Riders practice at McMahan Stadium today

Seen through the eyes of one who was there. Interesting response by Darian Durant resigning.

Originally Posted by vfreeman
Was down on the field today was able to talk to the players and check in on a few things.

Great day down at McMahon was in the tunnels. Had a couple of flags, nearly all the players lined up and signed our flags. Great respect for the fans.

Cates is not playing, not game time. he said, "if it was the playoffs i'd go but its not worth it for this game".

Chick is gonna play, "hand is good, ready to go".

I told Darian he's gotta stay with us and sign a new deal and he said THIS infront of other players too, "I gotta go where they want me." and shrugged his shoulders. Wow.

Was talking with Cuthbert about it and he was surprised to hear he said that as well. Funny situation, Cuthbert and Suitor and standing together and i'm like I'm gonna go introduce myself. I go ever Cuthbert chats for about 20minutes while were watching practice. It was great. Great guy, super smart. I totally snubbed Suitor, I wanted to tell him to quit talking so much on the color, lol.

Moving along...

Wes Dressler, is short I mean wow.

My buddy has a Slack jersey and he had the name plate replaced. Anyways Bishop comes down the tunnel and he is signing his jersey and one of the other riders yell's that's old #17, LOL.

Gino tries to walk by the flag signing and I yelled at him to come sign and he says, "I didn't think you would want a lowly lineman" and starts tackling me in the hallway. Good times.

Oline is still banged up looks slighly unorganized.

No bochee ball thought for boreham and congi that you guys talk about. Just Congi kicking into the wind.

Had a good 10 minute chat with Foord and Hughes. Just shooting it around about strippers and stuff. LOL , ok guys.

Cuthbert says he comes to riderfans weekly to see what we are all talking about and his picked up on the ankle brace thing and is going to ask a few questions about it.

Cuthbert is as mystified by the logon/roberts thing as everyone else. Said he didn't give us a chance to win last week but will never count us out now.

Didn't see DJ, Fantuz, MD. Not sure if they made the trip or just weren't at practice.

Ken Miller says he's got the guys ready to go. And it really didn't take much to get them going cuz its a showdown for the west-final basically.

I asked him if we got 3 and 1 sorted out. He was a bit off guard to that but said that they do. They had some challenges but have focused on it.

Cuthbert also said that hands down that Mosaic is the loudest park in the CFL. My stamps insider said it was just crazy last week too.

Major props to us.

k so... whats this about Durant?

fourth paragraph I believe.

So he isnt going to stay here is what you are saying.

Durant needs to be a man not a whinny kid.
The whole province has convinced him that he is the next Doug Flutie and thinks he deserves big bucks along with a starting position. Geezzzzz
2 games does not deserve this and deep down he knows it. :thdn:
Maybe he can go start for the Ottawa Renegades, thats his only spot available.
He should not be worried about Bishop as competition, Bell just got signed and I heard he has lotsss of upside.
Hell he might even play tomorrow, depending on what Bishop shows up

Go riders go

We can pretty much kiss Durant good bye rightfully so. The guy came in looked like a stud, they let go of both his mentors, brought in a QB that is of questionable talent and have let him start ever since he got here. The team is supposed to be based on "earning your right to play" I think Darian feels like he has done everything to earn the starting role, and the brass has snubbed him. He wants to start and if he has an opportunity to start somewhere money says he takes it. From his eyes I am betting it doesn't look like they want him as a QB here, hell even to me it doesn't look like they want him.

Boo hoo. They let both of his mentors go bye bye. Joseph wanted to much money. Crandall didnt play good enough. Durant did play like a stud. Your word. But that was in July. But what did he do in the last BC game in Regina? Played 3 quarters. Was no better than ok. He fumbled on goal line. He threw 2 interceptions. That was against the Lions and the Riders lost. Bishop played his ass off when Riders beat Stamps last week. Ive been going to Rider games for almost 40 years. Other than Austin dont remember a qb playing better than Bishop did last week. Durant got to play when Bishop got hurt. Was ok again. Nothing to good. That is why Bishop went back in even while hurt.

