THE BATTLE OF THE OFFENSIVE COORDINATORS
Offensively, its a battle of offensive genius, as Jarious Jackson of our Leos and his mentor Stephen McAdoo, of the Riders showcase their dynamic offences, with an emphasis on RPO and getting the football into their receivers hands 'in space'.
I won't mention the empty space between each of these two offensive coordinators ears but it certainly would feel good if at least Jarious could fill it with some common sense offensive football.
LEOS OFFENCE 2019 SO FAR
Right now the Riders offence ranks 5th in the CFL, which has to be viewed as a 'success as McAdoo's offences are usually bottom tier. Mentioning 'bottom tier' offences, our Leos offence, with that great off-season free agent signing of quarterback Mike Reilly ranks 8th overall but we're dead last in points per game and offensive yardage per game.
We're tied for last place in average rush yards per attempt (4.4 yds.). But good news - we're 7th in passing and 8th in passing yards per attempt. And we do lead the CFL in giving up the most sacks - so we're really best at something, like getting our quarterback pulverized.
But hey, what the heck, we're not that much worse than last season. Mike Reilly's quarterback efficiency is about the same as Jonathan Jennings and Travis Lulay's was last season, even without having their 'deer in the headlights syndrome'. Maybe he has 'cute girl in the stands syndrome instead. Of just maybe, he has 'Jarious Jackson offensive scheme and play calling syndrome".
That is a very challenging syndrome to overcome. Basically the defense knows what you are going to do plus what you are going to do is dum anyway. Its not only a 'syndrome' but also a conundum' or as Wally would say, its 'discombobulating'.
OFFENSIVE LINE 'OFFENSIVE'
Adding to our woes as our offensive line plays a very talented Regina defensive line is that we go into this game with two starters in Figuroa and Chungh out of the lineup.
What really tickes me off this game is that we are switching Boyko to left tackle and playing Norman, an import at guard. We should have an International tackle on the roster who can step in and play left tackle. This is insanity and a poor job by Ed Hervey in terms of depth.
AN EVER CHANGING STARTING OFFENSIVE LINE
We've seen a lot of crazy so far this season, in terms of our offensive line. Its almost as if the ghost of Dan Dorazio is still here. Here are some of the 'crazies' so far.
The first poor decision was starting Brett Boyko. GM's love to show off their new toys. Buono did it with Foucault before he was ready to start and we've done it again with Boyko, who has struggled with edge rushers due to his propensity to try to pass block while standing up like a barber pole (and getting beaten).
Secondly, we keep wanting to draft and sign offensive linemen who are not only natural tackles, played college football as tackles, but also have body types that are meant to play tackle. Faucault is 6'8 inch tall with long arms. Steward is a natural tackle with quick feet and long arms.
Thirdly, we keep switching offensive linemen from one side of the line to the other, as if its no big deal. Its a very BIG DEAL. Stance, footwork, punch hand, and almost everything, in terms of technique is different on the left side of the line to the right side of the line.
Fourthly, we kept changing our offensive line lineup before this game and an offensive line needs to play together as a unit to be successful. Here are our offensive line lineups so fare this season.
Game 1. Steward, center, Foucault left guard, Chungh right guard, Figuroa left tacke, Boyko right tackle.
Game 2. Roy, center, Steward left guard, Chungh right guard, Figuroa left tackle, Boyko right tackle.
Game 3. Roy center, Steward left guard, Chungh right guard, Figuoroa left tackle, Foucault right tackle,
Game 4. Roy center, Faucault left guard, Chungh right guard, Figuroa left tacke, Boyko right tackle.
In Game 3, against Calgary, we had by far our best offensive outing. Our offensive line protected Reilly well for the only time this season, Reilly completed 86% of his passes for 354 yds. and two touchdowns (no interceptions).
So what did we do after that game. We benched Steward, moved Foucault back to left guard in his place, and put Boyko back in at starting right tackle.
WRAP
Cody Fajardo, our third string quarterback last year, had more success running McAdoo's Really Pathetic Offence than Mike Reilly has had running Jarious Really Pathetic Offence. Fajardo has completed 71% of his passes and has a 107 quarterback efficiency compared with Reilly's 86 quarterback efficiency.
That serves as proof, of Jarious Jackson's capabilities. He not only could make Travis Lulay and Jonathan Jennings look like college rookies in his offensive scheme. He's also managed to make Mike Reilly look like a college rookie too. In the meantime, Ricky Collins, often maligned last year as a Leo, is presently a Top 10 receiver in Edmonton while Duron Carter ranks 25th in receiving here in B.C.
It just goes to show that when it comes to incompetence, no one escapes the influence of Jarious Jackson.
If we dont' win this game, it will be more than necessary for Ed to take off his green and gold panties and instead do what is necessary to get us an offensive coordinator who has some common sense and an offensive lineup that can give players like Reilly, Burnham, and Durant the tools to excite and succeed.
At the start of this season, our Leos offence was viewed as having the most weapons in the CFL. However Jarious is giving them BB's for ammunition when they need much more powerful ammo.
In his 'fog of war', Jarious just can't see clearly.
