paul Woldu, Kevin Regimbald and Spencer Moore. That's it! Some of those guys are free agents so they may not be back. The turnover has been quick and it has been immense.  It's almost like the Riders truly are starting over and have an expansion feel to them. Again, this is what you get when you finish 3-15 which is far below the expectations set by Craig Reynolds and company.  The talk has started about what Durant's future is. When you have Brett Smith (Keith Price is a free agent) who is learning the job, but still isn't ready, you have some leverage, but that leverage could come to a quick end if Trevor Harris comes here via free agency or if a trade for James Franklin happens---and with Jones' familiarity with Franklin, I could see that happening.

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To the NFL playoffs and just when you think they can't get any better when it comes to drama and the bizarre happenings they bring, it does. I don't think there has ever been a wilder 15 minutes in a game than what Green Bay and Arizona treated us to.  What had been a great football game turned into one of the best games of all-time as Arizona goes ahead on a deflected pass that may have been intercepted which results in Green Bay getting not one, but two Hail Marys to tie it to a botched coin flip to a Hail Larry as the Cardinals prevailed in overtime.





It has renewed the overtime rules talk in the NFL again. As I have stated many times before, I have no problem with the rule. The job of the defense if they are on the field to start overtime is to prevent the other team from getting in the endzone and giving your team a shot. If you can't, you don't win. It's as simple as that. Green Bay still had a chance to extend overtime when Larry Fitzgerald was stopped at the 4. Didn't New England win a Super Bowl with an endzone stop last year? Yes, that was in regulation, but it can be done. If and I say if you are going to change the overtime rule and I have said this many times and it would apply to the CFL as well. You give each team a possession, but you put the ball at midfield and make the offense get a couple of first downs. Putting the ball in a spot where you can basically kick a field goal without gaining a yard is dumb.

I thought Kansas City could beat New England, but they were just clueless with the football when it mattered while Tom Brady was anything but.  He had that look on Saturday afternoon and when he has that look, you don't beat him. Tom made it look wayyy too easy----again!

As for Sunday, the Seahawks couldn't recover from the first 5 minutes against Carolina as they were down 14-0 before they knew what hit them.

Seahawks wide receiver Jermaine Kearse gives a hug to punter Jon Ryan in the final minute as the Seattle Seahawks lost to the Panthers. (Bettina Hansen / The Seattle Times)

Russell Wilson tried to bring them back, but he just didn't have enough time while Denver outlasted Pittsburgh in a game that was closer than I thought, but a game where Peyton Manning just looked too slow. We will see another Brady vs Manning battle, but Peyton needs to be a lot sharper in my opinion as he looks for one last Super Bowl. This has to be it for him doesn't it?

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Mike Gibson is gone as U of R Rams head coach.  I was told by many this was the wrong hire and those people appear to be correct as he turned out to be exactly what many said he was.  I have also been told there are many players who are very happy over what has transpired. It is now up to the University and the football club to right a wrong and not to fall for the guy with the flashiest resume and bring someone in who can get this program to where it needs to be.

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There should be a lot of red-faces in the NHL over the John Scott story.  The story and the impact it is having is told perfectly in this outstanding article. John Scott didn't ask for this, but he got it and he accepted. What could have been the weekend of his hockey-life has now turned into a nightmare because of the NHL. The league needs to rectify this situation because they look real bad in allowing this to first happen and now taking action against the player when he has done absolutely nothing wrong.

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Sportsnet's Mark Spector revealed Friday the Oilers did indeed dangle Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to the Nashville Predators for Seth Jones, but Preds GM David Poile said no and took Ryan Johansen from Columbus instead. Spector then surveyed some GM"s with more saying they would have taken Nugent-Hopkins. While RNH isn't gone from the Oilers yet, one would think the decision has been made as to what one of the big three will be dealt as Edmonton looks to improve themselves on the blueline. I think Peter Chiarelli will make his move during the all-star break, but what team does he dance with.
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Patrick Kane had never had a regular season hat-trick until Friday in Toronto. That is hard to believe!

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Connor Hellebuyck has been a godsend for the Winnipeg Jets. He may have made Ondrei Pavelec expendable and that could help them keep Andrew Ladd or Dustin Byfuglien.

