Arthur Ward/CFL.ca
‘It’s a long season.’
That phrase is the solace many in Rider Nation have to be thinking about when analyzing a dismal start that could be flipped around from what they thought was an appealing schedule to start the year.
Five games against the East Division?
Easy, right?
So far, that has not been the case with tough back-to-back showings from the Roughriders. There was the pounding they took in Ottawa followed by the booing they heard from the home crowd during their loss to the league’s worst team, Montreal.
However, the ‘league’s worst team’ designation may have been placed around the necks of the Roughriders.
The Waggle, Episode 113: Done with DC at DB? + Henoc Muamba talks changes
Listen to the latest from The Waggle as Davis Sanchez and James Cybulski discuss the Riders’ decision to keep playing Duron Carter at corner. Plus, Henoc Muamba talks about the changes in Montreal as the Als try to build on a Week 3 victory.
Here are the issues: injured starting quarterback, inadequate play behind the starting quarterback, a 1,000-yard running back being parked, a 1,000-yard receiver being put on defence, that same player getting beat on a few occasions over the last two games, penalties, poor offensive line play…
I think that gives you the picture of what we’re dealing with here.
A work in progress.
But it wasn’t supposed to be that so early in the season. The team was moving forward, coming a hair short of a Grey Cup appearance. Certainly, they would get off to a better start this season, especially with those five games against the cellar dwellers from the East.
Nope. 2017 was 2017 and a few teams have come to play this season, including the Riders opponent on Thursday, Hamilton.
Many in Saskatchewan were thinking a strong 4-1 start. Extreme optimists thought 5-0 would be in order. Imagine the disappointment of have not one but two duds back-to-back in a season in which Chris Jones continues to claim they have a very special group.
OK then, let’s see this so-called, ‘special group’ get their stuff together because they are staring a 1-4 start square in the face with back-to-back games against the Tiger-Cats with a bye week in the middle.
There is a lot of work to do and I don’t know where to start.
You can pin it on personnel or at least the mismanagement of a player like Duron Carter or drafting for Canadian depth but whatever it is, this wasn’t supposed to be a work in progress off the start of the season.
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Once a hot topic as he made the transition to the defensive side of the ball, now many are calling for Duron Carter to return to his route-running roots. (Arthur Ward, CFL.ca)
Year three was supposed to be the year of the Riders. Jones has continued to dismantle pieces left behind by previous regimes and the build should be done by now.
The fact they can’t find a corner good enough to compete with Duron Carter is an indictment on a team that hosts several off-season mini camps and training camps. They can’t find one guy who can cover some of the speedsters in the CFL?
Is Chris Jones’ job on the line? That is a debate that will rage on in Saskatchewan throughout the rest of his tenure. He’s not making many friends early this season but let’s look at recent history to give a glimpse of hope for Riders Nation.
The year was 2017 when the Riders jumped out to a rousing 1-2 start to the season and came back around to get into the playoffs. This year is different. Those two losses by the team last year were very tight games and not games in which you would question the talent level of the team.
They were right there and it showed as they improved all the way to nearly getting to a Grey Cup. As much as I was bullish for the Riders to get to the Grey Cup this year, I don’t see the same level of skill.
Depth is a major issue at corner with Duron Carter playing there and the already revolving door along the offensive line needs to stabilize to keep any of their quarterbacks clean.
It’s not full on panic mode yet in Saskatchewan. After all ‘it is a long season’. A 1-3 start, or even 1-4 puts them back behind the eight ball going into games against the West starting in Week 7.
And playing catchup in the division rarely works out for a team when Calgary and Edmonton are already playing at the top of their game.
So we’ll start to see just how long this season actually is because if the losses pile up it will feel longer than the 15 games they have left on the schedule.