I liked Durant. But I dont like his whining. Did Anton McKenzie cry when Riders let Hunt go? Did he whine when he got hurt and Renauld Williams got to play and played good?

Where is Durant going? Montreal? No. Hamilton? Not if the new qb Porter keeps playing good. Winnipeg? No with Glenn there. Toronto? What if they get rid of his mentor Joseph to? Would Durant still be ok with his mentor getting cut or traded by the Argos. If Joseph is his mentor he must have told Durant how much playing for Toronto sucks. How unhappy he is to be there for the money. Calgary? No. Edmonton? No. BC? Maybe. Depends on Pierce and Jackson. To early. Saskatchewan? May be best place for Durant. Maybe he should do this. Play great again when Bishop gets hurt or plays bad. Durant needs to show coach Miller he is the best qb. Not whine in front of fans. And media.

I think 'rider management is very excited about having Dalton Bell around. If only Chase Daniels career goes nowhere in the NFL, the 'riders (and me) will be jumping for joy. I guess it is okay to dream. Don’t rule out Drew Tate yet. His college career was a very good one. He is an athlete and like all athletes, he lives to play the game. He will take his shot seriously when it comes his way. He has had bad luck with those injuries.

I understand Durant’s hurt feelings. I get whinny myself when I don’t get what I think I deserve in life, but… that is life. It happens to football players in the same way it happens to working guys like me. Suck it up and take it like a man. You can be replaced.

The 'riders had no choice but to give Bishop a real good look. He went 12-1 last year as an Argo. He was runner up to the Heismann trophy. He should be motivated to perform since being dumped by a team that will struggle to get into the playoffs and the place he is dumped to are the league champions. He has been inconsistent in the past, but he has rarely stunk the place out. Objectively, he is the 'riders best shot at first place.

With first-string receivers on the field for the 'riders, there would be few worries about any of Bishop’s shortcomings. With second, third and forth string receivers, and Canadian ones at that, Bishop’s job is lot harder. Good receivers can make average quarterbacks look good. I think Bishop has a tougher job here than he would have had in Toronto.

I don't think Durant can be labelled as a whiner. Early in the year, Crandell gets hurt, Jyles goes in and stinks up the joint, Durant goes in and plays 2 excellent games in a row and then he gets hurt. When Crandell was healthy, he was going to start, regardless of how much better Durant looked than him. With Durant now healthy, shouldn't he start regardless of how Bishop does? I thought coach Miller said you don't lose your job to injury.

Bishop has shown flashes of how good he can be, last week in the 1st half was an excellent glimpse of how good he can be when he's on, unfortunately he's always been that way, and I don't think he suddenly going to be cured of his case of inconsistency.

I hope we make a push to re-sign Durant and give him every opportunity to lead this team next year, he has shown me if nothing else when he's not playing well he makes smart decisions. Btw, his only pick against the Lions a few weeks ago was the hail mary at the end of the half, hardly indicative of anything.

I completely agree Ox,

Bishop is a good quarterback, not great, but good… and right now it’s hard for him to show everyone his skills because of the tremendous amount of pressure put on him.

Think about it… we are a danger zone when it comes to injuries, and it got to the point where we struggled to find our place in the CFL… They brought in Bishop because of his talent (we wouldn’t have gotten a new quarterback if he was only average) and because his own team had put him on the backburner. Talent was going to waste. When he came here he gave everyone a taste of what he has to offer… He played pretty good his first few games, but of course he is going to struggle eventually because everyone is relying on him to make big plays and lead the injured Riders to victory. You can’t win every game, but everyone expects him to - and when so much is expected of you (and you can only do so much) bad things are going to happen.

