Official: BC at Saskatchewan Game Day Thread June 13, 2008

[TheLionKing]

Nicholson didn't catch a single ball last year. After tonight, I think I know why

[Honour Dewalt]

Looks like the Riders have gotten rid of the wrap around style logo on their helmets and now just have their regular logo on there, without connecting to the other side. I still think they should use their retro unis, even though that logo looks like an upside-down S.

[David]

Players that seemed to play well:

P/K -Sean Whyte
RB/KR - Stefan Logan
DB - Reggie Myles
LB -Tim Goodwell
RB - Ian Smart
ST - Jason Arakgi
WR - Clarence Coleman
S - Tad Crawford
DE - Caesar Rayford

Some thoughts by position:

Quarterbacks - All 4 QBs struggled to move the team, although I thought Champion acquitted himself quite nicely for his first pro game. I had it as Jackson slightly ahead of Pierce, although both had some easy catches dropped. Buck's interception wasn't pretty as it killed a drive and was way overthrown (saw the highlights tonight). Guidugli's performance had to be classified as a disappointment tonight, missing an easy 3 yard pass to Logan that would have kept a drive alive and led to an easy touchdown. Instead, we turned it over on downs.

Receivers - I won't belabor Nicolson's strugggles, but as a group it was a disappointing night. Coleman stepped up, as did Dedrick Poole, but some of the other receivers that I was expecting big things from like Holley and Skillern seemed to struggle. They mentioned on the broadcast that guys were too static at the line of scrimmage and didn't take advantage of the motion. I think CoRo's job is safe.

DB's - Rick and Giulio never mentioned the guilty parties on the broadcast, but some of our guys were getting torched on the long ball tonight - by back-up quarterbacks no less.

Linebackers - Rider back-up running backs were ripping off far too many long gains in the second half which tells me that once they broke through the line, our linebackers were chasing them. Goodwell seemed to play well as mentioned, and I heard Jamall Johnson's name mentioned a couple of times on tackles but I'm not sure where the problems were.

A couple of questions, why didn't they once give the ball to Lumbala on 2nd and short to see what he could do? Our QBs really struggled tonight on the sneak. Also, what was Tyson Craiggs doing out there at middle linebacker in the 4th quarter with a broken bone in his thumb??

Any idea which left tackle let his man nearly decapitate Buck tonight?

[B.C.FAN]

Any idea which left tackle let his man nearly decapitate Buck tonight?

That was a safety blitz from Clovis. I didn't see who was at tackle, but a running back likely would have had responsibility to pick up the blitzing safety, unless it was a 6-receiver set. I wish I could have seen the coaches on the sidelines afterwards. Their reaction would make it clear who missed an assignment.

[Hambone]

I only heard about 5 minutes of the game as I moved from one pub to another but:

Receivers - I won't belabor Nicolson's strugggles, but as a group it was a disappointing night. Coleman stepped up, as did Dedrick Poole, but some of the other receivers that I was expecting big things from like Holley and Skillern seemed to struggle. They mentioned on the broadcast that guys were too static at the line of scrimmage and didn't take advantage of the motion. I think CoRo's job is safe.

I'll try to put a positive spin on Nicholson. In exhibition play the coaching staff will be looking to things like how the receiver is running his routes, making reads on the defence and adjusting his routes accordingly. I would suggest that having the ball thrown his way so often would indicate he's doing all the correct things to get open. At this early juncture that may be the most important thing in the eyes of the staff. Catching and protecting the ball of course are very important but they are things that don't matter much if you can't get open and they can be worked on through practice. Seems to me a couple of highly touted recent drafts Fantuz and Bauman struggled with the dropsies at times early in their very young careers, but I don't think there's a team in the league who wouldn't love to have either one.

Linebackers - Rider back-up running backs were ripping off far too many long gains in the second half which tells me that once they broke through the line, our linebackers were chasing them. Goodwell seemed to play well as mentioned, and I heard Jamall Johnson's name mentioned a couple of times on tackles but I'm not sure where the problems were.

Perhaps a product of the fact almost the whole starting defensive line stayed home? Williams hurt, Wake, Johnson and Kirk stayed home. I don't recall if Aaron Hunt travelled or not.