Shades of 2007

In a strange way it is a bit of a role reversal from 2007 when the Bombers lost their starting quarterback Kevin Glenn to a broken arm in the final moments of that game. The Bombers were forced to start their back up for his first professional start in Ryan Dinwiddie, who is now the Argonauts head coach.

The Bombers are currently a nine-point favorite and with Brady Olivera winning the most outstanding player and Canadian awards at the players award, the Bombers appear unstoppable.

Which is something I would agree with, but when you look at the season series between the two teams, Arbuckle played in the first game, a 14-11 win over the Bombers. It was not that Arbuckle burned the Bombers with his arm, it is the Argos defence that was responsible for both Bomber wins, even a 16-14 win at the end of the season when Kelly was playing.

It doesn’t seem to matter who the Argos throw up at quarterback, it appears it is the defence, built by now Rider head coach Cory Mace, that has decided the deal with the Bombers. There is also an interesting intangible which will not be cleared up until after the game, but merits watching.

Dinwiddie has not spoken much about his experience in the 2007 Grey Cup but said he would give his back up quarterbacks (in addition to Arbuckle, there is also Cameron Dukes and Byron Scott, who was brought back this

week after the Kelly injury) more help than what he got from the Bombers in 2007.

While losing your starting quarterback a game before the championship would be devastating to a team, in 2007 the Bombers lost 23-19 due to three interceptions thrown by Dinwiddie and a solid performance by the Bomber defence. The Riders may have been also guilty of thinking the game was won just because Glenn was not in it.

That is a natural school thought for a team in that situation but it almost bit the Riders in the rear. It also shows the dangers of taking a glib and superficial approach to evaluating this game.

If the Argos work on their short passing and running game, but more importantly do what they are doing against the Bombers (five sacks against Collaros in the first game, seven in the second), they may well be placed to make maybe one of the bigger upsets since Calgary upset Montreal at their home to win the Grey Cup under Marcus Crandall.

Stony Mountain looked impressive against the Riders, once again showing that when it counts, the Bombers are inside the Riders heads and they have a lot more to do before being true Grey Cup contenders. The nature of the rivalry makes one think maybe the Bombers have peaked one game before the Grey Cup because they and their fans are so invested in beating the Riders.

The Bombers took advantage of the Riders tendency to play zone by going after Amari Henderson and Ken Lawlor came away with four receptions for 177 yards. When the Bombers went deep on the Riders and came away with scores, then Olivera racked up his 119 yards rushing which made the Riders run defense moot.

The Riders gambled in their end on a third and short in a desperate effort to grab back momentum, but misplayed that, demonstrating that while the Riders have done enough to make the playoffs, they had no idea on how to up their game to meet the challenge of playing more experienced teams.

While Trevor Harris has playoff records for completions and percentages, Harris has never taken a snap as a starter in a Grey Cup game and you must wonder if he is just the latest incarnation of Kevin Glenn. Harris when he

was in the game, had the Riders moving more effectively than under Shea Patterson.

In various year end summaries, some people pointed fingers at play-calling, and it could be argued the Riders play-calling under Marc Mueller lacked imagination at times, but if you look at 2024 as a building year, Riders fans had to accept a rookie coaching staff making mistakes while learning their trade in a place that takes football very seriously.

Most people would have been happy with a 500 record, perhaps hosting a playoff game and making it to the western final was a bonus. In the process of raising expectations, the Riders probably had their fans dreaming big time, which points out the manic extremes Riders fans swing between following games during the season.

For me the worst part of 2023 was when the Riders came out flat against Hamilton in the George Reed tribute game and appeared to have given up. Even during their seven-game winless streak in the middle of this season, the Riders were for the most part in those games and could have easily won one or two more.

The Riders were an unknown quantity this year with a new head coach and new additions through the draft and free agency. After this season, the Riders won’t have the advantage of being unknowns as they were this season and will have to either up their game or slide back out of the playoffs.

There is no question injuries played a major role in the development of this team and in some ways totally unexpected. The Riders demonstrated an ability to bring in offensive linemen and the development of Logan Ferland, even if he didn’t win the most outstanding offensive lineman, is further evidence the Riders may have finally turned a corner on their offensive line.

If the Riders had offensive linemen Philip Blake and Jemarcus Hardrick for the whole season, it is entirely plausible the Riders offensive line would be even more effective and perhaps the running game would have gotten more traction.

The Riders signing of AJ Ouellette paid off probably in more merchandize being moved by the Riders, but Ouellette’s hip injury, apparently suffered in training camp but by some accounts, maybe a long term thing dating back to

his college career, did not make a substantive difference, although it did when Ouellette took the snap from center in short yardage situations.

The Riders brought in Rykell Armstead who ran for 200 yards against Calgary in his first year, then injured his shoulder and did not make contributions like that for the rest of the season. The Riders put the two backs on the roster but did not seem to come up with a way to best use the talents of both, which indicates to me the Riders offense is a work in progress.

Harris will likely return as the starting QB, hoping to string together a complete season and maybe take the team over the hump. The Riders will be looking at their options at quarterback, especially back up, and maybe in the market for Davis Alexander in Montreal, Charlie Powell in Hamilton or even Vernon Adams Jr. who will get cut loose by BC who are over the salary cap now.

It will be an interesting off-season for the CFL, who will have to figure out how they can get their franchise values increasing (an issue that led to Randy Ambrosie’s departure as CFL Commissioner). Ambrosie has one more duty to do, which is hand out the Grey Cup on Sunday.

So, look for the Argos defence to do what it takes to dominate the Bomber offense and buy time for their offense to get into the game. I would not be surprised to see liberal use of Arbuckle and Dukes, depending on the situation, and perhaps even Scott, because when you get to the championship after losing your starting quarterback, you want to leave everything on the field.

The Toronto defense has made me a believer the last three years. They will make you a believe with a 29-19 win over the Bombers, continuing the proud Toronto tradition of not losing to the Bombers in the title game.

by Greg Urbanoski

Shades of 2007

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