Riders Embarrassed in 39-24 loss to Eskimos

photo by John Ulan CP

Losing to the worst team in the league twice hurts. A lot. I'm feeling really frustrated with this week's new low as the Riders yet again played down to the level of their competition. You'd think the Riders would care, or look concerned, or at least show SOME kind of emotion. But no, they looked like zombies out there (or they were hip-bumping each other near the end of the game despite it being completely out of reach). I'm really disgusted with the whole thing.

I'm not sure what's happened to the era of accountability in Riderville that Eric Tillman and Kent Austin brought to the club in 2007. Like both men, it appears to be gone. It was a sense of accountability and an expectation that you give your best or you don't play that pushed this team over the hump three years ago. The Riders had been close to being a championship team in the 3 years before Tillman took over but they were always missing something. Kerry Joseph, who looked like a has-been in 2006, became the league MVP in 2007 in part because of the new attitude imprinted onto the team. Where are the high expectations now? Why aren't the coaches demanding excellence from their players? Additionally, if they aren't getting said excellence, what the hell are they doing about it? After watching Saturday's game, I'm beginning to think Coach K has lost the locker room. If not him then for sure Etch has lost the defence. And of course, Daley has obviously never had the confidence of special teams. Ha ha ha ha. That last one was kind of funny in its obviousness.

The other real question I'm starting to have is whether Taman is the man for the G.M's job. It should be pointed out that TWO former Riders both scored touchdowns in their FIRST game with the Eskimos. Did you hear that Taman? It's really embarassing and it makes the G.M look like he doesn't know what he's doing. I questioned his hiring in the first place, because it seemed like too easy of a choice and Hopson didn't look far and wide enough in his search for Tillman's replacement. Taman needs to do something, and yes, maybe with 2 weeks left in the season it's too late to make major changes, but we better see some big moves in the off-season, because the current group of players and coaches are not getting the job done.

Lastly, Eric Tillman is the best G.M in the CFL and we are starting to pay the price for letting him go.

Let's get this over with.

Offense

More of the same, really. See the game preview below and rinse and repeat. Blitz protection was marginally better in that DD was only sacked twice. Speaking of whom, Durant was 12 of 22 for 143 yards. Dinwiddie came in in the fourth quarter (and he should have come in sooner) and was a respectable 5 of 7 for 102 yards and two TDs, with one brutal interception. One can't get too worked up about Dinwiddie's numbers considering he was playing in garbage time.

Outside of the first possession of the game, the Riders weren't committed to the run. Nor were they terribly creative unless your idea of creativity is to NOT throw to Fantuz, who only had 2 receptions for 36 yards. It's sad when a rookie, Cary Koch, leads all Rider receivers with 8 catches for 107 yards. By the way, remember when Wes Cates used to catch the ball out of the backfield? Remember how he was load for a DB to bring down? He didn't have a single catch. What ever happened to those plays?

Also, remember when we used to use a fullback regularly? Chris Szarka (can we leave the Canuck Truck thing alone now please Chris Cuthbert?) scored his first TD of THE SEASON in the third last week of the year. Needless to say, this offence misses Paul LaPolice. Maybe Coach K should take over play-calling duties from Doug Berry. He was pretty damn good at it back in 2007.

Defence

The word that always gets used to describe Etch's defences is "unconventional". How about we start using the words "practical" and "efficient" and "run-stopping". This week the defence not only gave up big numbers to a rookie running back, but we made a back-up QB, Jared Zabransky, look like a hero. You'll remember him. He also beat us back in July. Clearly the schemes the defence are using have holes wide enough to drive a Mack truck through. Don't tell me it's players. Yeah, some don't play well and don't deserve to be there (Kitwana Jones, Mike McCullough, Shomari Williams), but dear God, it was the formations. If the Riders stacked the middle of the box, the Eskimos, who aren't stupid, ran outside. If the Riders loaded up one side, the Eskimos went to the other. 

As I said before, it's clear to me that the defence no longer has confidence in Etch.

Special Teams

Why bother? I would love to find some stats on special teams from the last 30 years, because this group may well be the worst unit ever put together. Is anyone in Riderville listening? Hello? Is this thing on? We have a turnover on a return, Jason Armstead scores a TD the very first time he touches the ball and we only manage one decent return in the entire game. Fire everyone.

Coaching

I already talked about this, but there needs to be changes. The players play like they don't care. There's no sense of urgency. There's no fire. This lies directly on the shoulders of the coaching staff, and ultimately the G.M.

You can watch over 5 minutes of highlights right here, but then why would you want to? The Riders next game is Sunday 3pm in Vancouver against the Lions. Oh goody. Another game against a bad team.