Are the Riders wrong to fire George Cortez?

According to the article I read over at Sportsnet by Madani, it seems George Cortez has been dismissed from Regina. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems like a lot of problems teams have in this league all the sudden become made the problems of coordinators or head coaches and very quickly. In the Riders case, I don't see why you put Cortez, one of the better coordinators in this league, all the sudden on the hot seat. I think that's a very stupid thing to do.

The Riders' problem this year was their backup QBs period. It's not Cortez's fault Sunseri and Doege cannot hit moving targets if they moved at snail speed, or that they had to reach in the bag to call up a once-was QB named Kerry Joseph who was out of shape and who's heading back into retirement once this year is over. I mean this group of QBs was awful and there is nothing you as an OC can do to help them. They just have no accuracy whatsoever and noodle arms get you nowhere in this league. It doesn't matter if you change the playcalling up or not or tweak the offense to the running game more, or whatever, these QBs suck and you can't fix that. The way to fix that is get rid of them and tell Mr. Brendan Taman to go get better backups if Darrian Durant goes down again.

It's your call Corey, but don't be surprised if the Redblacks or Leos swoop this guy up in a heartbeat and return to the state of dominance they were in before. Making scapegoats for problems that cannot be fixed as simple as what you think is not the way to address them, and with this move coming into fruition, expect it to bite the Riders in the ***.

It's easier for the HC to fire the coordinators to justify he is doing something.
Or, basically saving his own skin mentality.

Sounds like Durant got another coach fired. Maybe Cortez was the "mental stback" Durant couldnt get past when he bailed on team before the playoffs.

Why is it wrong to let a coordinator go? Cortez has always been year to year decision with the team, and teams have changeovers in coordinators/coaching staff every single year? Or is this just another anti-Rider thread?

Ummm, it would be more like Sunseri/Doege got this guy fired. I mean their O was just fine when Durant was playing and I fail to see how he gets him fired. In terms of your saying he got a coach fired, I highly doubt it was solely Durant who got Greg Marshall fired, that was just a bad coaching hire with an OC whose system just wasn’t working right in SSK, yeah the players tuned him out but I’d hardly say that was Durant’s doing.

Well nothing I suppose, but the way that this seems to be billed off is that it’s Cortez’s fault that these backup QBs who are worse than the likes of Alex Brink and Max Hall, can’t even hit the broad side of a barn with a pass. They say Cortez can’t make adjustments to his playcalling and game plans when Durant is out, but in reality it’s 100% the QBs fault. Sunseri and Doege are just hot garbage and Chamblin won’t accept that as an answer. In all appearance, he’s defending two bums while throwing an accomplished OC under the bus. But like I said, he’ll get swooped up quickly.

it’s pretty clear you don’t know what you’re talking about.

Cortez was unimaginative. he also wouldn’t allow Sunseri to throw the ball vs Montreal yet had no problem letting him in the West Semi-Final.

they got Kerry Joseph because they weren’t confident in their QB’s. yet Joseph gets pulled and Sunseri Plays anyway and does quite well too.

Cortez’s offense was predictable and pathetically easy to stop.

it was the right move to remove Cortez from the offense.

George Cortez can call plays with the best of 'em. Multiple Grey Cup rings as a play caller are proof.

Is he stubborn? Yes. In fact, he's not well-liked at all by players and coaches. Once the offense took a step back, albeit one season after a championship, Durant and Chamblin saw it as an opportunity to get rid of him.

Ya I think he kinda got to be the scapegoat here. just last season the Riders and Chamblain grabbed him up with tons of praise and moved their OC to ST Co.
No one was complaining last season when he put in the round first offense that lifted them to the Grey Cup. When Durant was out they had a top back up that could get the job done.
This season the same thing after losing the top rusher and top receiver. After the usual first 6 game tinkering they ran off a string of some solid wins with a variety of RBs all doing the job. Again no one was complaining and the Riders were well on their way to being among the favs to get back to the GC and repeat.
Then Durant went out and teams pinched the run. His replacement was just in his second pro season and only knew one pro offensive system. Cortez was then supposed to change the whole offensive system with a guy who only knows this one system at the pro level.
All the money the Riders have and they couldn’t hire a former CFL QB as a QB coach?
I have a feeling that the Riders are expecting Khari Jones to be fired and want him as their OC now for the long run. Cortez is getting up their in age and Jones got to spend a season under Cortez. He got a chance to work his own offense this season in BC. I also have a feeling that they may sign recently released Kevin Glenn as well. They figured out when they had to resort to bringing Kerry Joseph out of retirement in his 40’s before they started to begin to play better on offense and finally win a game once Joseph got through a few weeks like training camp for him.
Same as Joseph and the same for Glenn. If Durant is out for the season Glenn is not going to win a GC for them. What he can do is fill in when needed and win some games and will have the confidence of his teammates. Durant has now been through over 5 years or so of taking an iron man beating playing hurt. Now in his 30’s he would not have to play if he is banged up. I think Glenn better realizes what his role should/will be to continue in the CFL.
After a couple years of musical injured QBs in Calgary he got a bit full of himself thinking that he still should be a teams franchise QB after the demands he gave in Ottawa and what happened this season.
There really are no young free agent QBs with the Reilly/Willy type potential.Nor would one come to the Riders knowing this is DD team and rightfully so.
If you do not have a young back up type in Reilly, Willy, Bo Levi. The veteran Glenn is the guy needed to back up the starter.

Doesn't take long to go from hero to zero in riderville

I suppose that is what happens when your fan base is so used to success on the football field. Anything less than a Western final in Riderville these days is considered a failure.

In Calgary… We just expect a west final loss. This year was a pleasent surprise

It’s official…

http://cfl.ca/article/riders-confirm-cortez-will-not-return-in-2015

REGINA -- The Saskatchewan Roughriders made their first major move of the off-season on Thursday, announcing that Offensive Coordinator George Cortez will not return in 2015.

Cortez, without a contract beyond 2014, finished his second season with the club after joining Corey Chamblin’s staff as the offensive coordinator at the start of the 2013 season. In his first year, he helped the Green and White capture the 101st Grey Cup Championship on home turf.

Plagued by a mid-season injury to Darian Durant, though, the offence struggled through this season, particularly over the second half of the season. After a seven-game winning streak early on, the Riders lost seven of their last nine games, including an 18-10 loss to Edmonton in the Western Semi-Final.

The Riders owned the league’s sixth-best offence in 2014, averaging 305.1 yards per game, along with the third-best rushing attack. They were at the bottom of the league in passing yards, however, with 195.6 yards per game through the air.

A replacement has not yet been named.


Ha, Ha, suck it Cortez!