Rod Pedersen
REGINA — Entering the 2011 season, things aren’t going exactly as planned in Riderville.
Though they enter the new campaign as two-time defending West Division champions, it appears as though the Riders are already facing some adversity.
En-route to a 1-1 pre-season record, it became evident that the Roughriders were having some trouble attacking opposing quarterbacks and even more problems kicking field goals.
While the absence of star defensive end Brent Hawkins does serve as an explanation for their lack of production, head coach Greg Marshall still stands on the sidelines disappointed.
However, Hawkins’ absence opens the door for players such as Montez Murphy, Tearrius George and newcomer R.J. Roberts. It will be interesting to see if any of these players can step up and serve as a reliable temporary replacement on Saskatchewan’s defensive line.
Hawkins joins a crowded bunch on the Riderss nine-game injured list. And if you took a deep look at it, you may also be able to find the reason for the team’s kicking woes.
Thanks to a severe double ligament injury, veteran kicker Luca Congi hasn’t seen any field action since late last season. While his return date was set for opening day of this season, it seems highly unlikely that fans will see him kicking field goals any time soon.
Unfortunately for the fans, the Riders failed to replace their injured kicker. Though they did draft Laval’s Christopher Milo with their fourth pick in this year’s Canadian Draft, he failed to connect on all three of his field goals during the pre-season.
Second-year kicker Eddie Johnson also hasn’t solved their problems; he missed one of his two attempts.
“(The kicking) didn’t create a good night’s sleep the past two nights,” said general manager Brendan Taman. “I just left (Marshall’s) office and he’s still rolling his head around on that. We’re not sure what we’re going to do there.”
Taman was asked by reporters if he’s happy with their current kicking situation.
“Would you be?” Taman huffed. “They weren’t very good the other night.”
So once again the Riders enter their season with an issue on special teams. Over the weekend, the Riders trimmed their roster by 25 players to meet the league-imposed limit, yet, no players were airlifted in to plug the holes that desperately need plugging.
Marshall has maintained all along the team’s plan set during the off-season was to have Johnson perform all kicking duties until Congi was able to return. To this point, the new coach has shown no temptation to hit the panic button and will likely stick with the wait-and-see approach.
However, the kicker’s job is to put points on the board when the offence fails to reach the end zone. What happens when the kicker fails to split the uprights and the team has to settle for singles?
If that scenario begins to play out at a consistent rate, then you can absolutely expect to see changes.
