The Riders should be favoured to win it all this season. They will not lose very many players, and have added some very good coaches to their coaching staff. Marshall is the next great head coach in the CFL. Why wait to buy your Grey Cup tickets, book your flights to Vancouver, and take time off of work when we all know the Riders will once again win the west and come back to take care of unfinished business? Go Riders.
I booked 4 Hotel rooms two days ago. Moda hotel $150, like 6 blocks from BC place. No reserve fee. But I go every year.
Hey Billy, is that 150.00 for the room or per person? ie If there are 2 in the room is it 75.00 per person?
Ya with taxes it was 170/night double occupancy. So 85 each.
Thanks. I will probably see you there.
Mrs MadJack and I will be in Vancouver for Grey Cup as well!
well, they're making good, intelligent moves this 2011 year. now they just need to make the right moves on the field too.
I hope they will be back in Vancouver.. a 3 peat would be nice.
You have a new head coach and a new DC. You just lost your top receiver to the NFL. Why would the Riders be favored to win it all?
Marshall is the next great head coach in the CFL.He may well turn out to be what you're saying, but right now, there's no way to know. He could be the next Marc Trestman, or the next Mike Kelly. Or he could be like LaPolice -- a good football mind who struggles to master the HC portfolio in his first season at the helm.
First of all Marshall is stepping into an organization with great structure and great people around him. He is inheriting a team where key players are just entering into their prime (Durant, Dressler, and others). I have faith that Miller found the right guy to fill his role. That is the difference between himself and LaPolice, who inherited an organization which needs some serious rebuilding. This, along with his great football mind, will go along way to ensuring that he is a great coach.
As for the new defensive coordinator, many players have played for Ritchie Hall on our defense anyway. His terminology and defensive philosophy will be nothing new to many of the players he is going to be working with.
Secondly we still have great depth at reciever. Yes losing Fantuz is a blow, but it gives opportunities for players like Jordan Sisco, a big target with good hands, to step up. We are more than fine at the reciever position.
With the changes in sask…unless your guesses are correct I dont see them as favorites…by a long shot.
But you may be correct- Marshall may be great, losses may be minimal, offensive line may not need to be rebuilt, maybe you’ll fall in love with a guy you’ve hated in your OC who was turned down for HC, you dislike taman, other teams may not move past them. I just don’t see it.
But good luck…they should make the playoffs imo.
I see them 3rd in west…but again you could be right. they may be favorites.
Hard to say. . .
They may be third. .. they may end up in first. . . they may even win the Grey Cup.
But calling them "favourites" now? No.
They lost the last two consecutive Grey Cups.
Montreal won the last two consecutive Grey Cups.
Montreal's coaching staff returns almost the same as it was last year, they've signed most of their important potential free agents (exception: Cobourne), and the only major loss is the retirement of Cahoon, but his impact last year was much reduced from what it had been in seasons previous, so he is not as big a loss to Montreal as Fantuz is to the RIders.
So i'd have to say that Montreal would be the favourite going in, which is, in the final analysis, pretty meaningless.
That’s all well and good, but you’re a Rider fan. Obviously you want to believe the best when it comes to your team. That’s normal. I want to believe that my Als are going to be just as good this year with Tibesar as DC and Cahoon retired. But your original post talked about the Riders being favorites to win the Cup. Why should any non-Rider CFL fan take that assertion seriously? Again, you lost your top receiver to the NFL. Not a marginal guy, not a prospect with potential – your best offensive weapon, who led the league in receiving yardage in 2010, just went south to the NFL. That is not nothing: it is a significant loss. Also, I don’t want to burst your bubble, but you aren’t the only team in the league with great depth at receiver:
Sask: Dressler, Getzlaf, Bagg, Sisco
Calgary: Rambo, Lewis, Bryant, Franklin
Hamilton: Bruce, Stala, McDaniel, Mann
Montreal: Richardson, Green, Watkins, Bratton
Not really sure how Saskatchewan’s receiving corps is superior to the other teams on that list, now that Fantuz is gone.
As for Hall, the personnel on defense has changed from when Richie was DC back in 2008. I’m not saying Hall won’t install a good defense, but you can’t just assume that everything will be great because some of the players remember him and are familiar with his schemes.
Am I saying that Sask will be a bad team in 2011? Not at all. I expect them to compete with Calgary for the division title once again. But that’s a long way from saying the Riders should be the favorites to win the Grey Cup. Finally, as MadJack noted, predicting Grey Cup favorites at this stage is meaningless.
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I’m pretty sure the Riders will make a move to make up for the loss of Fantuz
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they have improved their coaching staff 10 fold and it will show on the field.
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It will be again a tough Western Division in 2011… but the Riders do have what it takes I believe to get to Vancouver for Grey cup 99!
Trying to replace Fantuz and actually replacing him are two different things altogether. Not sure where you can find a 6’4’’ Canadian deep-threat receiver with great hands who will lead the league in receiving yardage. 
