Ok. BC game is over! Need to put that behind us and move on!
But also need to learn from it!
So without further adieu... Lets start talking about Montreal next Sunday. The past is the pas and we can't do anything to change it. So lets talk about the next task at hand.
Predictions? Are we gonna end a 3 game skid or come out with another heart breaking loss to a rookie QB?
I do know this.... There should be no excuses for a poor game plan. We have film on their defense and film on Neiswander from the late game win at Mosaic in Week 8.
My prediction is this.... Run game determines our outcome. If we establish a running game, we will win. If we attempt 50+ passing attempts, we will lose....
Until the O gets rolling, I see this as another loss. After watching the last month, I just don't see a big change over night. We are flat in the O dept. our D will keep it close!
Ya it’s funny! In the last 3 losses, Statistically, we have had more yards on offence than Winnipeg, Toronto, and BC.
Where we are struggling is inside the 40 yard line. On numerous occasions we get to the opposition 40 yard line, and then either give up sacks to take us out of field goal range, or just plain stall. We are not coming away with points. And when you keep coming up empty handed, you have a tendency to leave your opponent hang around and eventually gain confidence.
And in the first 8 games, weren’t we the team that dominated the second half and made all the right adjustments? There were a lot of posts calling Cortez a genius!
The last 3 games we have been off to our usual slow start, but have also followed it up by laying an egg in the second half too…
So is it coaches not making adjustments now, or are players just not executing properly?
Montreal has arguably the best inside Linebackers in the game. the riders will struggle w/o making them roll back. They wont pass over the middle and the Als LBs will look like gods. Teir LBs know that either way, they are filling the gap to stop a run or pressure the QB...they will be in their glory not having to protect 5 yards behind them.
I think Montreal will be both very tough and very hungry in this game. They are trying to keep up with Toronto and Hamilton and Edmonton is improving and not far behind for a crossover spot.
I'm not sure Riders are tough enough or hungry enough to win this game. They will have to find a way to take advantage of Montreal's pressure on D, and be able to pressure Montreal's O and take away their big receivers.
As usual, absolutely necessary to the penalties and turnovers down.
I'm sorry to say it, but I think Montreal wins by 10
I agree with this, but at the same time, Riders D has been very good the whole time. I highly doubt that Montreal with (insert rookie QB here) can put 17 or 20 points on the board without defensive and/or special teams TDs.
Why is that? They put up 21 in the very game he was injured...no 1st team reps.
and yay...that is something to be pumped about...the premise of only required 20ish to win...against the leagues second most points surrendered at 29ppg
It matters how they scored 21? I don't care if they kick 7 FGs. it was a new QB coming in mid game. The next week they put 39 up on BC. Then they beat Toronto. sure, they lost to them after, but they have clearly improved offensively since the Riders squeaked one out at home in a game they should have dominated.
I am not saying the Riders are not capable of great things...they are...but not with how their offense has played since the bye. This is not 1 or 2 bad games. This is an offense that has underachieve since the bye, even when they won.
If Durant needs to wear a flack jacket in week 12 to play...well..maybe take a game off. I can understand playing through it if you are on some crazy tare...but he has been struggling for various reasons.
Struggling O with no rhythm going up against a great defense?? I see us losing this game. It hurts to say so but I don't think we win until week 16 at home against EDM. I think we lose the next two with no sheets and a struggling O mixed in with being on the road. I see us (hopefully) getting Sheets back and coming together for week 16 against EDM at home and possibly closing out the season with wins and a 12-6 record. BUT this is week 14 and our focus is MTL.
My hearts prediction: Riders 26 Als 19
My heads prediction: Riders:20 Als:25
Until the whole team comes out right from the first kick to the last play, this team will struggle. It's heartbreaking with all this talent that they can't come together complete and do what they are capable of doing and that's destroying other teams. We have the talent, It was there the first 5 games, what happened since?? DD has got to get his crap together and start playing like a top QB. The O-line has gotta protect him, Cortez has got to come up with a better play book. The D and special teams seem for the most part are doing there part. I don't even blame or receivers. IMO it all boils down to Cortez and DD. He commands the O and it all starts with him. If he can't get it done, then maybe time to put someone else in that can. This is just my opinion but really has he played to his strengths the last 6 games! I don't think so, and he is capable of doing just that. I hope we pull one out of the hat this week-end, but my gut says we will not and it all starts with the O.
The O-line needs to continue forward and improve again. They made some good strides last week and need to improve again and deliver more. Heenan in at guard and Patty at tackle.......maybe Tyler at guard but Heenan sounds ready to go.
Quick hit passes to Saunders. Spread the LB's and sooner or later Jock will make somebody miss. 1-2 second read and throw. DD is guilty right now of hanging on too long.
DD needs to remember his legs and run for 30-50 yards. If they give you a lane take it and slide. Watch out for Shea Emery a aggressive tackler.
Teams needs to get back into form. Blanket coverage and win field position. BC had us all day with a shorter field. And Milo will quit hitting goal posts.
And cut the fumbles. Teams are going to go after the ball on us. They will be coached to go after it, plain and simple. We've been fumblings and teams will try anbd create even more.
But it starts with the big boys. O-line give DD time so we can get back out balanced attack. If not, close game and trouble.
