Kerry Joseph played a smart game at quarterback, the Riders used a balanced offensive attack against our depleted defense, and the Riders defense mixed it up effectively against third string quarterback Jarious Jackson and our Leos offence to limit our attack.
In the end, both strategies were good enough to enable the Riders to beat our Leos 21-9. Let's have a closer look:
DEFENSE
Once again, we begin Post-Game Thoughts with defense!! Considering how long they were on the field, on a hot and muggy night under the Dome, our defense played well enough to allow us a chance of winning this game. Our defense had good pressure on Joseph most of the night, especially when we rushed four or blitzed, but the Riders offence also mixed it up well against a defense that was essentially patched up for this game.
On defense, we had two first year starters in Jamal Johnson and Jason Pottinger playing linebacker, we had Mitchell playing corner, Glover playing out of position at short side corner, Mark Washington playing shortside halfback, and Knowlten playing nickel. Those are a lot of changes for a defense to absorb, with vets Otis Floyd, Korey Banks, and Dante Marsh out of the lineup.
Mark Knowlten had an outstanding game, Ryan Philips continues to shine at wideside halfback, and Hunt is now returning to the form that he showed last year as an outstanding defensive tackle. However, the game also showed how invaluable Korey Banks and Dante Marsh, especially Banks is. Banks allows us to do things we can't do without him in the lineup, along with Marsh. When they are in the lineup, Miles can cheat the wideside, coming up underneath to intecept the football or backing up the wideside deep, allowing Phillips and Glover to ball hawk. Miles had to play it more straight up last night and defensive turnovers were harder to come by.
The game also showed a weakness in our run defense for the second time this season. For all the raves about Javy Glatt (and he deserves a lot of those accolades) he still struggles at times in run defense. He's a natural outside linebacker, an outstanding pass defender, and an excellent blitzer. However, Cates exposed our interior run defense, rushing for over 100 yards and picking up some big gains. I was disappointed when Calgary traded Cates to the Riders, a dum move, because Cates was the missing piece of the puzzle for the Riders. Cates is a hell of a running back..fast, quick, and difficult to bring down.
The Riders balanced attack of run and pass, with Joseph being careful not to turn over the football (an early interception by Ryan Phillips was all he gave us) forced us to have to earn our points offensively. Joseph went 20/33 for 261 yards. Still, it was a vey good performance by our defense, based upon the changes we had to make for this game. We gave up yardage at times, Washington got beat into the end zone for a touchdown, but we held the Riders to 21 points and they had lots of opportunities with our defense out on the field a lot.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Overall, we won the battle of special teams against the Riders, with Ian Smart returning the ball 93 yards off a missing field goal attempt to give us one last shot at victory. Our downfield coverage was very good again, and we didn't allow the Riders any big special teams plays. McCallum missed a field goal from just outside 45 yards. Congi kicked a 43 and 46 yarder but also missed. McCallum punted the football well and our team speed on special teams was evident. Jamal Johnson continues to impress, Wake adds a new dimension in the middle on field goal attempted blocks, and all our special teams are playing disciplined and as a unit.
OFFENCE
This was the most disappointing game to watch offensively this season for three big reasons. The first was a confusing game plan and play calling. Yes, the Riders have an excellent run defense but we also have an excellent run blocking offensive line and a tough punishing back in Joe Smith. Instead we only ran the football 9 times in a game when we had a third string quarterback out there for his first CFL start and first time starting as a quarterback in four years.
I could understand why our Leos braintrust, expecting the Riders to be keying our running game early, would start with throwing the football, but we never came back to the run when it was obvious that Jackson was having his struggles out there.
A second factor, offensively, was why I was pleased that we went multi-formational this was not a game to go empty backfield. This offensive set requires a quick, smart, read by the quarterback and the Riders brought quick pressure each time we used it.
A third factor was the disappointing play of Jarious Jackson. Jarious has come off the bench three times this season to preserve or help engineer wins but Jackson struggled in this game. He went 16/38 for 183 yards.
One had to expect mistakes and Saskatchewan played a very smart defensive game, mixing up coverages constantly. However, it wasn't the three interceptions that bothered me, when Jackson either didn't read the safety or threw into coverage. It was his inability to throw the football accurately and his lack of touch again in the short game.
Without the defensive turnovers that our defense has created for our offence, it was necessary for our offence to manufacture their own points. Paris Jackson had an excellent game, making an outstanding catch early and then diving for a quick post pattern to score our first touchdown. He looks like he wants to become our 'go to receiver' for the future and plays with enthusiasm out ther. Joe Smith looked great on his limited carries. Our offensive line played very well, overall, and Valli did an excellent job coming in for an injured Sherko in the second hafl. The offensive line played hard for Jarious in this game.
However, while Jarious threw 3 interceptions, as we pressed to come back in this game, not all could be laid at the feet of Jackson, who short hopped too many footballs or just slightly overthrew receivers at times. Our recievers also need to do a better job. Clermont has always been our best receiver at reading zone defenses and adjusting his routes but Clermont was covered well out there. There was a time when I believed we had the best receiving corps in the league but no longer. I watched Geroy Simon in this game and he wasn't double covered all the time out there. He struggled at times getting open against single coverage.
It's been difficult, with using three starting quarterbacks in our first six games, but we really need our recievers and quarterbacks to play better and get on the same page. If we can do that, we're still the team to beat and have a great chance to win the Cup again. We three the football 38 times, so the receivers can't *beeotch* that we're just running the football every game. We're just not intense on offence. We need better distribution to get every receiver involved and we just need to execute the passing game better or we'll be golfing in November in the rain instead of watching our Leos in the Grey Cup.
WRAP
Even though it was our first loss on a steamy night in the Dome... it was a special night. I had the chance to meet, for the first time, so many members of Lionbackers who make this the best football website in North America. Everyone was warm, welcoming, and showed some great 'Mainland' hospitality to an "Islander'. Thank you!
This extra long post is just for you!!!!!
