Riders versus Winnipeg Hobos for Exhibition Season Braggin’ Rights!

Then again, Bridge went 9/12 for 124 yards and two touchdowns, so who are the real problem? – We may never know until the end of the season.

The Riders are expected to send Zach Collaros for a half against the Bumblers, who have decided to sit most of their defense because this game does not mean much except for the job futures of various players. The Riders defense will not have Micah Johnson or Solomon Elimimian (who is looking for an MRI for a calf injury) while the Winnipeg Hobos will not have Willie Jefferson, which sets the table nicely for Labour Day.

The Rider defense for the most part will be on the field and I will be more interested in what happens in the first half than what will happen in the second which will feature a bunch of substitutes as coaches try to evaluate players on the bubble.

When listening to the game, because the Riders will not live stream the game or show it on Facebook Live, expect to hear the Riders using a ball control offense using a stable of runners and short passes.

The idea is to keep Collaros in one piece, although his injury history of lasting only 14 games in a season means having a capable back up is a must for this team to progress. Fajardo may be that back up – he has handled the ball as a third down QB, but if he learned anything from Travis Lulay in BC or Ricky Ray in Toronto – this is the time to apply that knowledge and take a big step forward professionally.

Cuts are expected June 8 and Shawamrd Chambers (however he spells it) got cut by Hamilton which was a bit of a surprise. Danny O Brien was not a surprise getting cut from E-Town. The interesting thing is seeing the teams that spent big on free agents work the salary cap and figure out which vets and/or draft picks are actually ready to play for reasonable amounts, or should be cast out to find real jobs.

Calgary to some extent, BC and Edmonton will be interesting to watch for cuts. Winnipeg as well who seem to be heading to a Grey Cup but in the process have an offensive line which may not kick in right away for their game manager Matt Nichols.

So this week – Toronto at Hamilton (No TV) – Toronto released Noah Picton which was no surprise after they signed Brandon Bridge and Michael O’Connor. I loved watching Picton with the U of R Rams, but physically, the guy is slight and the truth is he should get into coaching like former U of R QB Marc Mueller did.

Mueller already has a Grey Cup ring and Picton has the brain to be a good offensive coordinator. For Toronto’s QBs, I would say Dakota Prukop would likely get cut after this game, especially if Bridge continues to impress and O’Connor looks like he can handle a pro offense.

Hamilton seems to be the consensus eastern pick but expect some growing pains and remember, injuries wiped out their receiving corps last year, and with a new offensive coordinator Jeremiah Masoli will have to show he is more than just a flavor of the month and has the ability to impose his will on other teams. I’ll take Hamilton for this one as both teams should go vanilla since they face each other again very shortly.

Ottawa at Montreal – Ottawa naming Dominique Davis was a bit surprising and yet at the same time, quite the burn of Jon Jennings and in a sense, a validation of what Mr. Ed Hervey, the talking mule, was saying about Jennings not putting in the work to be a starting quarterback.

Ottawa letting Trevor Harris go was not really a surprise from my perspective because while Harris was good when he got into a rhythm, he was bad if you got him out of that rhythm and he didn’t seem to have the ability to transcend the game and again, impose his will like a Ricky Ray, Mike Reilly or Bo Levi Mitchell. I get the impression Ottawa decided Trevor Harris could get Ottawa so far, but not to a championship game.

It’s a gutsy move and while the staying power of Davis is up for debate, Ottawa is now a fog bank moving from stadium to stadium, with everyone not sure who is there doing what, but it is definitely different. Montreal on the other hand is still on life support, and hopefully there is a sale soon and local ownership moves this team forward.

For Montreal to claim $25 million in losses when they operate under a $5 million salary cap and their share of TSN money would almost cover that, would suggest to me the team made some major payments to the Wetenhalls as the Wetenhalls tossed the keys to the team on the table. There is hope in Montreal, it may take another year, and they have a defense which looks interesting – Montreal needs to win to keep tepid fan interest alive, Ottawa should win because they seem to have a plan.

Winnipeg at Saskatchewan – it’s pretty interesting how Winnipeg is keeping most of their defense at home, while the Riders actually have most, but not all of their defense suiting up for this one. The only thing that really intrigues me is the first half when Zach Collaros goes against the Winnipeg Dollarama Defense while The Rider Defense goes against the Winnipeg O Line who have some interesting holes to fix.

Winnipeg can build a solid case for being the leading contender for the Grey Cup this year, but not on this night – The real match up is the Rider defense and Winnipeg O – and I like the Rider D to win this one and send the shiftless hobos that make up Bomber Nation back into the bush with the plague of Wild Pigs that they brought with them.

On Friday Calgary goes to BC and this will be an interesting game. No matter what Calgary loses in terms of players, they seem able to find replacements – For BC the challenge is how quickly they can build a team around Mike Reilly.

From what I hear on the west coast, BC is doing more on the marketing aspect of things to appeal to fans and I have to give a shout to the Winnipeg HoBos for having a $37 dollar standing room only ticket with a drink. Of course, I can pick up a $27 standing room ticket and get a $8 dollar drink at Mosaic, but Winnipeg is excited to spend $200 a seat for an NFL exhibition game and let’s face it, Winnipeg is famous for not thinking things through. But I digress

. This is a bit of a statement game for Claybrooks facing his former team. I will go with Calgary though until I see BC actually has the pieces of their team playing as a team.

The news that Winnipeg is hosting the NFL exhibition game between Oakland Raiders and Green Bay Packers has some in Regina wondering if the Riders backed out of this because they couldn’t take the competition.

Which would make sense if you had been involved in a major motor vehicle collission and suffered head damage. However the fact of the matter is simple timing being asked by the NFL promoter for the game and the fact the Riders had a home game the night after the proposed NFL exhibition game made it impractical for the city owned facility to pay the OT to make the changeover.

With Winnipeg taking the game, I’d be interested in seeing the take up of fans for this game. The ticket prices for this extravaganza run from $225 being top price to $75 being lowest. Expect to see major discounts as the game actually approaches as Winnipeg hobos will have to turn in a lot of empty bottles to make enough to afford this fun fest.

So the last weekend of the CFL exhibition may not answer all the questions, but it will be fascinating to see if the coaches and fans see the same things and agree on what changes to make if any.

In the meantime, there is still sitting in the stands for practices!

by Greg Urbanoski

Riders versus Winnipeg Hobos for Exhibition Season Braggin’ Rights!

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