Dan Plaster
Hi Rider fans, welcome to one of the major landmarks of the CFL season. Labour Day weekend means many things to many people; it’s the unofficial end of summer, school begins, it’s the halfway point of the CFL season, and for many, the real season begins.
Coaches hate and I mean HATE the final analogy, because a win in the first eight or nine games of the season means just as much as the final eight or nine. For the Riders though, if you allow me to be Joe-fan, it is the beginning of the most crucial part of the schedule. Including the Labour Day Classic, seven of the Riders final ten games are against West Division foes. So a great final stretch of the season in a very competitive division is the very small difference between having home field advantage in the playoffs, and completely missing the playoffs.
Everyone has their Labour Day memories, and I have many. The one that sticks out the most is a windy Sunday in 1987 when my Regina Minor Football Bantam Stampeders went to the game and were witness to Dave Ridgway’s 60 yard field goal to end the half.
The other that sticks out is for a completely different reason; it was the end of an era of Regina sports coverage. I had the honour of hosting Global TV Regina’s final full half hour sports program. It was a legacy show that began in the mid-80s with Sportsline and ran until Labour Day in 2006. Since then, there hasn’t been a platform that allowed the volume of coverage that Warren Woods, Bob Krawchuk and I were able to provide regarding the Riders and the rest of the sports scene in southern Saskatchewan. So if you ever wonder why Riderville.com provides so much video and written content, it’s because we have to fill a void that no one else in the city can provide.
To the game, this is the second of three meetings between the 6-and-2 Riders and the 6-and-3 Bombers. Here’s how big this game is, if the Riders win, they will win the series before even stepping foot into Investors Group Field in Winnipeg next week.
Since beginning the year 5-and-1, and losing to the Riders on August 7th, the Bombers have come back to earth a little. In weeks’ seven, eight and nine the Bombers almost doubled their giveaways going from 13 to 24, while the Riders haven’t turned the ball over once in that time span.
A few other things to look for with the Bombers:
– With Nick Moore returning to the lineup last week, Drew Willy has predominantly gone to Clarence Denmark for the majority of big plays. He leads the Bombers with eight plays that went 20 yards or more.
– Nic Grigsby is the number one option for the Bombers on first down, with 42% of the touches on first down going to the outstanding running back. It’s a total of 117 plays with the next closest being Denmark with 28.
– Drew Willy on second and long is very dangerous running the ball. Of the 23 plays he has kept the ball, nine are sacks, and of his 14 carries, he reached first down yardage 10 times.
– Head coach Mike O’Shea is very efficient on his challenges. He has had four out of the five challenges overturned and is a perfect 2-0 on defensive pass interference challenges.
– The Bombers offensive line have given up the most sacks with 31 and a second worst sack ratio (given up versus gained) at -7.
– The Bombers have the most big plays (20+ yards) in the CFL with 26 (in nine games) while the Riders are second with 24 in eight games.
– Even with Grigsby being accountable for 26% of the Bombers entire offence, they are the worst team along the ground averaging just 72.9 yards a game.
– Drew Willy has been sacked a league high 31 times.
As for the Green and White, they have a nine game Labour Day winning streak on the line, but more importantly, a sixth straight win this season would mean a whole lot more. With the Stampeders and Eskimos to face each other on Monday, a win and a loss by either Calgary or Edmonton means the Riders would climb into a tie for second in the West.
– These two long-time rivals have played every time in the Labour Day Classic at Mosaic Stadium (or, of course, Taylor Field) since 1970 except for 1971, 1973, 1976 and 1981. The Riders record is an outstanding 27-13.
– In 2014, the Riders have given up a league low 56 points at home.
– The Riders started the season with only nine, fourth quarter points after the first five weeks of the season. Since then, they have scored 25 points over their past three wins.
– Head Coach Corey Chamblin isn’t afraid to throw the challenge flag. He has overturned three of seven challenges, but is 0-3 in defensive pass interference challenges.
– The Riders have the most fumble recoveries in the CFL with 11 (next is Montreal with eight).
– The offence may not provide the fireworks, but they are efficient. Under the guidance of Darian Durant, their first down pass efficiency is a league best 105.1 and have the highest average gain per first down with 7.1 yards.
– The Riders are the best rushing team in the CFL in both total yards (1,151) and average yards per game (143.9).
– Of the 21 times the Riders have started on their own 20 yard line or further back, they have not scored a single touchdown. They are the only team in the CFL to have done this.
– Both Anthony Allen and Will Ford are in the top ten in the CFL in total rushing and average yards per game. All rushers combined have 16 carries with a gain of 10+ yards, the highest in the CFL.
Here are five things I will be looking for during the Labour Day Classic:
1. Riders offensive line – With Chris Best out, touchdown machine, Dan Clark will take his place along the Rider offensive line. This group will have the most pressure on them trying to deal with the Gary Etcheverry Bomber defence. He will give them a million looks, and it’s up to the veteran (but still very young) offensive line to be on their toes and pick up what is coming at them.
2. Weston Dressler – Yep, Captain Obvious here. It will be interesting to see how much he will see the field on Sunday. One of the missing factors he will bring to the Rider line-up is the Yards After the Catch (YAC). The Riders currently are last in the league in both average and total YAC and the addition of Weston Dressler, who makes his living with YAC, will be a very welcomed addition.
3. Battered Canadians – With the injuries to Scott McHenry, Chris Best, and Kevin Regimbald last week, they join the Canadian walking wounded with Neal Hughes and Spencer Moore. All three Canadian fullbacks are now on the shelf (McHenry, Hughes and Moore) and there will be a ton of pressure on Jerome Messam to step up and show what kind of a bruiser he can be. This will affect special teams the most. McHenry and Regimbald are big bodies that can cover kicks and will be tough spots to fill, but the return of Sam Hurl back to the lineup will certainly help.
4. Drew Willy – Let’s see how this first year starter will handle this very loud and insane crowd on Sunday.
5. Darian Durant – He hurt his throwing hand last week in B.C., but Tino Sunseri came in and was able to lead the Riders to victory. I expect Darian to start and have a fantastic game.
For the best Rider coverage, keep tabs on riderville.com, and tune in Tuesday nights for Rider Rewind and Thursday nights for Countdown to Game Day. Also, follow me on twitter @dan_plaster. See you in the stands.