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The Colorado Avalanche and Detroit Red Wings alumni will play a game at Coors Field before the teams of today play in another outdoor game. The players who will suit up were announced on Friday and the game will see Claude Lemieux and Kris Draper on the ice against one another. Could this be an alumni game with fireworks? Who knows? If Mosca and Kapp can still have issues with one another many years later, so can Lemieux and Draper!

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The womens basketball team at the University of Connecticut is 99-1 in their last 100 games. Not bad!

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Congrats to two Sasky athletes. Weyburn's Graham DeLaet finishes tied for 7th at the PGA's Sony Open---his first event of 2016 and Strasbourg's Nick Schultz played his 1000th NHL game last week and was honored by the Flyers for doing that before their game Saturday against the Rangers.

That's all I got. Have a great week!






17 comments:

Anonymous said...

not a bad read

Anonymous said...

NFL overtime, much like CFL overtime is flawed. I would like to see the other team get the ball if a TD is scored on first possession to match, but I do see the merits of putting it on your defense to make a stop or at least limit the damage to a field goal.

Anonymous said...

Is there any way Dressler comes back at a much discounted rate or has the ship left the harbor? I am thinking the latter because Dressler probably doesn't want to play for Jones after what happened.


Anonymous said...


Great start for DeLaet. It is too bad another blogger we know and love can't recognize this guy because he is too busy blowing himself with how great he thinks he is while trying to defend idiotic statements like having no problems texting and driving.

Good Monday morning read Scruffdog!

Anonymous said...

That John Scott story is disgusting! The NHL should be ashamed of themselves.

Anonymous said...

Not surprised you've bought into the NFL hype. That was the greatest playoff game ever ...until next week. And this year's Super Bowl will be the greatest ever until next year.
Wannabes are easy to fool.

Anonymous said...

Nashville was smarter to take Johansen than Nugent-Hopkins. Better player!

Anonymous said...

HAHAHA at the DeLaet comment and the swipe taken. A well taken swipe too

Anonymous said...

What leverage did Chick and Dressler think they had coming off 3-15 where neither were exceptional. You should get paid on seniority? The reason O'Day didn't get the GM's job is because he didn't have the stones to do what needed to be done. I love DD but when you take a million dollars and play 8 games over two season, how is that justified? If you say injury then what is the situation next season. DD admitted after the last injury he may not have done enough work with his lower body after the shoulder injury. Isn't that his responsibility when making that kind of money? What if he doesn't return to form and the team has an un-tradable 500K stiff. When Chick and Dressler left for the NFL they didn't give a second thought to ever coming back but they weren't good enough. They could have signed here but chose not to. That's on them and not management.

There are some fans and media who would pay these guys anything they want just because they were popular. The fact they're older with declining value meant nothing. Meanwhile while tow or three guys are taking 25% of the budget, guys like Tristan Jackson had to work on the oil rigs to make ends meet. Maybe these people should ask them how that felt.

Thank God we now have a management team who won't bow to the pressure of the stupid masses. Who know how to build a team when it's been mismanaged for so long. There will be more as they will restructure the team and allow it to be competitive year after year instead of being mired in perpetual mediocrity. The true culprits in Taman et al are not being held accountable but instead the focus of the media and others is on those who had to clean up the mess left behind.

Anonymous said...

Dan Johnston should remove himself as president of the Rams. His incompetence in hiring this guy, who most knew would jump ship when an opportunity came, has set the Rams back years. One of the best group of Grade 12 grads Regina has ever seen and not many are going to play for the Horns opting to play the Huskies instead. Thanks Dan!
(Sorry Scruffy, this got posted in the Gibson thread too--wrong one!)

Anonymous said...

Great performance by DeLaet. It is time for him to get into the winners circle!

Richard

Anonymous said...

Amen, getting just a little tired of Rod's name dropping and patting himself on the back.
Done with Pedersen.

Anonymous said...

Find some current Rams players and ask them off the record what they thought of their old head coach. The answers may or may not surprise you!

Anonymous said...

Hey Scruffy; I loved seeing the likes of Graham DeLaet and Nick Schultz being on your blog. They aren't good enough to make it on to the 'I'm so great' blog.

Anonymous said...

DeLaet; $ 187,500 smackers. Not a bad payday.

Anonymous said...

Ummmm...Schultz's feat is on Rod's MMG today.

That's OK though RPhater!

Anonymous said...

What is going to happen to Compete Street? Will it be boarded up much like North Central?!