Our O-line has not been nearly as bad as people are painting. Our O-line has been playing okish, and there are factors as to why teams are getting more pressure on Durant than early in the season.
Winnipeg decided to blitz the crap out of us and it worked. So teams are now bringing more pressure. You can't expect 5 guys to block 6 rushers. Which teams are now often bringing.
Another part to this is Heenan and Best have been out causing two players who hadn't played a snap the entire year to be thrown into the fire mid season. The right side of our O-line is not what it was, and teams are picking on that. They still aren't doing bad in my estimation.
Durant is an idiot when it comes to pressure of any kind, and Cortez isn't doing anything to help him. Durant has many skills as a QB but reads and getting rid of the ball quickly are not in his repertoire. So Durant keeps taking deep drops and holding on to the ball far longer than he should allowing time for D-lineman to break through.
An O-line can only hold for so long, and Durant Holds on to the ball WAY to long. Now this is partially his fault and this is partially on Cortez. Cortez keeps calling routes that go 10 yards and take to long to develop so really Durant has no one to throw at quickly. Slants, Cross's and 5 yard curls is what we should be calling ALL DAY right now until the pressure lets up.
Also if 5 guys aren't getting it done against the Blitz bring in Hughes and Dan Clark to block and go with 4 WR sets.. If you keep hitting those quick hitters teams are going to do one of two things. They will either bring more pressure leaving more openings for WR's or they will drop more guys back into coverage allowing running lanes as well as time in the pocket for our WR's to beat their men.
Right now is just the same shit over and over.. and its getting hard to watch. Our defense keeps putting us in position to win and our offense keeps letting us down.
They were showing what Chicago is doing under Trestman with Cutler, they timed some of his initial passes and it was less than 2 secs. The commentators remarked that nobody can cover a pass that's that quick. Keeps a defense honest...just sayin
I agree with the crosses, slants and quick hitters.... But didn't the offensive game plan against BC last week include some of that? Durant made a lot of quick hits to Smith, Garrett, and Bagg... We had a lot of 4 and 5 yard gains...
And guess what? The fans were booing!!!
What we didn't do was run the ball to compliment that stuff...
We need to get our run game going... Use trick plays to Dressler, use QB sneaks, use whatever... It is the run side of the game where we need to be more creative... This will keep defenses honest.
If we get the run game going (like the first 6 games), the pass game will come!
Success running in first 6 games = some very good offensive production.. Coincidence? I think not!
If the defenses try to stop the run by putting 7 or 8 guys in the box, then do some hitch screens and quick hitter to WR and have your slots block. The goal is to get those one and one battles and make guys miss... The play that Smith ran near the end of the BC game to get down to 8 yard line was the result of a missed tackle...
Oh and our only loss in the first 6 games was to Calgary... Cornish had 4 TD's and ran for 179 yards I think... (Running the ball usually equals wins)
I believe they did 1 -2 plays over the middle. There was a time in the second that they were doing quick passes on a drive then pretty much stopped...like I posted in that thread...they found something that worked and went away from it. I am not positive, but I believe Durant was calling the plays from the huddle when they were doing those.
In Football it works both ways. You establish one and the other comes. The problem is we try to run the ball often on first down and get stuck with to many second and longs. Our run plays are so obvious I can see them coming every time, so I am sure seasoned defensive players can as well.
Establishing the run in the CFL is not an easy task because if you keep getting stuffed on first down you have dug a hole for second down. IMO the CFL you should establish the quick passing game first, they same game that Ray and Cavillo and Burris have killed us with for years..
The boo's came on the times they went to pass short on second and long. And I don't blame them because that is not the time to pass short.. Thats when you need to get at least near a first down. Nobody boo's a five yard gain on first down..
I don't disagree that the run game would help, but for the run game to pick up Cortez once again has to smarten up and stop calling the same run plays over and over again. He has to try something else because what he is doing is not working! You can't gain 2 to negative yards on every first down play and be successful.
Whether its the run or the pass that is established first doesn't matter, we need to get one of the two working and the other will come. Right now neither is and its a big problem. Running in the CFL is not easy like the NFL. In the NFL if you gain 3.3 yards per touch you get a first down. In the CFL you have to average 5. What I will 100% agree with is that we need Durant running! If that happens the game changes drastically. Then not only do you have to worry about the RB and the WRs but the threat of the QB taking off which in turn takes focus away from coverage.
This is where a read option offense would be nice.. If you watch in college and the NFL with running QBs the read option has become quite popular. This would be great in the CFL. Have a play where the QB goes to hand it off to the RB and reads the defense and based on what he see's he either hands it off or keeps it himself. This offense essentially took the 49ers to the superbowl.
Jinred, there is nothing wrong with the run plays IF they make the middle LBs take a step backwards. Right now they know their job is to rush the gap to either plug the gap on the run or pressure the QB...either way, at least one of them is hitting the line/ (1 or 0 gap). This is also 90%+ of the OL woes...they are getting extra man pressure basically every snap because of this. The running plays would be fine if they ran slants. At 6-3, we would likely see more of this from Willy...Durant is 5-11...not small, but not exactly tall for a QB. The other option is running to the outside more, which is where running the QB option for the first time this season comes in. Either one of these actions forces hesitation by the LBs.