sheesh

isnt there supposed to be a rider game happening right now?

I guess everybody is either at the game or riding their tractors :wink:

Yup, but the real deal home game opener is not until July 4th vs Calgary 8)

It's broadcast on CKRM

I was at the game. You’re not going to get a whole lot of forum talk when those at home only have the radio to go by. Neither team was overly impressive, both defenses looked pretty solid.

My take on the game:
Weather...it was great weather for the game, on an otherwise rainy day. Couldn't have asked for better really.

I know there will be a lot of Rider fans on DD's back and Stamps fans on Tate's back for the lackluster 1st half, but I will say this...both secondary's were superb in the first half! It was absolutely blanket coverage for the most part. Tate tried forcing a few, and realistically should have 2 INTs, while DD never really tried forcing anything, and looked off a few passes that at a glance appeared open, but realistically were not. Also, a huge kudos to the Stamps DL, who probably batted down 5-6 passes, one causing DD's int. Overall, DD played smart football. He had 2 passes that I would call bad. The one critique I would give is that he was trying to step into the line and still pass over it instead of around it, hence the knockdowns.

In the third quarter the Riders opened their playbook just a a wee bit with some interesting things, including this one where 4 receivers crossed in the middle and headed to sidelines. The pass was dropped I believe, but wow, it is a keeper and very encouraging!

You can see a big concern in 1st downs with the D if they continue their present strategy...a power back (Cornish) was eating them up. Butler could not handle him at all. When he and Foley were lined up on the same side, it was a guaranteed 8 yard run, yet In short yardage, the D looked like a wall. T-brack was a beast...all over the place...he should have had an INT, maybe 2, and Rey dropped one as well. but TB was all over laying hits and breaking up passes. The secondary was was amazing when the starters were all in there. Even when a guy was open down field and the ball was thrown well, it seemed they managed to get a hand on it...very impressed.

The OL, I did not pay too much attention to who was in, but their were concerns. The left side struggled all night. The Center missed the mark on a long snap on a late FG that would have put the Riders up by 5, and instead gave the ball on the 40.

Punting was great by everyone, but Milo's precision was the best. Schmitt by far had the best hang time...a trade off I suppose.

Prince Miller looked good returning kicks, but not so much in converge. Robinson was the weakest in the secondary. Macho Harris played great and had one absolutely amazing pass breakup. They need to figure out where they are shuffling LBs, because tonight, it did not work well.

17 penalties, including 5-6 offside on one defensive effort...yeah, it was likely guys trying to get a jump because they know they are a fringe player, but it was horrid.

Now I try my best not to be hard on refs, but I must make a couple points. Overall the reffing was very good. There was one time the Rider punter (pretty sure it was Schmitt) was knocked down after a kick and most were pissed there was not a penalty...the ref was standing right there, and I agreed with his no call, even more so after replay.

There was however one ref on on the East sideline who was just horrid. I mean god awful, the worst officiating I have ever seen. I will straight up say he did not want to see the Riders win.

  • Someone grabbed DD by both sides of the helmet and spun him around to tackle him. The ref was inside 2 yards away, watching the tackle, and called nothing.
  • The riders got a PI right in front of where I was sitting. The Rider was trailing and at one point before the ball was in the air got a feather touch on his back.
  • There was another where the Rider was about 3 yards behind, never touched him, and got a PI????
  • Carr was going deep late (right where I was sitting), and was rubbed on the sideline with the ball about midflight...I mean, the guys almost ran over this ref when that happened....nothing!
  • There were a could extremely questionable no yards or lack there of, again, on this ref.
    It was really disappointing, because I thought the other refs did a top notch job, but this was just shameful.

What I find shameful is tsn not showing the game, instead basketball nba whoppie. They have the rights why not cover it!!!??? I am sure NBA was on reg channels!. Can't really comment on game, listened to it, but hard when you can't see it!!

Start of season opener will tell the tale!!

Tx depop for yourtake!!

Oh, and Simon seemed to be having some leg issues. Not his hamstring I don't think, but I think the same leg. When he sidelined, he seemed to be favoring the front of it.

Sorry, but game 7 of the NBA finals trumps preseason anything.
Perhaps it could have been on TSN2…not sure why that was not explored, but there is no way one of these games trumps the finals.

Thanks Depop. Those of us trying to gauge it on radio were left with a lot of guessing.

Two concerns I have:

Oline. Sure sounded like out high priced line got eaten alive. Picard took some roughing penalty. It may seem like I am picking on Picard but with tough decisions to make, and finding cap space, and if Watman can be the answer I wonder if this one is looming.

But this O-line is stacked and needs to be a lot better. Sure they were improved in 2nd half but likely the Stamps were rolling in rookies and backups????????

Simon - again, with cap issues. If this guy isn't healthy he might be a guy who has to go? Maybe Greg Carr gets a stab at SB? Geroy would be amazing but he won't do any good never playing? Lots of hype and everyone wants it to work. But reality is it might not work.

Wish it was on TV. But oh well. Remember the old days when zero exhibition was on TV! The glass is half full, we saw last weeks game.

Cut down day tomorrow. A bunch of cuts will be asked to stay on PR???? Wait and see?

Like I said NBA finals I am sure was on some other channel and TSN2 good point, after all this is Canadian sports not USA sports
on a Canadian Broadcaster!!

TSN isn’t a charity. I am sure they are contractually and economically required to carry the NBA games. TSN2 was an option for CFL exhibition but perhaps the viewer numbers simply can’t justify pre-empting something else. Those exhibition games that were originally scheduled for broadcast on TSN will mean some sort of compensation for advertizers and the league in replacement coverage (all in the contract, I can assure you).

So what you are saying is that TSN should say, yeah, despite the fact that we paid all this money to show the NBA finals, a major sporting event, we are not going to show it, and instead put something on that will have lower ratings. We realize that this will bolster some other station’s ratings, and in the end we will lose money because of this decision, but we are fine with all of that.
If it was CBC…maybe

Good point…those advertisers didn’t pay to be on TSN 2

TSN also blocked a request to broadcast the game locally in Saskatchewan. Not sure if the official word came from TSN or the Riders.

CFL preseason football would still outdraw the NBA finals game 7 in Canada. It was a poor decision by TSN, and ultimately I think they were trying to force the NBA on us to grow interest down the road, because it's not popular in this country.

EDIT: Just saw the numbers, game 7 got 890,000, so right around where a CFL game would. The other 6 games were below 500,000 (game 2 being under 300,00). TSN probably realized that a CFL preseason game would take a big chunk out of their NBA ratings, so didn't air them.

Preseason would be a 20% drop minimum. That is huge. Games 6…maybe…game 7, no way. Viewership for game 7 is always up. I just don’t understand how anyone can think a preseason anything would trump a championship game, and I am not even going to factor in ratings. It is simply illogical.