Honestly, if Jamel Richardson left the Als for the NFL, what would everyone be saying? That the Als would have a big personnel loss to overcome, and they’d be right. The Fantuz situation is no different. His absence will also mean tighter coverage on Dressler, Getzlaf, and Bagg. I am not saying they can’t rise to the challenge, just that to install the Riders as Grey Cup favorites right now, in Feb. 2011, makes no sense.
2. they have improved their coaching staff 10 fold and it will show on the field.I don't understand this. Etch's D wasn't the reason you lost the 2010 Grey Cup. And if you're trying to tell me that Greg Marshall is 10 times better than Ken Miller in the head-coach role, sorry, I don't buy it. Marshall is a good football mind but being a head coach is about way more than Xs and Os. He'll have to learn on the job and he will make mistakes. That's not to say that he won't succeed eventually, but on the way to success, there is going to be an adjustment period.
3. It will be again a tough Western Division in 2011.. but the Riders do have what it takes I believe to get to Vancouver for Grey cup 99!I, too, wouldn't be surprised to see the Riders in the 2011 Grey Cup game. To me, it's a two-horse race between Calgary and Sask, and until the Stamps show they can beat Gang Green in the playoffs, you have to like the Riders' chances of going to the big game for the third year in a row. Winning it all? A team from the East may have something to say about that... :twisted:
calling a 1st year HC and his team is arrogant, no matter what the skill level is. There is going to be some amazing competition in the West yet again this year, and the East should continue its improvement from the past few years (except for maybe Montreal)
There is still a strong possibility of Fantuz being back 1/2 way through the season. If the Riders receivers proved anything over the past few years is that when someone goes down and out they have someone right there to fill the spot (we will forget Rodrigez ever wore green OK?).
discipline,
Calvillo is going through surgery to get rid of his cancer. I do not wish this on him by any means, but it would surprise me at all to see him not make it through the whole season. Montreal is ageing, and are starting to show signs of being on their downswing. They werent as dominant last season as previous ones, and I expect them to be even less dominant this season.
Now as far as Fantuz goes, yes it is a big loss. I dont know where I said the Riders have "superior" recievers. What we do have, however, is depth and a team who is about to hit their peak as far as talent goes. We have also seen an emergence within the past couple of seasons of a well structured organization. This leads me to believe that the Riders should be favorites this upcoming season to win the Grey Cup.
Nice try.
Now, who WON the last TWO Grey Cups?
And, who was the LOSER in the last TWO Grey Cups?
So, tell me again, who should be the "favourite" going into 2011 ?
LOL, man. We just won back-to-back Grey Cups and we’re on a downswing?
As for aging, the only people who say we’re aging are fans of other teams who clearly don’t know the Als that well. Tell me where we’re aging. Our O-line is younger and stronger now with Brodeur-Jourdain at center and Woodruff at guard; Perrett and Bourke are still in their late '20s and have years of prime playing time ahead of them; Flory is the one veteran and he’s been very durable at right guard. Of our starting receivers, Watkins is the oldest at 31 – Richardson, Green, and Bratton are all in their mid or late '20s. On defense, Anwar Stewart is the lone greybeard at 34; the rest of the D is at or near their physical prime. So tell me, where exactly is this aging taking place?
For the hundredth time, I am not saying that Sask can’t or won’t win the Grey Cup, ONLY that to call them Grey Cup favorites at this point in time has no basis at all in fact, or even in reasonable probability. You lost your top receiver, you have a new head coach and DC, and your veteran center of 14 seasons just retired. On paper, you definitely have question marks. And that is why no one but a Rider fan would think Sask should be the favorites to win it all this year.
Now as far as Fantuz goes, yes it is a big loss. [b]I dont know where I said the Riders have "superior" recievers. [/b]What we do have, however, is depth and a team who is about to hit their peak as far as talent goes. We have also seen an emergence within the past couple of seasons of a well structured organization. This leads me to believe that the Riders should be favorites this upcoming season to win the Grey Cup.It's implied in your statement that Rider receiver depth and structure make them the Grey Cup favorite. You think other teams don't have depth and good organizational structure? I listed three other teams (Montreal, Hamilton, Calgary) with deep, strong receiving corps. So what makes the Riders special? Oh wait, here it is -- unlike the aforementioned teams, you just lost your top receiver to the NFL. An open-shut case for being the Grey Cup favorites. :roll:
I think SSK will be a good team this year. I too feel that the organization has the structure and depth to overcome the personnel losses and the coaching change. But Grey Cup favorites? There’s no basis for that, none at all.
Congratulations on your two Grey Cups, but your point about the Riders losing the last two doesnt really have much weight in this discussion and is quite frankly a stab at the Rider team. Remember you have been in the Grey Cup 8 times in the last 10 years and have only come away with 3 championships. You have an aging quarterback and will in all honesty have to address that concern most likely this season.
I have already addressed the Fantuz issue. If you choose not to listen, fine. We have other recievers to fill in. Clermont showed in the second half of the season that he can still play. Dressler is still here. Bagg. Jordan Sisco will fill in nicely. Koch showed he can be a threat. We have players on the practise roster that could start on any team. Durant is just hitting his prime, unlike Calvillo, or Burris who are on their way out. That is why the Riders should be favoured this year.