Game time: Saturday August 25th 3:00 EST
Head to Head Record of 2012: Stamps lead 1-0
Last Meeting: 41-38 Win for Stampeders at Calgary in Week 4
Roughriders: 3-4 (4th in West) 1-4 in Last 5 Games
Stampeders 3-4 (3rd in West) 2-3 in Last 5 Games
Both teams struggling as of late but no team worse than us, Durant has to get his offense together or it may be Free Willy time? Dressler and Getzlaf have to get more involved, Defense is doing all they can but getting exhausted, this is our 3rd straight divisional matchup, we can't afford to lose this one, if the Riders and Calgary to happen to stay neck and neck into the later parts of season and were 0-2, we could be out of a playoff spot.
Yup, last week I said I didn't have a good feeling about Riders winning in BC. But I also said in either case we had to have a win back here next weekend against Calgary: to even the season series, to send Calgary a message after they stole the last one away from us there, and to just flat out have the Riders getting a win again heading for Labour Day back-to-backs with Winnipeg. Calgary guys the Riders have to watch especially carefully besides their whole defence include: on offence Nik Lewis and Jon Cornish--on ST's Larry Taylor because he looks like he can break one on every return. I think their O-line can be had, but then again I guess so can ours based on what BC did to them. Kevin Glenn can be had if you can keep Lewis and Cornish under control, but then some might say that Durant can also be had if you play him/them the right way. I expect a tough, hard-fought game, but I gotta believe Riders can and should win this one.
I was just thinking about this game some more. Calgary will come in here peed-off at losing their last one at home to Toronto, and being owned by Toronto their last 5 games. Riders should be equally or more peed-off at blowing their last game in Calgary. And both teams want to get to 4-4 heading into their classic Labour Day battles with Winnipeg and Edmonton. I wonder which team will be playing more hungry and/or desparate. Riders have 2 straight games at home now. Time to set things straight with Calgary, and get ready to lay a Labour Day beating on the Bombers. Might also be a good time for Riders to check out some game tape on some of those Toronto-Calgary games just lately--hint, hint.
We know what they need to do. Win the trench warfare and no turnovers and win field position.
Agree, shutdown Lewis and Cornish and force them to do lots of other stuff. They will be trying those long crossing routes all day long so hopefully Ritchie has a counter to that.
Kevin Glenn usually plays a poor game and then a couple good one's. He's due for a hot hand. He has quick relaease so D-line needs a hard shove and then get some arms up and disrupt his passing lanes? He's a guy they can get to if the secondary can cover it up.
Romby Bryant...........he's the 2nd receiver target so they need to shut him down.
Here's to Patrick playing DB fulltime and Butler at safety fulltime. Maybe we get a pick or two as we haven't had any for a long while.
Sounds like Heenan and Neufeld could be out for this game, Astia(sp?) will be stepping in at tackle I believe, and Best at guard. Both of these changes shouldn't see any drop off at all, but with the injury to Sisco, the ratio may come into play more. Do we see Butler start? Or possibly Bamba, or even McHenry line up at wide out? This week will be interesting to see where the changes are made. I'll be optimistic for the game, but with this many changes, it may be tough, but it may be what the team needs.
I dont want to say this early in the season that its must win time, but these next three games are must wins for the Riders if they want to be fighting for a playoff spot come October/November. If they lose to Calgary, they lose the series and are 2 games back. They must at least split the series with Winnipeg. Anything less and this team will miss the playoffs for the second straight season.
have to agree G+W. Thought the Bombers were going to help out tonight, but no go. They would by no means be out, but they would not make life easy.
Sounds like DD will need to produce, or he won't see the second half.
I would love to see the stats on injuries from the Riders the past 4 years...it is just unreal. losing the heart of the LB core will be a test, but I view MM as one of the most overlooked LBs in the CFL.
From what I saw from Darren Stone in the pre-season, this guy can play. It just so happened that both Kromah and Brackenridge were just a bit better. I dont expect this guy to be much of a down grade at all.
My single biggest concern of this game, and IMO what lost it for them was the Defensive Tackles, especially LDT. They where run over and manhandled all game long. The Stamps just pushed them out of the way and ran up the gut, even when the Riders new it was coming.
My second big concern was the call to punt with like 220 left. They needed to gamble, especially w/o a timeout. DD had a clear path to run for the first down on 2nd down, but it is hard to criticize him after he did what he did with his legs in that game. Really bad call by Chamblin.
Taking DD further...that pick...idunno that was just one of those plays i guess. He also had the unfortunate fumble...gotta protect that ball. I think he fumbled 9 times last year and lost 5...he is on the same pace. Really, other than that he played a pretty solid game. There were a couple really bad passes, but that is to be expected in those crazy winds. He was also hampered by some really bad drops by multiple receivers...Getz had a couple. Going back to the decision to throw on 2nd down late....it was a tough pass he tried, but Dressler comes up with that most of the time. However, I'm not sure I would try to thread the sideline like that in the wind.
The defense as a whole never showed up until 5 minutes into the 3rd, but looked pretty good after that. Letting the Stamps march at will the first 2 drives was painful to watch, but I say again...that was a brutal roughing the passer call...he was in the air and horizontal well before the ball was thrown...just a horrid call. It happens, but it really pissed me off.
As for the missed FG, a lot of people where I was sitting got rather upset. I don't know how well this showed up on TV, but before the snap the wind was just howling...right at snap the wind died in at least half, and he pushed it wide. If the wind had not died that kick is good all day long...that was a miss based on mother nature...totally out of his control.
End of the game...these clubs were actually pretty well matched. the DTs /Calgary's effective running along with the Rider int and were the real difference makers. Not much more could be asked from DD in this game...he played rather well, and was mobile. Drops are out of his control.
It looked to me like DD was rushed pretty hard for most of the day, and Glenn wasn't. That suggests to me that Calgary clearly won the battle of the trenches. I said in another earlier post that Lewis, Taylor, and Cornish would have to be kept under control by Riders. They did a good job on Lewis and Taylor, but Cornish and the Calgary O-line killed them. Their new receiver West did a pretty good job, too. Time for a few more Rider receivers to start getting open and making more plays much earlier in these games.
I just could not believe that toward the end of the game, with 2 min. left, or 2:12? HOW COULD WE POSSIBLY NOT GO FOR IT ON THIRD DOWN?! What were they thinking?! (why wouldn't they have given the ball to sheets on second down before that?)
When I look at our offense this year, they have been going for more of the short quick plays rather than the long ball, so why wouldn't they grind it out like they have when they have had their success moving the ball.
Patience Patience blah blah... Let's at least give ourselves a chance to stay in the game. Put a few points on the board and get it back close only to let Calgary have the ball again... Come on!