Riders Give Fans a Taste of What Kind of Team They Were Hoping to Be

I was not surprised the Riders put Armstead onto the roster for the Calgary game, but I was surprised at the 207 yards Armstead amassed in the Riders 37-29 win over the Calgary minor football all stars. It is the fourth highest single game rushing total in Rider history and the most rushing yards in a debut appearance by a Rider running back.

The Riders offense was so evenly balanced, they had four more passing yards than running yards which is an offensive gem of a game. The Rider defense made things interesting, but from an offensive point of view, this was the best Rider showing of the season.

I have not heard the latest from Ouellette and the results of his MRI on his hip, but if Armstead continues this pace, the Riders have a running game behind a duct taped offensive line that can be the difference in a close playoff game. If Ouellette comes back, and I suspect he probably will, then the Riders can hand off to two running backs and pound them into submission.

There are a lot of ifs in that statement, and a lot of mitigating circumstances such as the changes in the offensive line which force the Riders to dress three Americans and force them to go with three Canadian receivers. The Riders got a blow with an injury to Ajou Ajou, the personable rookie receiver whose size, blocking and catches have made him a fan favorite, but if the Riders can get Philip Blake back (Jamarcus Hardrick is gone for the season) the Riders can up their receiving corps, but with the runners they have, maybe they don’t have to.

The Riders get Roland Milligan back from celebrating the birth of his new daughter, and Anthony Lanier is practicing more with the first team defense and will likely be a game time decision, but the Riders may want to rotate their defensive linemen with Jeremiah Masoli starting for the Redblacks.

Ottawa is sort of the mirror image of the Calgary Stampeders, a team you think you have a bead on but changes from week to week, depending on what phase of the moon is out and whether the priestess running the jerk chicken shack has made the proper sacrifice that week. Ottawa is missing Adarious Pickett for the rest of the season, and he brought a lot of verve and elan to the defense, but now Ottawa is looking vulnerable to the run.

The Riders found themselves still in third and still challenging for hosting say, the western semi-final. I’m not sure Stony Mountain Blue Bombers after beating Edmonton in Edmonton can be caught, but despite the grandstanding from Stony Mountain, their GM Wide Miller, and drunken fighting advocate Lucky Whitehead, Winnipeg is a team that can be caught, and it only takes one game.

Ottawa has been slipping in games to contending teams and let’s be honest, if it wasn’t for the command center playing god, the Redblacks would never have gotten their tie with the Riders.

Armstead will be highly motivated to prove his old coach and team were wrong about him and you wonder if he gets another 200-yard performance, which will put him above 1000 rushing yards, will that herald a new sheriff in the Rider backfield?

I think the Riders will run it down Ottawa’s throat and with Trevor Harris not having to save the team by himself, he can concentrate on managing the game and hitting his passes while not feeling he must do everything. The Riders will win this one 31-20.

Edmonton goes to Winnipeg and again this raises the same question when these two teams meet. Which would you rather have – the bubonic plague or Ebola? Winnipeg shut down Tre Ford and while Winnipeg is obviously banking on their defense and hoping Brady Olivera can take the heat off an underperforming Zach Collaros, it seems Winnipeg is just one hit away from being three years away from winning their last Grey Cup.

I suspect with Edmonton still being somewhat in reach of a playoff spot, McLeod Bethel Thompson will start and provide the Edmonton offense with a more disciplined approach than what Tre Ford offered. Winnipeg shut down Edmonton’s running game, but I suspect if Edmonton threw more, they would draw the Bomber defensive secondary away from the line of scrimmage and maybe allow the Elk running backs some room to operate.

The window of opportunity for the Elk to move towards a playoff spot, whether in the east or west, is rapidly closing. Winnipeg feels all they have to do is show up and the wins will magically fall into their laps but Edmonton is a dog that has been beat too damn much and is busting to show they are better than what they did last week.

If Edmonton shows up with a passing game, they will beat the Bombers 35-28 in what should be a bit of a shoot-out.

The recent three game success of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats has the TSN panel wetting themselves with Bo Levi Mitchell legend building stories but keep this in mind. They beat the Argonauts, a team they are genetically predisposed to hate.

This week they go to BC to play a team coming off a bye who are going to start Nathan Rourke to stave off any stories of locker room discontent between Rourke and Vernon Adams Jr., who was probably the leading candidate for most outstanding player before he got injured and BC got Rourke back from the NFL

If some don’t like Adams because he is smaller and somewhat prone to injury behind a BC offensive line that has seemed to regress, then consider that if you put pressure on Rourke, he will fold like a cheap linen suit. The Lions are going all in but they don’t have all the pieces and if they can’t get their offensive line woes settled, the Lions will be one and done in the playoffs.

Hamilton also has Chris Jones as a defensive consultant who has put new steel in the Hamilton defense. Jones loves to toy with the minds of relatively inexperienced quarterbacks and let’s not forget, Rourke has not played consistently since he left the CFL for the NFL.

This is going to be another high scoring affair because Hamilton would love to close some ground between them and the teams above them. The big factor is Hamilton is coming west and when you travel a couple of time zones and play a late game, which will be close to midnight when it airs in eastern Canada, you will see a game but lame Hamilton team who lose a close one 38-31

Finally, we have Montreal at Toronto and the last temptation of Chad Kelly. Kelly may have been the outstanding player in the CFL last year, but he got taken apart in the eastern final by Montreal who have had some problems with consistency these last few years, but they did shut down pretenders Ottawa in a 24-12 win.

Kelly has a chance to show he can overcome the mental hurdle Montreal put into his head in the Eastern final. While Montreal’s defense has been fine, their offence has been having problems firing on all cylinders.

Toronto could also use the win, combined with a Rider gift of beating Ottawa, to beat Montreal and close the gap between themselves and the top two teams and widening the gap between them and the western teams following them.

Toronto wins this one 28-24 because Montreal is facing some sort of reckoning with their offense and if they can’t get it unhinged against Toronto, Montreal could also be a one and done team in the playoffs.

by Greg Urbanoski

Riders Give Fans a Taste of What Kind of Team They Were Hoping to Be

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