Just don't have much FAITH in this Season!

the Rider BOD and Craig Reynolds have some difficult decisions that need to be addressed.

we are in the middle of a 3 year rebuild, so far the outlook doesn't look good at all as I thought that Chris Jones team would be farther ahead that what they currently are.
Calgary is a team that did not play well against us and yet dominated.

what is the next step that Craig Reynolds is tasked with ?
#1 evaluate the VP of football operations,
#2 sit down with his VP to evaluate the GM
#3 sit down with his VP and GM to evaluate the HC

1 person in multiple roles creates more problems when faced with difficult decisions.

to reduce the 1 persons role could be more counter productive than productive.

AS I said, we aren't at the "fire everybody" point yet, not even close. But that said, a shakeup in the organization could happen, and happen quite soon if our fortunes don't improve quickly. By a shakeup, I mean maybe installing a DC, either from within (Scheper?) or external to the org, (anybody but Etch). A change at OC could also happen with some other internal and external possibilities out there. Its all up to Reynolds though, because I can't see Jones ego allowing him to voluntarily give up any of the roles that he holds.

Barker

Jackson would be the only option at OC right now.
I don’t see anything changing anywhere anytime soon with this team. The board will be patient until week 10, then apply some pressure if things are not looking up. Right now he still has their general support.

At the beginning of the season I said "I had a feeling" only a feeling based on the preseason games they lost and in reality looked less organized then the teams they played.
At this point even though I had my doubts I hoped I was wrong.
I think "shock" and "disbelief" would describe many fans feelings right now.
If we win 3 in a row we'll be at 500 (4&4) and potentially 3rd in the west but more likely 4th. after 8 games.
Still not crowd shattering I have to say.
Still hoping they get 'respectable'. :cowboy:

Well I’m not sure even this bunch could go and win their next 3 in a row and still come up with 4 losses at the 7 game mark.

lol gotta a bit ahead of myself on the numbers

Anyway, the Riders need to start “the comeback for the books” by beating Toronto at home “Decisively”. :cowboy:

I feel like most people are over reacting to a bad loss at this point. We have won one, taken one to overtime, and lost on a missed field goal. We could very easily be 3-1 right now. Yes we got manhandled by Calgary, but take a step back, take a deep breath and look at the season thus far. It hasn't been that bad. Few more plays go our way, our team gets a bit more disciplined and we could still be in the running for the cross over.

Now don't get me wrong, my hopes aren't incredibly high, I'm very unimpressed with our coaching staff, namely McAdoo, and Jones. How can it possibly take you 2 quarters to figure out "Oh they're D-line is killing our O-line, why don't we do some quick hitters?" or how about "Hmm.. Williams keeps getting burned.. maybe we should stop having him cover their best receiver!" There are multiple little things I could harp on too, but that's beside the point.

My main point is our team isn't as bad as it looked last week. We've had some strong outings, and I actually thought we outplayed each of the first 3 teams we faced for the most part. I'd rather Jones not be our guy, but I'm also very tired of the turn over we've had in the last decade, and I'm tired of paying coaches who aren't even on our roster.
We juts need better play calling, and more discipline. The talent is there, though there are a few spots that need an upgrade. At this point its about patience. I don't think we are as bad as we looked last week. an 8 win season isn't that crazy to look at at this point, and wins aren't even what I'm looking for. I just want to see us be in every game until the end and consistent play from our players.

I loved that bonecrusher stepped up and said he played poorly and it was his worst game as a pro. He said that he came out too jacked for the game and he couldn't balance his energy for the first half.

That is a leader stepping up IMO an deserves massive kudos. He really opened up to the locker room and then the media

I feel upset to how some have reacted to him on social media...no he has not been in his best form but he is still a top end player and will turn the corner.

Not sure if anyone saw the article....cant remember where it was from...I think the sun...if you have the link it would be great to post it in here for everyone to read. I already had a pile of respect for him, but I think this game and the week that led up to it were a bit of an eye opener to him. It was a fantastic read.

