Dan Plaster
Hi there Rider fans!!! What a week (seems we have been saying that a lot lately)! This time around your Green and White are coming off a 24-0 loss at the hands of the Edmonton Eskimos, that set off another chain of events which includes a change of starting quarterbacks, a loss of a 1000 yard receiver for the year and seven players coming off the roster and a different seven being added.
All of this has been well documented, and we will get into better detail a little later. This comes before the Riders face the juggernaut called the 11-2 Calgary Stampeders tonight at Mosaic Stadium. The packed house will get to see a visiting club that is number one in many offensive and defensive categories and continues to roll, even with a career back-up quarterback leading the way over the past couple of weeks. They will face a Saskatchewan group that struggled on both sides of the football in Edmonton and the third different starting quarterback getting the nod.
A pair of Texans will be behind centre with the former Texas Tech Red Raider and pride of Wolfforth, Texas, Seth Doege (and, again, it’s pronounced DAY-ghee), facing the Baytown, Texas native and former Iowa Hawkeye, Drew Tate (also a former Rider). These two will be under the bright lights and big pressure of a game that will drastically affect the CFL playoff picture. If the Riders lose, they can all but kiss first place good-bye as they will be three games back with four games to play. If they win, it’s just a one game spread between first and second.
From a personal standpoint, I want to see the best of the CFL on the field, so it’s awful that some of the top players on both sides will not be on the field. We know about the Riders woes with Darian Durant, Taj Smith, Chris Best (who is back next week), and four key Canadian players (Hughes, McHenry, Steinhauer, and Regimbald) are all on the six game injury list. The Stampeders will be without their starting quarterback in Bo Levi Mitchell, and their top receiver Marquay McDaniel.
The Stampeders are the top offensive team in the CFL and there is no doubt about it, it all begins with the offensive line. This group leads the way for the best rush offence with 144 yards per game and protects their quarterback at a record pace. They have given up a league low 18 sacks, or just barely more than one per game. The Stampeders are also number one in: first down yardage gained (7.4 yard avg.), offensive touchdowns (36), turnovers (tied with the Riders at 17), points scored in both the first and second halves, and red zone TD efficiency (79%). Even with the injury to Bo Levi Mitchell, this is still the number two passing team in the league. To say the Riders will have their hands full with this group is an understatement.
Individually on offence, it still begins and ends with Jon Cornish. The defending CFL M.O.P. gets 18% (83/445) of the touches and targets on first down. An amazing stat when you realize he has only played 6 games this season. They will miss Marquay McDaniel, he is their main second down and big play target on the offence.
The Stampeders are no slouch on defence either. This unit gives up the least amount of points in the league and are second against the run (89 yards per game), second in offensive big plays (30+ passing 20+rush) given up (23) and they are tied with the Riders with the most forced turnovers (30). If you want to watch great linebacker play, look no further than Juwan Simpson. The four-year starter at Alabama puts his 6-foot-3 234 body in front of everything at the point of attack, 69% of his stops are made before first down yardage is gained, with an average gain of 4.3 yards.
Some fast facts:
– This will be the 11th start at quarterback in the eight year career for the much maligned and oft injured Drew Tate.
– Jon Cornish is 118 yards from topping 9000 career rushing yards and his next 100 yard game will be the 20th of his career.
– This will be Keon Raymond’s 100th career CFL game.
– Nik Lewis is 10 receptions away from 800 in his CFL career.
Now to the Green and White. The Edmonton game was one of those ones where everything went wrong. Emotionally, I would take that over trying to bounce back from a one or two point loss. In those games, a team will sit there and say they did some things well, and move on. In a blowout, everything needs to be looked at, which can be much more beneficial.
Seth Doege will be the fifth quarterback this season making his first CFL start (split with two losses (Jeremiah Masoli, Tino Sunseri) and two wins (Dan Lefevour, Jonathan Crompton)). I had the pleasure of talking with former Riders offensive coordinator (2008-09), Paul LaPolice on The Sportscage this past Wednesday. He has some experience in juggling quarterbacks and was a big part in Darian Durant’s early development. In 2008, four different quarterbacks (Michael Bishop, Darian Durant, Marcus Crandell and Steven Jyles) started games for the Riders all with different levels of success. With his experience in implementing a new quarterback, LaPolice had some sage advice. Doege should worry about three things:
1) Execute the game plan as laid out during the week.
2) Manage the game, don’t go out there and try to win the game, but don’t do those things that will lose the game.
3) This one is probably the most important, act like you have been here since day one. Doege has been with this team through spring camp in Florida, training camp in Saskatoon and through the whole season and is very familiar with what does and doesn’t work with this Football Club.
Offensively what we have seen this season and will continue to see is a lot of Anthony Allen, the first year running back out of Georgia Tech sees 23% of touches and targets on first down (102/394) and is third in the CFL with 23 rushes of 10+ yards. What you won’t get is the BIG run from Allen, he has just one rush of more than 20 yards.
Sticking with big plays, offensively, it appears to be lacking, but this offence is mid-pack in the CFL with plays over 20 yards. Rob Bagg leads the way with seven and four other Rider players have four each. Bagg is also the main target throwing the football on first down as he has been targeted 38 times. If things go according to plan, neither the Riders (52% run on first down) or Stampeders (53% run on first down) will be chucking the ball all over the yard. The league average is to run on just a shade over 40% on first down.
Defensively, the unsung hero of this squad is Weldon Brown. The all-star defensive back is a sure handed tackler and will have to continue to be tonight from his linebacker spot. Brown is second on the team with his 34 stops before first down yardage is gained (Chick leads with 35), and the average yards gained before his tackles is just 3 yards!
The Riders are distinct opposites in their wins compared to their losses. In nine wins this season they outscored their opponents 29-18, are a +19 in the turnover ratio and give up just 283 yards. These are all right on the league averages. In four losses, the Riders are outscored 32-7, are a -6 in turnover ratio and give up a whopping 428 yards per loss.
Fast Facts:
– Rob Bagg is 79 yards away from topping the 3000 yard receiving mark.
– Brandon Boudreax and Chancey Aghayere will be playing their first game with the Riders.
– This is the 90th career CFL game for Tearrius George and 70th for Jerome Messam.
– Including tonight, Terrell Maze has started in all 43 games of his CFL career.
Five things I will be watching tonight:
1. Small versus small – With the injuries to receivers Taj Smith and Chaz Schillens, and the addition of Dan DePalma to the line-up, not one of the Rider receivers are listed taller than 6’1″ (Chris Getzlaf being the tallest). The Stampeder secondary don’t have any giants either, Fred Bennett is the tallest at 6’1″. So the lack of height won’t hurt the Riders.
2. Battle of running games – The number one rusher Jon Cornish (123 yards per game) and number three rusher Anthony Allen (67 yards per game) will take the field tonight at Mosaic Stadium. It will be interesting to see how the Rider rookie running back will fair in comparison to a long time league vet.
3. Rider front seven – This unit will be a fired up bunch. After giving up 300 yards rushing last week to the Edmonton Eskimos, you know they would love to have a bounce back game against the league’s top rushing attack.
4. Coach Chamblin – He loves playing the Stampeders, and had a smile on his face all week in preparation for the game. Last week, the Riders had only one full practice at home to prepare for Edmonton, and it showed at times. This week, a full slate of practices to prepare for the league’s number one team, and it will show on the field tonight.
5. Seth Doege – Everyone in Ridernation will be watching. Let’s see how he performs under the primetime Friday night lights and packed Mosaic Stadium crowd.
See you at the 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.
