Dan Plaster
“Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom” – George S. Patton
I don’t know if it’s quite bottom, but it’s darn close. All of the cliches are in effect: “must win situation”, “win to regain confidence”, “win once, and it will be all downhill from here” we heard them all this week.
The most appropriate one is something head coach Corey Chamblin has used a lot in the past, “We’re 0-0 to begin the week and we want to be 1-0 to end the week.” This is exactly what the Riders have to do heading into tonight’s game against the visiting Hamilton Ticats.
Hamilton is one of the best top-to-bottom teams in the CFL but with how well the East Division is playing as a whole, a loss at Mosaic Stadium would put them two games behind Ottawa and Toronto and one game behind the Alouettes (who had the bye this week). This is a team that most pegged to win the division and head to their third straight Grey Cup, but injuries along the defensive line (Nationals Brian Bulcke and Linden Gaydosh) put them in a bind defensively to begin the season. The clever twist is that the defence and special teams have bailed them out early in 2015.
The Ticat offence is second last in the CFL in scoring, and last in rushing. Last in rushing is nothing new with the Kent Austin offensive attack. They run the ball just a shade over 27% of the time, and when they do, it’s rarely between the tackles. They live and die by the arm of Zach Collaros and are the only other team (after the Riders) that averages over 300 yards passing per game. They have trouble punching it into the end zone and have given up eight sacks and accumulated six turnovers in their three games this season.
Two things power Hamilton: the number one defence in the CFL and Brandon Banks, arguably the most exciting player in the league right now.
The Ticat defence only allows 286 yards a game in total offence and a league low in both passing yards allowed (240) and rushing yards allowed (68). They don’t give up the big play, are tops in red zone defence and to top it off, the defence has scored three times.
Brandon Banks. He is the most dynamic returner in the CFL and is a threat to score every time he fields a kick. Already with two returns for scores, as well as a couple called back because of penalties.
With the 18 points the defence has scored and the 12 via the legs of “Speedy” Banks, Hamilton can score on all three sides of the football.
So this is darn near the perfect football match-up:
– The top CFL offence belonging to the Riders and the top CFL defence belonging to the Tiger Cats.
– The top return game in the league led by Brandon Banks against a Rider coverage team that has the second best net punt average in the CFL.
The weird thing, just one win in seven combined game between these two; something has to break. Let’s hope it’s the Rider defence that finds its stride.
First, the Rider defence needs to get pressure on Zach Collaros. He has been taken down eight times this year and if the sack trend in the CFL continues (heading into week four, just one in 58 drives that involves a sack, ended up in a touchdown), sacks are almost as valuable as forcing turnovers.
Which gets us to the second issue for the Riders, they are last in the CFL with only two forced turnovers; one on downs last week against the Lions and Jake Doughty’s pick in week two against Toronto. To sum it up, lose the turnover battle, lose the game.
The chess match between the special teams coordinators (Bob Dyce for the Riders and Jeff Reinebold for the Ticats) will be fun to watch. Saskatchewan will want to do their best to keep the ball out of the hands of Brandon Banks, while Hamilton will find ways to get it into his hands. If the Riders can limit the Hamilton special teams, this will make victory a little easier to grasp.
A few tidbits heading into the fourth home game of the season for the Riders:
– Kevin Glenn is tops in the CFL in passing yards, completions, net offence, 30+ yard completions and has the single game high in yards in a game with 477. What he doesn’t have yet this season, his 90th career win, he is still one away from that milestone.
– With the return of Ryan Smith to the line-up the Riders have three of the top ten receivers in the league: Weston Dressler (329 yards in three games), Ryan Smith (251 in two games), and Jamel Richardson (221 yards). The three of them combine for 10 plays of over 30 yards as well.
– Jerome Messam is tops in the CFL with his 155 yards after the catch and is by far and away the leader in yards from scrimmage with 509 yards (154 yards ahead of any of his competitors).
– Weston Dressler is 11 receptions away from 500 in his CFL career.
Five things to watch:
- Brandon Banks – See above, not much more to say about the most exciting player in the CFL this season.
- Rider pressure – From both the defensive line, and any blitz package the Riders send. A couple of coverage sacks would be a huge help as well.
- Bagg, Getzlaf and Allen- We have talked a lot about Dressler, Smith, Messam and Richardson, but the game may end up in the hands of the three unsung players of the Rider offence this season.
- Rider return game – With Tristan Jackson on the one-game injury list, it will be interesting to see how well Nic Demski will do in his return to the Rider line-up.
- Smash mouth football – Long, time-consuming drives by the Rider offence will make things easier on a Rider defence that has been on the field a lot this season.
The Riders have you covered on the field and off the field. Keep checking with riderville.com, download the Rider app, or follow on any of the Riders social media platforms for all of your Green and White information.
We also give you live game day coverage with 90 minutes of CKRM’s pre-game show with Michael Ball and post game coverage of Corey Chamblin’s press conference on riderville.com/riderslive.
