Well at first surprised the Riders won but after watching the replay of the game it is easy to see why they won. The Stamps handed it to them in possibly the Stamps worst performance in 5 years. Burris played horrible and the only guy who played well was Reynolds. Missing Rambo is killing the Stamps.
For all of you that are loving Durant after the win, here is the good news; "He probably played the best game of his CFL career"; now heres the bad news "It's still not good enough to be a starting quarterback in the CFL". Take away the last past to Getzlaf and the first drive of the game and Durant did absolutely nothing. I think Jyles looked better (going into a very strong wind). Take that and the fact that Calgary gave the Riders the game and we are still very shaky at QB.
Other thoughts on the game:
Rider defensive line - Did they take the night off?
Rider Offensive line - Much improved
Clermont - showed up but we need to get him the ball more
Walker - Fast and quick with lots of moves but sometimes runs out of from under his feet
Cates - Great first half but looks like he has lost a step
Dressler - I wish every Rider played with his intensity
Donovan Alexander - This kid can play, Rookie of the Year material.
I agree the o-line was much improved. Geno helped a ton inside, and that Bell kid keeps getting better and looks like he may be a keeper.
As for the D-line, they caused Hank problems, without getting big stats. Clearly they miss Chick, and it lets other teams focus on Baggs, but I thought Sykes acquitted himself pretty well for a first start. He never seemed to get fried crashing in from the end like Mullinder did on Hank’s TD run. He’ll be interesting to follow in the next 2-4 weeks.
But you gotta give up with this over-dramatic criticism for Durant. A kid who, in his 9th pro start, beats the defending Champs in their own yard. And Rambo-schmambo - we were without Fantuz so the teams are even at best there. And many would argue that Calgary’s depth is better able to withstand the loss of a starter than ours.
Anyway, back to Durant, here’s the stat line I take with me:
Last two minutes of the game, Durant has the ball in his hands with a chance to win. He goes 1-2 for 68 yards, and a TD.
Burris (twice) had the ball in his hands with a chance to win. He goes 0-6 for 0 yards, 2 turnovers on downs.
If you don't like my viewpoint, too bad, quit whining and calling names instead of truly debating the subject. When you respond to my post by name calling, you come across like you are 13 years old but then again, maybe you are.
Hey there terminalhater...don't be tryin' to skirt the censorbot so you can insert your own vulgarities...I know you've already read the forum guidelines, as any responsible person would naturally do before they post anywhere, so I'm sure it was just an oversight and will never happen again.
Perhaps you have a point but, it seems to me that every post you’ve made is something about how bad our quarterback is.
Some of us don’t see it that way…and your constantly cutting him down is getting on my nerve.
Personally I feel a little better now, after Miller turned up the heat a little he preformed wonderfully & we got the win.
IMO I like to know how someone is going to play under a little pressure and Durant proved he’s capable. Because I believe that some can’t pull it out in the big game…they just crack under pressure. I didn’t see this and that is a good thing.
DD has what 9 starts up to now? What do you expect him to look like Ricky Ray or Calvillo? don’t do that it ain’t gonna happen for a little while yet but I do believe it can happen with him just give it time.
There are obviously 2 or 4 posters on here that seems to have something about Durant…it’s getting sick already give it a break your buddy’s chance will come in due time.
It's hard to know the answer, when you don't know the question. Durant's a winner, so if we want a winner, he's the answer. If Durant's not the answer, then Jyles isn't the answer either. And Dalton Bell isn't the answer, and Cole Berquist isn't the answer, and Graham Harrell might be the answer, but certainly not yet, because right now, he's not ready to be the answer. Chase Daniel might be the answer too, but he's still a question mark at this point. Bringing in somebody new, like Casey Printers isn't the answer. Trading for somebody else's starter probably isn't the answer either -- just ask Toronto how well that works.
So if you were to ask who is our best option at QB right now -- well the answer to that is Durant. He's a proven winner that can only get better. He's not making the rookie mistakes anymore, and he's leading the team well.
