Like I said earlier, I don't think Antwi was bad tonight. He just didn't get enough carries. I also don't think Bolduc's run plays do us any favors.
But we'll have to see. Fletcher might be the next man up if the coaches aren't satisfied with Antwi's performance. It should not be super-difficult to find a good American running back.
Great to get our first win and give the home fans something to cheer about!
The first star of the night goes to the entire defensive unit. Dominating performance. Sacks, interceptions (including a pick-six), passes defended, stopped the run well, and only allowed 13 points, with 7 of those 13 coming late in the 4th quarter, long after the game had been decided.
Second star goes to Chandler Worthy for giving the team exactly the kind of momentum boost it needed on the first play of the game.
Third star goes to Trevor Harris for distributing the ball well, avoiding turnovers, finding Julien-Grant for the TD, and doing enough to win in what I still believe is a limited offense.
[HARRIS, Trevor] 16/22 72.7% 262 1 0 70
Bravo Ă toute l'Ă©quipe d'avoir ''step up'' pour les fans dans les estrades ainsi que pour Khari Jones, qui joue sa carriĂšre. Beaucoup de choses Ă retenir, notamment la dĂ©fensive trĂšs solide, les unitĂ©s spĂ©ciales, les pĂ©nalitĂ©s peu nombreuses et Kaion Julien-Grant. Ăa ne veut pas dire qu'on gagnera la semaine prochaine, au contraire, mais au moins ça rend les partisans fiers de leur Ă©quipe en cette veille de St-Jean Baptiste.
Seul bĂ©mol: le manque d'opportunisme offensif. Des gros jeux ou des revirements se sont rĂ©vĂ©lĂ©s peu utiles Ă cause d'un manque de production, surtout en 2e demie. Deux voire trois placements auraient dĂ» ĂȘtre des touchĂ©s. On ne pourra pas toujours se fier sur la dĂ©fensive et les unitĂ©s spĂ©ciales pour nous donner une avance confortable.
By TSN's numbers, SIX sacks came from the interior of the defensive line: Wakefield (2), Moore (1), Ellis (1), and Sewell (2). Say what you like about Maciocia, but you have to admit that tonight his offseason signings turned in a dominating performance.
Et on pourrait aussi ajouter Worthy ET le travail du nouveau coordonnateur des ST!
Je suis vraiment surpris de cette victoire. Certainement qu'il y a/aura des facettes du jeu à améliorer, mais cette victoire fera du bien aux joueurs, aux entraßneurs, particuliÚrement Khari, à Danny, au Président et au Propriétaire.
Ma deuxiĂšme surprise est la foule de 16,027. Je ne prĂ©voyais pas une telle foule en cette veille de La FĂȘte Nationale et la pluie annoncĂ©e, mais qui n'est pas venue.
Le "retourneur" Chandler Worthy mérite vraiment l'étoile du mach tel que decerné par RDS . Un total de 205 verges de retour et un touché; un autre touché a été annule suite à une pénalité à Alexandre Gagné.
Les joueurs auront certainement un congé de 3 à 4 jours. Prochaine partie à Regina, samedi le 2 juillet. Les Riders seront certainement mieux préparés/plus combatifs.
Richard
When your defensive line is taking the enemy O-line to the woodshed like ours did tonight, suddenly the secondary looks a lot better. Guys don't have to hold their coverage forever, the energy is infectious, and they start to ball-hawk. That Dequoy pick-six was a perfect example of pressure creating the turnover opportunity.
Special teams was excellent tonight, from the opening kickoff returned for a TD to the consistent field position Worthy gained on punt returns. I liked the blocking for him too. Good solid disciplined efforts, especially from the first wave of blockers.
The defense was obviously excellent.
The offense did enough to win, given how the other two units were playing, and they didn't make costly mistakes. I still don't think we have seen a complete 60 minutes from them yet. If the offense can start to fire in the red zone and the defense and ST continue to impress, then we might actually have a contending team.
Obviously a feel good win with lots of positives. Tough to lose Jamieson but David Brown has done a good job replacing him in the past.
The moral of the story, at least for me, is that you have to wait 3-4 games to get a true picture of a team before going off on all sorts of rants.
He wasn't bad at all. Antwi averaged 4.5 yards per carry. People have to understand, a runningback can only do so much with no holes. The Oline needs to be better at run blocking, Antwi shouldn't have to carry four defenders on his back every play.
Enjoyed the fact Dequoy had a pregame feature on him, then made a big play to put an exclamation mark on the night. I'm sure he'll remember this night for a long time.
Can we release Mario Alford and sign Michael Awe now?
If the Als didn't have a QB controversy before this game I don't think the can deny they have one now. Will they be starting Adams next week after Harris's big win?
Harris played well and had gotten the start even before it was known that Adams had COVID, so my guess is no, there is no QB controversy. Harris will start next week.
What's Awe going to do? He's a WLB and you guys are three deep with Ackie, Harelimana and Richards.
Riders Oline is a mess. It was a perfect storm setting for the Al's D.
Na'Ty Rogers has struggled. O'Day should bring Boyko back but he won't because he doesn't want to look stupid which makes him look even more stupid. Somewhere along the line there is going to be a shake up. Not even going to bother adding if they don't win the Cup because they won't.
When does Vernon Adams get traded? One significant injury and he could be in demand.
While Sean Jamieson injury may not be season ending, he should miss many games and will most probably be added to 6 game injury list.
I expect that Vernon Adams Jr. will remain on 1 game injury list-COVID 19- for the next game.
Richard