Green and White Scrimmage Has Some Answers but a Lot More Questions

The final score was 7-6, which provided a bit of a look into the Riders for the 2021 season – and the outlook was as murky as ever.

The Riders lost their starring middle backer, Larry Dean, to an Achilles tendon injury the day before camp started. Joining Dean on the Achilles injury list were first round draft pick Nelson Lokombo, Defensive end Freddie Bishop III, and Canadian running back Jonathon Femi-Cole.

Add to that the decision by Brendan LaBatte to sit out the 2021 season and the Riders have major question marks in their linebacking corps, their offensive line and to some extent their defensive line.

There were some, but not many answers on Saturday.

Overall, the defense has the edge when it comes to playing against their offense. Almost all quarterbacks had balls intercepted, some on tipped balls so assigning blame is not that easy, but some interceptions were mis-throws.

Nick Marshall started the interception parade by picking off Cody Fajardo. Working with the starting offense, Fajardo managed to move the team, but the offensive lines inability to keep people out saw a lot of forced throws.

Fajardo completed six of nine passes for 56 yards and one touchdown.

Kian Schaffer-Baker showed up to make the race for Canadian receiver spots very interesting with a deep catch from Isaac Harker. Harker completed five of eight passes for 48 yards and hit Paul McRoberts and Mitch Picton with some great passes. Harker has good command of the Rider offence, his arm velocity is still somewhat in question in placing the ball quickly when behind an offensive line that may or may not do commercials for the Swiss Cheese industry.

Tom Flacco had a bit of a rough outing, completing four of six passes for 29 yards and almost getting intercepted but not being able to avoid a sack by the defensive star of the game – Garrett Marino.

Mason Fine completed six of 10 passes for 48 yards, including passes to Schaffer-Baker, Picton and almost hit on a deep pass to Charon Peake.

Of concern was an in injury to defensive back/linebacker Jacob Janke who appeared to injury his knee while covering a punt. The injury to Janke, who had impressed the week before at the first public practice. The injury is another curveball thrown at defensive coordinator Jason Shivers building a new defense this year.

Paxton Lynch was notable, not just for his size – 6’7”, but also because of his experience in the NFL. Lynch completed seven of 10 passes for 67 yards with an interception and had a few runs which were interesting to watch.

Lynch has the ability to deliver the ball into a tight spot which might become useful if the worst case scenario develops concerning the Rider offensive line.

With a 4-3 score in the first half, the high points were not readily apparent, and in the second half the quarterbacks looked to spread things out. The biggest beneficiary was Picton who looked like he had used the past 16 months to add on some muscle on his upper body and make his catches when the ball came his way.

The defense took advantage of the offense trying to open things up with Pete Robertson picking up one of his two sacks and Canadian Alain Cimankinda picking up one. DeMarquis Gates picked up an interception from Flacco and Nigel Harris picked off Lynch.

Gates’ interception went along with his four tackles as he got a good long look at the linebacker position. Some of the Rider defensive interceptions were off of tipped balls, which shows the hustle of the defense and the lack of familiarity between the quarterbacks and the receivers.

With the quarterbacks getting pressured and the absence of players like offensive lineman Evan Johnson, it is likely a little early to worry about the offensive line, but with no pre-season games, it will be next to impossible for the Riders to get an accurate read on their offensive line prior to the start of the season.

The lack of points, and the final score was 7-6 with kickers providing all of the scoring. While Rider Head Coach Craig Dickenson said he wasn’t worried about the offense because not all of the starters were in the game.

That is understandable, but watching the ease with which a consistent rush put pressure on Rider quarterbacks raises the question of how the Riders will compensate for a wholesale change on the offensive line in order to hit their deep pass offense?

For a deep passing game, the quarterback needs time to read the offense to determine which receiver will be open. If a team has problem protecting the quarterback, ways to help the quarterback include greater use of the running game and a short passing game that depends on timing patterns made quickly after the snap.

Jason Murrow has emerged as an interesting candidate for the Riders in replacing Marcus Thigpen. Thigpen was used on special teams and when lined up in the backfield was a change of pace runner who could hit the hole quickly and either make a long run or touchdown out of seemingly nothing.

The Riders receiving corps seems to be in good shape and the number of Canadian receivers gives the Rider options in constructing their team. The Riders could easily start two Canadian receivers and that would leave room for another American on either the offensive line or linebacker.

William Powell seems set at running back, but it would be good for the Riders to identify and start a change of pace back who can reduce the workload for Powell and present defenses with more challenges.

On defense the Riders are seeing which players emerge. Micah Johnson and AC Leonard are set on the inside and outside of the defensive lines, leaving one spot for Canadians to play a rotational role.

Deon Lacey seems to be the early frontrunner for middle linebacker which will help the team. But here is where the Riders must be hoping to see their scouting pay off with a starter or two identified here. One linebacking position will likely go to a Canadian, although it will be hard to narrow down a Canadian linebacker and a back up to fill that role.

The Rider defensive backfield seems set, and expect it to get better with the arrival of Canadian defensive back Eli Bouka. The number of tipped balls reflects a unit that talks effectively with one another and can fill in anywhere when necessary.

The problem, and interesting thing, is that nothing can definitively be said about the Riders until the lights go on and the season starts in earnest. Every team is operating under the same procedures and the question of whether or not pre season games are necessary are about to answered in a major way.

Riders on Crutches

by Greg Urbanoski

Green and White Scrimmage Has Some Answers but a Lot More Questions

What's Trending