The score looks more lopsided thanks to some bad turnovers by Goltz in the 4th quarter giving the Riders an easy 17 points. It was a good first half for the Blue and I think it's fair to say they outperformed most expectations. The team maintained its struggles coming out of halftime again. They need to do something to get the motors on the players in gear sooner.
Douglas was terrible for the most part - slow getting out of his stance and slow feet. I'm not sure if its just not having played in a game in so long or whether the injuries have taken their toll on his mobility, but by and large he was a liability out there. January had his issues as well though, but Douglas was quite noticeable.
Damn it's nice to have Watson in the lineup again.
Etienne looked like he might have sprained his neck on that one tackle where his head was torqued Hope he's good to go for next week. Poblah just doesn't look like he's giving a full effort out there. Maybe if they start Swiston at RT and Kowalczuk at RG they can use Sims-Walker in Etiennes spot. The problem with that is that Kowalczuk is their only NI backup Olineman, unless they take Pencer off the 9 game finally.
What happened to Kelly after the half? They had some success going to him early and all but forgot about him after halftime.
It was interesting to hear on the CJOB pregame show that the team is monitoring 'loafs' as a stat, plays on which it appears guys are not giving 100% effort from whistle to whistle. It was mentioned someone on D last week had double digit loafs and the suggestion was it was Mainor. Watching Peach play a lot in Mainor's spot today seems to bear that out. For just having been here a week I though Peach looked OK. Turner had a quiet game on the Dline.
Goltz showed some good things. Then he showed himself to be quite the rookie with some of his mistakes in the 4th quarter. Still, I think he deserves to play in the rematch even if Hall is healthy.
Henoc is a beast. Number of hard hits today, was physical with Sheets as they kept him under 100 yards on the day. Why does his brother Cauchy shy away from laying a lick on people in the backfield? The only time he comes with force is when he blitzes.
They should've gone after Dwight Anderson more in the 2nd half. The guy blew a gasket in the first half, he's prone to the PI call, getting another one in the 2nd half would've caused him to unravel again. They failed to take advantage of that.
There were some guys that just made plays on offense today both ways. Some really great catches in tight coverage.
Madjack, aside from missing the change on the Oline, there were numerous gaffes by the TSN crew. My favourite one was Rod Black saying the bombers were one of the worst teams against the run in the league early in the first quarter, despite them being one of the better teams and they haven't given up a 100 yard runner yet all season, which considering Sheets coming in had over 100+ yards in 7/8 games would've been a good talking point. About 10 minutes later Rod mentions how the bombers are one of the best teams in the league vs the run. He just doesn't seem to prepare for his job whatsoever.