Hard to believe it's already mid-way through the season, but on the other hand I'm glad it's here because the first half of the Riders' 2011 season was an absolute disgrace. Only 1 win in 8 tries. This season has been a magnificent fall from grace.
Management has attempted to turn the season around by firing head coach Greg Marshall and Offensive Coordinator Doug Berry. It's also an attempt to placate the fans who've been screaming relentlessly on the call-ins shows for change. The question is - will it work?
Marshall's team did not get off to great starts in games, but this was a trend that was evident last year, and even the year before. While this has been dismissed by some in the media, I have to think having the old boss around (Miller) on the field during practice, and visible everywhere else drastically undermined Marshall's credibility and authority. Think about it. Ever had a new boss when your old one was still involved in day to day to stuff? Would you respect the new boss as much with the old one still around, or would you start to tune him out? The fact is, Marshall was never given a chance. This goes back to the fact that Miller never should have been given the Vice President retirement gift after only 4 years with the team. Why? What purpose or need was it to serve, and was Miller even qualified as player personnel guy? Last point about Marshall - if management didn't think he could do the job, why did they hire him? And why only give him 8 games when he has a contract guaranteed for 3 years?
As for Doug Berry, yes the offense was last in points scored, but they were 3rd in yards gained and 3rd in in passing yards. Did 8 games really warrant his dismissal? Look at the offence's numbers from last year - Durant lead the league in passing with over 5,500 yards, they were 3rd in points scored, 2nd in TDs scored, 3rd in yards per game, and 1st in rushing TDs. Did Berry really mess things up that badly this year?
You can tell General Manager Brendan Taman, Vice-President of Football Operations Ken Miller, and President Jim Hopson only made these moves as a knee-jerk reaction to make fans happy, and I suppose to give the team a jolt to turn things around. If they were serious about making needed change, they could have also cast a glance at the defence. The defence, in case you were wondering, is dead last in the league in points given up (31.6), last in takeaways, and near the bottom in most defensive categories. So then, why wasn't Richie Hall let go? Simple, the fans love Richie and virtually no one was calling for his head. Statistically, his unit is far worse than Doug Berry's offence. The firings of Marshall and Berry therefore make little sense and show the actions of desperate people trying to cover their backsides.
Putting Coach K back onto the field does give some hope to the hopeless, but I have to wonder how much change he'll actually be able to make. I fully expect there to be some rebound in the team's fortunes. There will be a boost in morale, but that will only take the team so far. After that it's up to the players, and that's where ultimately this team falls short.
This brings us to Brendan Taman and the real reason for this franchise's decline. The personnel on the field have not been good enough, and until this changes I don't have any reason to think the team's fortunes on the field will. Clearly Taman should be let go at the end of the season, barring some dramatic 2nd half turnaround. The shortcomings of this team has been obvious for some time - defensive end, receiver, defensive back, and now you could add linebacker to the list. (Can anyone explain to me why the league's interception leader is now playing linebacker? Does that make sense or have I been taking crazy pills? Sean Lucas isn't the player he used to be but is there really no one else to take his place? The Riders have to put their backfield leader in at linebacker. It's almost laughable in its absurdity. I could go on about the defensive ends and how the Riders' middle linebacker Barrin Simpson leads the teams in sacks with 3 which is good for, wait for it, 15th in the league.)
I hope no one needs anymore convincing that Taman needs to go in the long and short term interests of the franchise. Is he doing anything to improve his team? Has he been at NFL training camps like Jim Popp? Has he been working 3 phones this extremely important weekend, cut-down weekend in the NFL? Is he scrambling to update the team's neg list like Eric Tillman?
Who knows?
As for the LDC, I hate to disappoint the Swaggarians who have travelled to Regina, but I like the Riders in this game and expect a bounce-back with Coach K at the helm. We also finally get a look at Dallas Baker (and get rid of Terrence Nunn!) and Wes Cates makes his return after having been out about 6 games.
2 comments:
hey, did you go on permanent vacay after Marshall got canned? not a single update since then re the 3 game winning streak....
We're still here! We've been... busy? We are recording our first podcast of the year this week though!
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