Sure we could have won against the Als and we could have won against Winnipeg but we didn’t. Could have, would have, should have. This means nothing in the standings and that is all that matters. Take Ottawa and their losses to the Stamps. Realistically they should have won the first game and they should have won the last game in Toronto but again they didn’t.

No one cares that a play here or a play there means that we win. Point is we didn’t and frankly I’m tired of moral victories or whatever you want to call them. Losing ugly or losing pretty is still losing and at this point of the “rebuild” I expected us to be winning more then we have.

My hopes for the season rested on us getting off to a good start while some of the better teams may have been struggling but that didn’t happen so now we have to some how win the up coming games against teams that are starting to find their groove. That may not turn out so well for us. Anyone like our chances against the Lions back to back or going into Edmonton and coming out with a victory? I personally wouldn’t put money on it. Sure we may win the LDC but certainly no guarantee there and going back to Winnipeg for the Banjo bowl is never an easy ticket on the card. So if we lose to the Argos who are banged up and a short week to boot we are in serious trouble to have any shot at making the playoffs yet once again. That to me is a fail on the coaches and management and one that will not and should not sit well with anyone.

The time for excuses is over. Jones had the most resources and held the most tryouts and mini camps then any other team. If he can not field a winning team in that scenario then he should be held accountable. Trestman has the Argos in first in the East and considering all the turmoil that team has gone through since the off season I never expected them to be even close. Too bad the same can’t be said about Jones.

I tend to agree that they needed to win on of the first 2 games...but my honest hope for this point coming into the season was 2 and 2 with an outside chance at 3 and 1 but realistically 2 and 2. Also...I said coming in that my hope for this season was playoff contention...which is by no means out the window at this point...that means 7+ wins. I've never seen this team as a top contender so perhaps I am a little more content. I wanted to see improvement and I fully believe that has happened. Still need to be that teams in contention at the end of the season though...that needs to start with a W this week.

Problem for us is the west is very strong, but an injury could quickly change that.

This…IMO…was the biggest concern for Edmonton coming into the season. Strong team but I question depth…definitely seems to have dipped some. Stamps have a little less depth than normal as well…some of that is attributed to Bo’s increasing pay…but they have a very established system in place to weather that.

What I like about the Riders right now is that it seems very clear that they have established the foundation for a good long term system as well…that is the big appeal to present management for me…even if the buildup is going slower than I had hoped I see a good support system behind it once it does get there…and that can lead to long term success.

Esks had a big perk even with going through a couple GMs over the past few years. You know ET established a good system and foundation and a good neg list and all of that and Hervey would have nurtured that as well…and now they have a very promising GM who should excel as well and I think even improve upon Hervey…as I said…IMO depth had gotten a bit weaker under Hervey over a couple of seasons.

Riders kinda had an empty cupboard coming in for new staff. Draft picks were traded away and that is now fixed. Early picks from drafts were let walk because CC was brutal with national content and the ratio content was just horrible. Smith was a pretty weak lead scout…good scout but horrible as a Leander it was putrid after that. The neg list was hot garbage.

IMO that is all fixed now and we are seeing fruits from all that work and change starting to roll in…and I would hate to lose that.

Sounds to me like your expectations are out of whack. We are early in year two of a total rebuild and you expect us to be winning more than 1 in 4 games? Why would you expect that?
Your idea that a blow out and a close loss are no different is correct if you are looking purely at the W/L column. But I’m looking at it from a perspective of overall improvement. Bad teams get blown out weak in and weak out. Mediocre teams keep games close and don’t finiah. We were a bad team last year this year we’ve improved. What more can you ask for?

[b]Sounds to me like your expectations are out of whack. We are early in year two of a total rebuild and you expect us to be winning more than 1 in 4 games? Why would you expect that?[/b] Your idea that a blow out and a close loss are no different is correct if you are looking purely at the W/L column. But I'm looking at it from a perspective of overall improvement. Bad teams get blown out weak in and weak out. Mediocre teams keep games close and don't finiah. [b]We were a bad team last year this year we've improved[/b]. What more can you ask for?
The reason for me to expect to be winning more then 1 in 4 games is simple. With most players only having 1-2 year contracts and the amount of turnover in players due to FA etc it should be possible after a season to be winning more then 1-4. Again look at Toronto and what they have done after losing their GM and HC so close to free agency and yet they have more wins then we have. Look at the Als( yeah they lost tonight when they should have had it dead sown up) Still again some big names gone and their O line was completely dismantled and yet they still have more wins then we have.

