Dan Plaster
“Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare.” Dale Carnegie
At 0-8, now is the time for the Riders to take any chances needed to pick up their first win of the season. It’s only the half-way point of the year, and the Green and White fans have already turned into scoreboard watchers, but in the locker room, the only thing in front of them is Ottawa.
It has been a great turnaround for the REDBLACKS in their second year back in the CFL. With veteran quarterback Henry Burris at the helm and a fantastic defence led by one of the top secondarys in the league they have become a daunting opponent.
At their best, it begins with their defence. This is a young secondary, all of their starters are in their first or second year, with the exception of Jovon Johnson. They are tied for third in the CFL with 10 interceptions and have adapted to the new pass interference rules maybe faster than any other team in the league. In their 4-2 start to the season, the REDBLACKS were a +5 in the turnover differential, but in their current two game losing skid, it’s a -6.
When thinking about this take into account two things: when things are good, the solid Ottawa front four (led by two familiar faces Keith Shologan and Zach Evans) are getting a ton of pressure and forcing quarterbacks to make bad decision and the other is Henry Burris, when he is on, the 17 year vet is slinging the ball all over the park in complete gunslinger mode. He doesn’t care about how wild he gets. In their first six games, Burris threw six touchdowns but also threw eight interceptions. In the last two losses, it has been zero’s on both sides.
Conservative Henry Burris does not win football games.
Burris has to be the wild gunslinger because the REDBLACKS are by far the worst rushing team in the CFL and it gets a little harder for them to run the ball this week. Ottawa released their leading rusher, Chevon Walker and placed the starting duties on second year back Jeremiah Johnson.
The make-up of both of these clubs is eerily similar. A core of long-time CFL vets along with a majority of first and second year players. Ottawa has 23 players in either their first or second year (eight rookies) while the Riders have 22 (12 rookies). The difference is the REDBLACKS players received a ton of playing time last season, while the Rider players are in the midst of getting their first real taste of playing time.
At this time of the year, there is no such thing as a rookie; most of these players have been together since the opening whistle of training camp at the beginning of June. Brett Smith is a prime example, in his first start four weeks ago against Edmonton, it was a long day with back-to-back interceptions that ended up in 10 Eskimo points en route to the 30-5 loss.
Last week, an efficient three touchdown, one interception game resulted in a three point loss to the Stampeders. As he continues to improve, Smith needs to stop taking sacks and throwing the football away and become more efficient with the ball and not rely on the big play.
He can ride the legs of Jerome Messam. The big Canadian is fresh, he has only 67 carries in the first eight games of the season. Even with the lack of touches in the back field, Messam is still second in CFL rushing with 492 yards. Messam is also a threat catching the ball with 331 yards through the air.
It’s also interesting to note that the top two running backs in the CFL are Canadian; Andrew Harris and Messam are one-and-two in rushing and yards from scrimmage. Throw in the oft-injured Jon Cornish and we may be in a golden age of Canadian running backs.
Head Coach Corey Chamblin noted in his pre-game press availability yesterday that the Riders did everything right but win last week. Win the turnover battle, win the sack battle and cut the penalties, but it still didn’t result in a victory.
This season has been so strange for the Riders, that even with their eight straight losses to start the season, three teams have worse point differentials this season (including Ottawa).
It was great to see the forced turnovers defensively for the Riders last week and the blocked punt. Now, to do this two weeks in a row and become more consistent is key. Another couple of turnovers, sacks and forcing more two and outs will pay crazy dividends.
Fast facts:
– Centre Dan Clark is playing in his 50th CFL game.
– There are two Regina Thunder players in the game today: Clark and Zach Evans.
– The Riders have had the lead four times after three quarters of play.
– The top five net offensive games have all been losses:
579 yards for SSK in week two loss to Toronto
501 yards for SSK in week four loss to B.C.
497 yards for SSK in week one loss to WPG
466 yards for OTT in week nine loss to TOR
464 yards for EDM in week nine loss to HAM
– Ottawa is the only team in the CFL without a big kick return (30+ yards) this season.
– Saskatchewan is tops in the CFL in big plays with 28 (30+ yards in return and passes, 20+ run).
– Both Saskatchewan and Ottawa are running at 55% red zone touchdown efficiency.
– Saskatchewan hasn’t scored an opening drive touchdown this season.
– Ottawa is a perfect 5/5 in third down gambles, while the Riders are 5/8 this is a combined 77% and the rest of the league is 63%.
– Don’t expect many first quarter points, the Riders (last with 13) and REDBLACKS (2nd-last with 25) are the two lowest scoring teams in the opening frame in the CFL.
– Ottawa is the only team in the CFL to not have a touchdown when starting on their opponents side of the field (54-1 YL) while the Riders have three in their 10 chances.
What to look for in a Rider win:
- Continue on what they started. By winning the turnover battle last week and reducing their penalties, the Riders took some great steps forward in turning the season around last week. If this team can stay on the same track, good things will finally happen.
- Brett Smith. This will be a continuing theme this season. As the former Wyoming Cowboy continues to improve, so will the Riders.
- Trenches. The Riders need to win this battle. Protect rookie Brett Smith and make Henry Burris’s life miserable.
- Rider secondary. We saw some unique defensive sets by the Riders last week in their secondary. It was the introduction of the “swarm” formation. Four lineman and the rest defensive backs. This is a luxury for the Riders with Tyron Brackenridge having a great game in his first start at linebacker last week.
- Big returns. Other than Nic Demski’s long field goal return three weeks ago, the Riders haven’t had a huge return on the kicking game. The special teams unit is the best covering kicks and now have a blocked punt under their belt, the next step is a huge return.
The Riders have you covered on 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.