... and for the record, the Riders won because they scored 24 points, and they only allowed Calgary to score 23 points. We didn't win because Calgary played bad, we won because our team made them look bad. Durant had a good game because his O-Line was not completely disfunctional, giving his running game a chance to get some traction and enough time to set up the passing game. We also were helped out by the fact that Miller took over as offensive coordinator and made LaPolice warm the bench for the second half, feeding Durant the plays he needed to be successful. While Etch backed away from his high-risk system in favor of a more traditional system, which managed to shut Calgary down completely in the 4th quarter. We made the half-time adjustments that had been lacking all year and continued our outplaying of our opponents right through the second half and up to the final whistle.
Good post zbest.
DD played solid
Good game plan
O-line much better
Last two Calgary possessions in the 4Th are D played 3 down linemen....and Schultzy being DOUBLE teamed Still managed to draw a holding call on Lazeo...........putting Calgary 2nd very long.................
Getting push like that, so late in the game is AWESOME..........................ATTA BOY Schultz
Durant is the best we have at the current moment, so I don't know how he isn't the answer. He played well in Calgary, but no team is going to score every time they have the football, which is what the author of this thread seems to want the Riders to do on every drive. The guy has barely played half a season of football as a STARTER!
IMO, the team has a good chemistry going, so why would want to upset that by throwing Bell or Harrell into the fire- the Ti-Cats did that with a couple of guys- Chang and Williams. Even bringing in a guy like Printers would not be a good idea.. yes, there will be games that Durant will stink out the joint, but its a case of short term pain for long term gain-- he will get better, and is showing signs of improvement every game-- we fans have to show paitence, if we do that, we will be rewarded for not throwing Durant under the bus.
I agree 100% with this post. Durant will still have some growing pains but IMO he will be a top QB in this league. He shows poise and like sambo42 says we need to show some patience and we will be rewarded in the long term.
The concept of putting in Bell or Harrell at this time of their development would appear to be an asinine suggestion at this time.
I just watched the highlights and im sorry terminated but we outplayed CGY and that was not the worst performance in 5 years wake up CGY put up a fight but the riders pulled out the KO in the fourth round great job by Durant and Jyles btw how jyles dodged that tackle i have no idea watch the highlights unbelievable that dude is slippery. Defence still needs some work etchs run D was completely broken down by the TSN analysts he has to come up with some better moves its like chess mr. etch there is always a better move till you find the check mate
I think overall the Riders left more points on the field than Calgary. Durant was certainly responsible for an interception, it wasn’t a real bad throw but he sorta locked onto his receiver and the DB read him like a book on the play. Overall though the Rider offense moved the ball better than Calgary, we left at least 3 points on the field with that TD toss where he was across the LOS and then the subsequent missed FG.
I think one of the major differences between this game and past one’s was the return of Geno and with that an actual run game. We looked night and day offensively from the Edmonton game, even if we scored less points.
Miller also said earlier in the week that he would start Durant, then pull him in favour of Jyles regardless of his performance, with the intent of putting Durant back in after he had a chance to look things over...wasn't so much an issue of Miller "noticing" something as sticking to his initial word...
I call the new system Jurant. Hey, it seemed to work - don't argue with success. I loved the run by Jyles - it was almost like he became invisible when he slipped in between those two tacklers. Then Durant pulled it out in the second half - his poise was impressive throughout the game. I think he is going to be the answer given time.
Actually, Hank was just doing what we all know what Hank has always done, even with us, and that is choke when it counts. Artie-Lange spelled it out pretty clearly with the last stats on Hank.
As for Darian, I admit I'm not a fan, but you know he deserves alot of credit considering the fire he has come under, he still plays hard and with enthusiasm. AND, he is getting alot better, in strides. He's making better decisions, and is protecting the ball LOADS better. I still believe he can't read a field after the snap, and is a by-the-playbook QB but he seems to be getting better in that field as well, seeing his options as they open.