Riders @ Argos

Nice boost...Roosevelt is activated.

As was mentioned he was feeling pretty good the day after the hit and wanted to go but I thought they would give him a week or 2 off either way...stated his headache was mild and lasted a couple of days then he was working out. Scary stuff but sounds like he was pretty fortunate

Richardson should also get the nod...Marshall sounds like he 'could' go but will likely ride the 6

One nasty hit could put Rosie out for good.......I hope he's good to go. Argos will be a seriously tough match for us. Does anyone know if Owens was activated?

Owens is practicing…but he is eligible by terms of the 6 game IRL. His full 6 will be served after this game.

Roosevelt made the full road trip with the team…no way he is doing that if there was doing that if they were concerned about it…Shocking…but it happens.

Roosevelt will play, so will Richardson. Both look great. Owens practicing fairly hard but unlikely he will displace Christion Jones who seems pretty hot right now.

What about marshal Cameron where does he fit in now, is he still injured ?

still on 6

cant see them taking his salary off the 6 early with Jones available…especially after Jones provided the spark last week

The writers pick for week 16 has Toronto win 100% and Fans 67%....yeh writers,go figure.
I think we win this one closely, if Riders play like they did against Calgary; all three phases firing on all cylinders.
Going to need full 60 minutes of 'smart' hard nosed play on every play to get this one.

The Riders have been lackluster on offence for a couple weeks and horrid against the run and are facing a hot RB…I can understand this. Will need to adjust a pile better on D this week…you give Ray 5 steamboats and you are done.

Completely agree. If the Riders can’t stop the run and leave the middle of the field open like it was last week Ray will have a field day. No way we win and not have better time of possesion then last week. Use the 3 man rush which Jones obviously loves to do and I can see the Argos kicking our *** soundly.

Offense has to get back on track as it has been very lack luster the last two games.

We can certainly win this game but I just not with the performance of last week. Ray obviously is no Lindlay.

I will say this, we need to put pressure on Ray, not gonna do it with 3 man rush all night, this is also why the run is killing us, no one up front means you get at least to the secondary. Time for jones to wise up and start blitzing. Our O needs to start producing again. Not sure if it's because Macadoodoo is calling all the plays, of if the O is messing up!!

He likes it because it leaves so many options on disguising the blitz and where it is coming from…that is what I love about it to. Problem is that they are not blitzing near enough. When they did we saw 3 games where the results were stunning. Jones will not do cover zero or dial up blitzing until he is comfortable with the secondary and guys knowing their assignments…something has changed since those games and he is not cool with it. If I am reading what I am reading since the LDC then I suspect we may see it dialed up a little bit more this game though…if not then I will need to rethink what I am seeing.

Well not 3 man rush…3 down lineman…it is definitely possible but would be a lot easier if James was back…even though he was primarily a running down guy…man he swallows the middle up. Zero complaints about the DTs the team has…they are fabulous…but nor necessarily for a 3 down attack if there is not heavier pass blitzing. They are the perfect guys for run blitzing though.

Toronto has been a run team more with Wilder Jr. - Ray has more options with success since Riders last played the Argos. Richardson runs his share of yardage will be huge for Rider team already dangerous as the season winds down. Go Riders

Umm but as you mentioned he hardly ever Blitzes and the excuse of he is not going to bring pressure until he is comfortable with the secondary is getting really fricken old. Last year the same thing little pressure because of the secondary coverage or his lack of trust of the secondary. This year the same excuse? Hmm sorry but if you don’t like what you have in the secondary then perhaps you have failed in recruiting or in film and practices, and yes Jones only uses 3 man pressure or fronts probably 85 % of the time and teams are starting to expose it for its weakness,he very very very seldom brings heat from the secondary . Bring 3 and teams now are blowing up the interior of the D line and getting O linemen on our linebackers. That is just begging for the offense to cram it down our throats time and time again. The defense is on the field far too long and when the offense gets on they are cold and usually a quick two and out. We face the Argos and then the Stamps and the Eskimos and Ottawa. Edmonton has now picked up Gable and while he is not as good as Messam or Powell still we are going to see a steady diet of teams running free for all against that 3 man front. Yes James was the key but he is out and our D line is far too small without him.

Look at the last game in Ottawa and yes it was a short week and yes just coming off a tough game where the defense was on the field a ton (thanks to not being able to stop Messam) so again back to the Ottawa game, you are facing a team with 2 back up O line men and a 3rd string qb so the great scheme is to not bring pressure and rattle him into mistakes but instead rush 3 and allow this rookie to just hand the ball off play after play after play gaining huge chunks of field position and controlling the clock and scoring 17 points meanwhile keeping our offense sitting on the bench getting still and cold. Hell Tino would have looked like an all star qb against us. (that is as about as low as it can get)
I mean seriously if this game was not ripe for bringing the heat then sorry I don’t know which one would be in the upcoming schedule. If not for the kick return for the major we would have been toast in that game as the whole team was flat.

In the Edmonton game Jones said he called the same defense 57 times, 57 times? Yeah um Dickerson and company are too stupid to not be able to recognize the same schemes? Please. Stick to the 3 man and no pressure without James or another big Dt and this team is in very big trouble.

There is a difference between an excuse and a reason.

The team has given up <240 yards per game over the last 3 games. I don’t care who you are playing, that is impressive in the modern CFL. The game has bigtime shifted and your focus absolutely needs to be on defending the pass. It used to be that you shut the run down and make the opposition one dimensional…not any more. The arial game is so dangerous with the no contact…this is why Jones dresses so many in the box and ideally 7-8 on the DL…it isn’t for pass rush…it is so that late in the game when a team has built no rhythm in their passing game they have fresh bodies up front to push the gaps on run blitz. While it is not what I would do it is a pretty damned sophisticated strategy. Look at the last few games…teams ran, Riders kept themselves in it, then they changed up the D and went to run stop and the opposition could do nothing…yeah…they get a lot of yards on the ground getting there…but again, that is why so many up front are dressed. If they get the fut swallowing run stopper of James back it will look so so so much better.

All of this builds to one huge stat…in a presently pass friendly league where the new pass completion percentage standard that separates teams is 67.2%…used to be just under 64 (63.6)…the Riders are #1 in this category…the hardest team in the league to complete against…a huge accomplishment for how they started.

Again…not how I would do things…but it is not an “excuse” it is a reason…Jones knows that shutting down the pass comes first…being in position…then applying the pressure. The secondary is about 90-95% there (good) the front 7 is having issues with some key aspects.

Coming up on half it is clear a f that they need to play 4 on the line against Ray or start blitzing ...who knew lol

Sheesh

That’s what I said earlier in this post!! … DUH!! ;D

I think everyone sees it except Jones. Until they have that dominating DT the 3-4 doesn’t work…well…it can…but only if they start mixing in blitz.

Also…Cox looks like a keeper…they should be pulling Jefferson on rushing downs and putting him in.

I agree!!