Riders Get It Done

Before you start complaining about the Riders lack of offence, let's stop and think about a few things:

Darian and the offence did NOT turn the ball over. Heading into this game, the last six games between these two had seen the Riders commit 23 turnovers.

The Riders had very few, if any, two and outs. I understand sustained drives are required, a couple of first downs here and there does indeed keep the ball out of the opposition hands.

Sure we only scored 17 points and didn't find the end zone until the two minute mark when Korey Sheets busted a 34 yard scamper to the north end zone, but I am not panicking. I realize we need to sustain more drives next week and presumably put more points on the board when the B.C. Lions roll into Mosaic, but let's worry about that tomorrow and give credit where credit it due.

Yesterday evening saw one a phenomenal performance by the Roughrider defence. When was the last time the Riders sacked opposition QB's six times? Added to that is the fact they had a LOT of pressure on Stephen Jyles and Kerry Joseph. The play of the linebackers was good as evidenced by Shomari Wlliams five tackle, one sack effort. The area of greatest concern for myself personally heading into yesterday was the secondary. With two new guys on the corners in Woodny Turenne and Terrell Maze I was not sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised; they covered well, tackled well, never got beat deep and did everything Coach Chamblin hoped they would. If you ask me Nick Graham is once again going to be a spectator on Saturday afternoon and healthy or not, Tristan Jackson will arguably not start. His ability to return kicks will help him onto the field though, particularly with the injury to Sinorice Moss.

Injuries is the the only area of concern, and hopefully nothing to worry about too much. Returner Sinorice Moss left with an injury leading to Weston Dressler returning punts. More troubling to me was the apparent arm/shoulder injury to prized free agent acquisition Brendan Labatte. Labatte left the game in the second quarter favoring his right arm and never returned. In his absence Patrick Neufeld stepped in and on a couple of occasions left QB Darian Durant out to dry. We can only hope Labatte will be back on Saturday afternoon.

So the Riders are 2 - 0 and everything is great, right? Let's not plan the parade but let's enjoy the team that works hard, practices hard and thus far has given us more to cheer than jeer. A true test comes this weekend when the defending champion Lions come to town. A win would be great but in my eyes competing with the Lions will be a positive sign.

What a mess they have stirred up in Edmonton. They were back and forth between QB's yesterday and I have to ask why? Kerry Joseph came in the second quarter with his team down 3 - 1. He had not completed many passes but had 'just' missed on a couple of big ones downfield. Then to bring him back for the second half and then sit him again down 6 - 1 is ridiculous. For a guy who has never been the guy, who was the return in the Ricky Ray trade, you need to fill him and the Eskimo fans with confidence, that simply takes confidence away and creates a situation most teams would like to avoid. Oh well, glad that's not us.

I am off to the Lake for the week, plus throw in a trip to Saskatoon for a golf tournament, so unlikely that there will be any blogging this week. Anyways, have a great week and see you at the Mosaic Saturday afternoon.