Something To "Mitch" About

--Before looking at what transpired Saturday night, I want to go back to the second half of last season.  Kevin Glenn was struggling and Rider fans wanted him to be removed as the starting quarterback.  Kevin Glenn can't win consistently, Kevin Glenn's time is up, it was one complaint after another about Glenn with fans doing what they have done here for oh so long which is call for the backup quarterback to come in.

While Glenn had a strong performance in the East semi-final win against Ottawa, he was yanked in the East final with Brandon Bridge coming in.  Get rid of Glenn, Bridge is the future is what was being said.   Ladies and gentlemen, you saw your future unfold in front of you on Saturday night.

While Bridge can be a quarterback in this league, there is still a lot of work that has to be done to see him perform at a consistent level.   One of my biggest complaints about him was shown time and time again on the Mosaic turf Saturday night and that is the touch with which he throws the football.  You can't fire a ball with tremendous velocity on every throw.  He is trying to zip the ball to his receiver whether it be a screen pass or a throw to the sidelines. He needs to learn some finesse and touch.

He  just doesn't seem confident back there.  The game doesn't seem to be slowing down for him.

Apparently 620 CKRM's Rider Radio analyst Luc Mullinder feels the same way as this is what he had to say when it was over.

They have to be conservative with him. You can’t call longer routes because he doesn’t stay long enough in the pocket to let them develop, he was leaving the pocket too early today. Bo stays in the pocket to let longer plays develop that’s something Brandon Bridge has to work on. Until Bridge is willing to go all through his progressions, let things develop he’s going to remain at the mercy of this restricted playbook. They have to be like this with him. You can’t miss the wide open plays, far too many opportunities left on the field for Bridge. The playbook will not expand if he can’t execute the plays he’s given now”.

This is 100 percent correct!

It brings us back to Glenn.  The same fans that wanted Glenn gone to give Bridge a chance to be the starter have seen that isn't going to work and now many on the Sportscage Radio Roundtable are questioning why the Riders got rid of Glenn..  You can't have it both ways!!!  That statement rings true in a salary cap era.   When you go back and put the pieces of the puzzle together, Chris Jones and the Riders did what everyone thought they would do and that is sign Zach Collaros which improved them at the game's most important position. 

Without Collaros, this team can't do what it wants to do offensively.  The coaching staff doesn't have the faith or trust in Bridge or David Watford at this time to do what they want to accomplish.  It is as simple as that.  Jones said after the game he expects Collaros to be ready to go when the team returns from its 2nd bye week meaning Bridge will get one more game.  Jones also said the game-plan won't change.  That's because the right guy isn't in there to pull the trigger.  It's as simple as that.

--While the defence continues to be lights out, everyone seems to be forgetting about Brett Lauther. Maybe that's a good thing.  A five-for-five night including a 56 yard bomb makes him 13 for 15 this year. Tyler who?

--If Marcus Thigpen doesn't fumble on a 3rd and 1 that he had converted, how does the complexion of the game change? The next play was a 41 yd TD pass and well you know how it went from there

---If the city of Regina tells us they are going to shut down Elphinstone Street at 4 o'clock for a 7 o'clock Rider game, why did they shut it down just before 3 on Saturday?   There are some things that I think are frivolous complaints when it comes to game-day, but when the city tells you one thing and does another, those who are angered have a right to be. What would the answer on this be?

--Jeremiah Masoli was given the keys to the car this week.  He then went out and crashed the car going down the driveway.  Yes, he threw for 350 but Hamilton didn't win and on the last play of the game, Masoli had to simply heave one downfield instead of taking a sack, but taking a sack is what he did.

--Rider fans wondered why Nic Demski couldn't do here what he is doing in Winnipeg and why he left.  Simple, Demski wanted to go home much like Brendon LaBatte did when the opportunity came and Demski is healthy which he wasn't during his tenure here.

--McLeod Bethel-Thompson is taking over for James Franklin in Toronto.  Franklin was supposed to tear it up when he got his chance to start wasn't he?

--Tom Wilson is going to get paid more than players like Nikita Kucherov and Jonathan Marchessault this season.  Let that sink in.

--For whatever reason, Oilers forward Milan Lucic had to weigh in on the Demar DeRozan trade saying the former Raptor needs to shut up and move on.  He isn't wrong!  DeRozan will make 30 million dollars this year and he doesn't have to pay any state tax. He is also playing for arguably the best coach in the NBA in Gregg Popovich.  He's not the first player to get traded unexpectedly.  Deal with it.

--It would seem many Expos fans are upset because Vladimir Guerrero didn't go into the Hall of Fame with the Expos hat on. This just in.  MLB doesn't make that call as to what team the player represents.  The player does.  If you want to be mad, be mad at Guerrero.  His rationale was that while playing longer in Montreal, he had playoff years with the Angels thus he chose them.  Let the campaign begin to get Larry Walker into the Hall now and hope he doesn't choose the Colorado Rockies.

--Dustin Johnson wins the Canadian Open.  Considering his wife is Paulina Gretzky, can we say a Canadian (adopted or not) won the event?

--Pizza Pizza says they are introducing cauliflower-based pizza crust to menu.  Why do we as a society keep screwing around with pizza?  No cauliflower crusts, no pineapple, no mushrooms!

--We're less than five months from Christmas.  Just sayin!!

--That's all I got.  Have a good week!