You got to give him credit, he is taking a team full of rookies and making something out of them. He has done alot of good for our team - and of course he has done alot of not-so-good stuff for the team… But of course you will always have good hair days, and bad hair days…you can never control it to it’s full potential everyday.

I think in the long run Bishop will be one of the better quarterbacks we’ve had.

As for Durant, it would be a shame to see him go…he’s a good, young quarterback… but for that reason he deserves to be on a team that will truly recognize him for his talents and make him a leader. He is great, and whether he leaves or not I will always be a fan of his.

I am also excited about this new Bell character…I’d really like to see him in action. I’m sure he could definately be a good 2nd or 1st string some day… but, we’ll see.

Overall, i’m pretty impressed with the team this year. After last year’s win at the Grey Cup, i figured we might suffer a bit of a hangover…but apparently not. We pulled this team together with some new faces and a new coach, and definately made a big impact this season. :thup:

Joseph. Crandall. Durant. Bishop. Jyles. I am a Riders fan if any of them play qb for us. I will admit this. I didnt like the Joseph trade. But some of it was Josephs fault. He wanted to much money. Things change with a salary cap. What does Joseph think now? I say he wishes Bishop was in Toronto and he was here. Money cant buy happiness. Joseph doesnt look happy to be over there.

I thought Durant played good. Real good in July. But the last 2 times he played he was only ok. Even if you love Durant you have to say that is what happened. Maybe Durant was a lot better when Riders had Fantuz and Cates and some of the other players. He was only ok without them. If that is true why not give Bishop a chance to play with Fantuz and Cates?

If we win with Bishop tomorrow I will be happy. I will cheer for the Riders like I always do. If Bishop has bad day and Riders win with Durant. I will be just as happy. I want winners. Not whinners. I hope the whinner tomorrow is Henry Burris. Hope he says this again like he did last week. Stamps lost not the Riders won. Poor loser. Boo hoo.

I will admit that both games when Durant was tossed in against BC he didn’t look stelar, but in bolth cases he took care of the ball and was making good decisions, even the last game when he played BC and looked really bad to start they were still moving the ball with him in there and wen’t with Bish, the D just couldn’t keep things under control in that game either. I would like to see what he can do again with a week of 1st team reps

I beg to differ on the best QB game than Bish did last week. If he kept up what he was doing in the 1st half I would have agreed with you, but he came out throwing lemons for most of the second half, and the D kept us in the game. I hate to say it but if you look at some of the games KJ put together last year (labour day KJ went 20 - 32 348yrd passing 2 TD passes, 9 carries for 74 and a TD) they were more impressive than what Bish did last week. Bish only passed for 249yrds and a TD, he also fumbled the ball once, nothing that spectacular, Durant came in and went 2 for 4 for 49, not bad for coming in cold IMO, and one of those incompletions was a hail mary that was picked off so that doesn’t even really count (although I was impressed that he got it out there that far, I didn’t think his arm was that strong).

Don’t get me wrong I will always support the Riders when I get cut I bleed green, but I just can’t get behind Bishop, he reminds me of QBs like Reggie Slack, Kevin Mason, Steve Sarkeisian, ect ect ect, they all had the physical ability to play the game and were exceptional athletes they just can’t get it done in game. The one thing that Bish sets himself apart from the 3 I listed above is that he keeps his head above water with partial performances where you can see how ridiculously good he could be if he used his brain when he played, like the first half last week, he was making reads and putting the ball on target, then it stopped in the second half, its that kind of thing that kills you in a playoff game.

It is too bad we had to lose Kerry, but I think its the by product of the team we put on the feild, when healthy we have a better team at almost any position (excluding BCs D-line, they are just flat out awesome) than any other team in the league, excluding the QB position, and it reflects on our cap. The thing is that an elite lvl QB can take an average team and make them competitive, look at Ray in Edm. that offense is nothing more than average at every position except for QB (I am sorry I don’t care how many yard Peterson puts up he is an avg. receiver at best), yet they are dangerous every game solely because of Ray.