I could give Jones a bit of lea way for last season but again it was his choice to completely blow the whole thing up and that was his right,sure we are better in NI talent and in the Sms but still that `should not mean he is given a free pass this year. It was also his choice in bringing in players and experimenting with having them play in a position that they are not familiar with. It was his choice to sign athletes and not necessarily football players so if it goes amuck which it did last year or if it takes longer for them to get comfortable playing out of position that they are use to then again why should the team or fans have to endure the losses that goes with that? Again its his dog and pony show so yeah if anyone thinks Jones deserves some slack then don’t look at me to give it to him. His team, his decisions, his failure if they don’t succeed. It’s pretty cut and dry in my books.

As for improving this year really by where we are in the standings where is the improvement? I don`t buy that oh well look at this area or look at that area and how much better we are. The thing is are we really better? Our defense has been shredded multiple times in multiple games the same as last year. Our offense has been hot and cold which pretty much was the same as last year. Special teams I would say we are no better or worse then last year so again where is it so obvious that we are better? In what are you judging our improvements have been since last year? Heck I expected our O line to be far,far better then what has been seen so far with Labatte and signing Dennis but yet it has been pretty average so far and that is being a bit kind to be honest.

I do look at the win and loss column and don’`t see any improvement because when you come to the end of the season and your watching other teams in the playoffs and yours is not once again, the wins and losses are the only things that matter. No one gets points or Grey Cups by looking better on paper. Results trumps all. Moral victories are for losers.

I think more than one in is a fair expectation after 4 games this season.

I know that I was concerned about Montreal because they played the last game of the preseason in BC, flew home and had time for a practice and a walk through then went to Montreal for the game and in the BC game lost 2 guys who I figured were starting in the secondary…that is not an excuse, that is just realistically looking at a win as an uphill battle in that situation…they put themselves in position to win…most teams are going to take the chance for a walkoff fieldgoal to win it…they failed. I actually do feel if they had had time for a full week of practice for week one that they would have won that game.

I fully expected them beat the Bombers…mainly because it was such a home-field advantage that game and so much energy…that was a disappointing loss.

Basically for me, I expected one win out of those 2 games, and thought there was a chance for 2 depending on how Montreal played. Based on DD missing some camp and being new with the Als plus the turnover on D of some key players, I figured that they might overcome that wall in week one. Thorpe is good.

Hamilton is pretty bad at the moment so that was a win they had to have…and I am not going to beat up on basically any team for losing to the Stamps…they are a damned good team with years of stability.

So for me I thought the realistic hope was 2-2…they are one win behind that…so we shall see. I said from the start of last season 1.5 years to start seeing fruit from this team’s rebuild…time will tell. They are not a good team yet…but I think they are fairly well tooled to get there at this point and I rather like their build for the long term…for me I know it sucks to watch a team rebuild slowly (it has been a bit slower than I thought it would be) but I feel like a flash patching/rebuild generally gives you a shorter term of success. They could have came in and moved a few pieces…they chose to rip the bandaid off so it was pretty bad. Really starting to see the neglist shed some fruit now and they are no longer abysmal for national depth…they nailed the 2017 draft IMO. The shelves were pretty empty with BT moving picks and very openly being worried about now, not the future…the picks that were lost and the drafted players not retained…there was a massive hole on this team and I feel like that is just mountains better now…and THAT is what you build a team on, so it is fairly encouraging…they still need some Ws this year though.

thus far the strengths and weaknesses of this team have been pretty much what I expected out of camp. There is really no part of the game that has not met up with what I was anticipating with the exception of the DL is not doing as well as I thought it might…but even that I essentially had an asterix on and that asterix has come to fruition. Because the team has for the most part been what I thought it would be I still hold the same expectation even though the record lags what I thought it would be…contending for a playoff spot, which means 7 or more wins…if that does not happen I will be disappointed.

