Random thoughts: post-game carnage

Well that was garbage.

My thoughts:

  • Three long drives to start the game and you end up with 4 points!? That's a problem. It doesn't matter what the yardage is, if you can't get an offensive TD and you miss a relatively easy field goal momentum will shift. As someone else pointed out, it should have been 21 - 0 at the half.

  • Sask won on special teams. They had better punting and field position all night long.

  • Masoli started strong, but I had no confidence in him on that last drive, those 20 yard drops under pressure are a killer.

  • By the second half they figured out our run game.

  • No doubt Regina is a tough place to play, but just one TD was all it would have taken to win against a fairly hapless Rider O.

Ugh - This is one we are going to regret letting slip away.

If SSK hadn't fumbled that sure TD away at the 1" line the final score would have been 25-13
The Hughes TD on the turnover was a killer

If Collaros was at QB the score would probably have been much worse,
we are 2-2, I'll take that after what is probably the hardest part of our schedule

11-23 on 2nd Down Conversions.

13 points.

Those two stats tell the entire story.

That pretty, feel-good stat of 9 consecutive 300+ yard passing games means less than squat if a QB cannot put the ball into the end zone. I'm sorry (not sorry) to say it, but that is what we get with Masoli. He is simply too inconsistent. However, he's still our best option to win games, at the moment.

I have to give the Riders defence props for playing a very good game. That being said, what's with the decision on 2nd-and-2 from the Sask 4-yd-line to pass the ball? All three of Whitlock, White, and Timmis could gain AT LEAST a yard with a running play - that leaves a 3rd-down attempt to get it to the two for a first down. Then we would have had 3 cracks at a TD. This same insanity is what infuriated me last year with play-calling.

This loss hurts more that loosing in Labour day.

Another case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? Maybe taking our media hype too seriously, looking forward to the off week, or whatever, but it was a poor outing from coaching, play calling through execution.

We were all afraid of starting 0-5, and now will be 2-3 at worst, 3-2 at best. We can right the ship in two weeks at home. Let’s keep the faith at least until then.

Right on, Palmer.

Let’s not get crazy, now. Nothing is as bad as losing on Labour Day to “them”.

Last night,our inability to manage field positionfinally bit us in the you-know-what...Steve Milton mentioned in an article that we have been playing on long fields the whole season so far...never have started on any other team's side of the 55, meaning that our 425 yards in offense yesterday was LONG, HARD yards.The last drive showed it perfectly - we get the kickoff (that was INTO the wind) and end up starting on our 10 yard line after a pathetic return AND a penalty.

So far, special teams have been poor - lousy coverage and no return game at all...and since we are getting no turnovers (our one TO was in our endzone, and Daly dropped an INT near our goal line that could have kept points off the board), we are not flipping the field the way we should.

Our 'D,' as good as it's been, also let them out of their end of the field three times last night, where a 2- or even 4-and out would have made them punt from inside their 30...

The "bend-not-break" defensive philosophy is based on making teams make LOTS of plays, and that happened last night...50-60 yards of offense took us to the Saskatchewan 40 or 50 instead of the red-zone...C Jones' boys played the bend defense and it worked for them...

Now, about calling a straight pass play on 2nd and 2 from the 4-yard line? After calling a straight pass play from the 1-yard line on the last play of the game last season at home against these guys...what about the option that we run so well?

J Jones has said straight-out that this team still doesn’t know how to make the plays it needs to make to win…we’re getting better, but we got a ways to go…

It's no coincidence that last night's loss looked a heckuva lot like the loss to the Stamps. Clearly, Chris Jones watched that film & ran Calgary's scheme. It's time for our Jones to come up with a solution.

Sask didnt win this one, we lost it.

My slight issue is with June Jones. Repeatedly, and going back to last season, including many of those close games the Ticats lost after their 0-8 start to the season, there were a couple of familiar themes. Most notably June Jones calling an inexplicable pass near the goal line when the run game had been so successful in putting them in that postion. I think one was last season against the Riders if I'm not mistaken which cost them that game too. June Jones has to stand up and take responsibility for this. I don't know who calls those plays, if it's him or the OC but they are ripping wins out of the hands of the Ticats and it's a shame because you can see the players fighting hard but then June Jones calls some headscatching play to leave points on the field it leaves you flabbergasted. This has GOT to stop. Just run the ball from the 4 yard line and get a first down at the 2 and take more time off the clock. Sometimes, June Jones has the worst, most inpportune brain cramps that I've ever seen. I don't undestand his living dangerously philosphy especially when he doesn't have to. Problem is, now, teams know you're going to try and run it in but the element of surprise is gone. This happened last year. Pass when should have been running and run when should have passed. Lastly, Masoli will be Masoli. Alot of the losses that I remember going back to last year were ones where Masoli committed turnovers responsible for losing the game. Masoli fumbles are fatal to the Ticats. There are no benign fumbles with Jeremiah. They're all huge. In parting what I want to add is put Banks back on kick returns. The kicking team is the worst aspect of the program. It's unwatchably bad. Something has to change there. There's no reason the Ticats cannot beat the Riders except for themselves.

Good teams find ways to win as the saying goes and good teams know how to close out a game if in a close fight and with enough time remaining on the game clock?

Unfortunately for the Tiger-Cats they are still learning this and have not been able to find that consistency yet and how to close out a game? Just look at both Calgary in week one and now the Riders, if you have a 1:30 left as the Cats did that's loads of time in the CFL to score only being down by 6?

It's funny how the Cats did an excellent job of managing the clock throughout the game and for the past four games of this season so far yet cannot deal with the opportunity to win in both games with time on the clock.

If this team is to go anywhere this year, they need to find a way to win in close games before the fall arrives and we near playoff runs.

2-2 in the standings, hopefully this team will play much better on offence when we get the Riders back home in the rematch??

GO CATS GO!!!

  1. I agree fully !!! No team or their fans are as obnoxious as the Riders !!

Can’t stand their fans or their players at all. Most of their fans are like from the movie,

“Dueling Banjos” . Burt Reynolds would be proud of those life losers !!! :-[ :-\

I would cheer for the Argos any day over Regina !! No way in hell are Argo fans as obnoxious
as those loser green fans !!

The Argos have fans??????
Where????

I agree our special teams are not vey good particularly the return team. But I don’t think putting Banks in there is going to make any real difference. the blocking is terrible. Based on the times Banks has been used there this year all I can say is at least Williams runs forwards.

Banks is our best/most targeted receiver. Keep him at receiver full-time, IMO.

Our KR's can break one, they just need better blocking. I'm sure that will be an area of focus going forward.

I think we see a misrepresentation of the fans based on the TSN camera work. The impression from watching the game is that the fan base is a bunch of screaming young giddy girls who are more interested in waving their beer glasses at the camera than they are in watching the game. Or a bunch of soused fans lined up behind a row of Coor Light cans (carefully crafted product placement??), usually in the company of a couple of the cute screamers.

I don’t imagine this is the true fan base of the Riders. I don’t see them as being the fans who commute 3-4 hours each way to a game or who pump money into the community fund-raisers to keep their team afloat. I think it is more TSN’s way of trying to sell the game to the “next generation.”

I thought Tasker was the most targeted receiver, almost to the point where the other team knows Masoli’s going to him on second down… I don’t know who you put back there returning kicks but what is clear is the guys they got there now are not even close to capable. No threat at all. The blocking isn’t the greatest but the returners neither have the moves nor the speed to create some space. I don’t know how hard it is to find a dangerous return man but imo they need to go shopping for one; that’s for dang sure.