Honestly Depop I felt if they got to 7-8 wins that would be a very good improvement but from what I have seen so far I don’t see 7 wins a high possibly. IF we lose to the Argos then the probability of getting 7 wins takes a serious blow. Again looking at the upcoming games after the Argos, Lions back to back and I don’t see us getting a split there. Going into Edmonton and coming out with two points? Hmm highly doubt it. Then the LDC and Banjo Bowl, best hope I have is to get a split. So again that would leave us with 3 wins and 7 losses. At that point its most likely next year season once again. Now if they win against the Argos and can get a split with the Lions then that changes everything. That though is a pretty tough to see happening with what I have seen so far.

The bulk of Riders, especially Canadians and those internationals outside of their first contract, are 3 years. It has been a very conscious effort from the staff. Not all, but the majority. I do know of a few players that they really wanted to sign but did not because the player wanted a shorter duration.

Toronto actually seemed like that got rather lucky in timing TBH. I felt the same at the initial time that it all went down but then there were FAs like Ball who came available after the the bulk of signing was completed and they were really the ones with cash left…and then they started picking up some really good ex-Popp established VET players (those vets were pretty huge) from Montreal that were released. It was pretty remarkable how it all went down actually. Green was a pretty big question mark coming in…super happy he has come back so strong…but it was far from a given. Edwards has also been a nice pickup for them as well. Don’t get me wrong…kudos to them for doing so well in such a short time…but a lot also rides on Ray and not having many national injuries in Argoland. Lets also not forget that they were on the right side of a bounce or 2 to losing both games to the RBs (and kudos to them for winning…that is good coaching) and the 3rd win is on the Cats. Pretty early to call them a one year turnaround but they are off to a very nice start…a lot of stars aligned in players they picked up though.

as far as “by where we are in the standings where is the improvement” well…if the only way you can measure a team is by that…have fun with it. I get that the wins are what matter at the end of the day but it is far from the only measure of how a team is progressing.

STs has been much improved both IMO and by raw statistics. IIRC they are 4th in punt return average with the only teams higher being the ones that have busted one, and I know for sure that only the Bombers have a higher kick return average…that is because of one returned for a TD. Last I checked (which was prior to the last game) they were #3 in coverage on both PRs and KRs.

As for the OL…aside from a horrible first half last week they have been pretty solid,and the nice thing is that they have a lot of promising youth for the future. I am sure it is much worse after that first half…but going into the stamps game last week the Riders were actually the 3rd lowest in the league for sacks surrendered per passing play, yet they highest blitzed in the league.

As far as the blowup…IMO it was needed. They could have patched it along and perhaps had some success but it was not going to be sustainable and blowing up the team to get rid of some of the contract (and that goes well beyond the big 3) was the pitch to the BOG and is why Jones got the job.

yup…they need a W this week…no argument there. Not winning one of the first 2 was a big blow as well. We shall see how I feel about the next month of ball after the weekend. I think that D wise it will look a lot different. 2 games ago the D played way way differently than the rest of the season…why is that? Well…been discussed on here leading into the Cats game…Jones was pretty open that he wanted to play a little different until the secondary better understood their assignments…it is a pretty complicated D (which is why there are busts…when everyone knows there role it can be something pretty special, but until they do it can be painful). Well…in comes another first gamer and they go away from the increased pressure and back to game one and 2 schemes…but Rodgers is back so I think that will change. IMO the key to this coming game will be Williams…still not loving him there but perhaps he just needs time…safety play has been the worst in the league (which is surprising) and I do not know if that is on the players or the schemes.

At this point I think its possible that negative and doubting feelings starts to play on a team and some individual players, feeling they need to put more pressure on themselves. If there is a loss to Toronto in Regina I think that possibility increases.
The "sense of urgency" has the ability to take away the 'fun factor' and that often can leave players playing way too wound up. :cowboy:
Go Riders