The Saskatchewan Roughriders defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27-23 today, camouflaging what has been a couple of causes of concern for the last seven weeks: inconsistent play on offense and inept special teams.
Darian Durant threw another interception and also fumbled, resulting in two of Saskatchewan's three turnovers. The third came on return man Dominique Dorsey's drop on a punt return.
I'll start with the offense: it looks to me as though opposing teams are taking away Andy Fantuz and Weston Dressler and basically saying, "Beat us some other way." To this point, Durant hasn't been able to utilize Prechae Rodriguez, Rob Bagg, and Chris Getzlaf in a manner that calls for teams to pay more attention to them. Wes Cates had two touchdowns today and he leads the league in TDs. For the most part, Cates has been fantastic, but he was bottled up for just 15 total yards on the ground today. There were times it appeared as though Durant was rushed because the offensive line just didn't buy him enough time. But, there were other instances when he simply hung on for too long. Either way, his numbers in the last seven games are uninspiring: 5 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions. Somehow, the Riders are 4-and-3 in these contests. I can assure they won't go 4-and-3 in the next seven if he keeps up that ratio. Even if they do go 4-and-3 in the next seven, that would still be disappointing.
Now for the special teams: this is beyond embarrassing. I don't know how many times Jim Daley can be a coach in the Saskatchewan Roughriders organization before the club determines he isn't for them, but this is, at least, his third kick at it. I'm not a Rider historian, but I would assume he failed miserably in his first two stints (seeing as how he was, obviously, fired). So, why is he back again? It's time to cut bait on Daley and Dorsey.
Ken Miller should also be singled out for challenging Durant's fumble. Durant encouraged him to challenge, but let's be honest. Miller had a television timeout to review the play with his press box crew, but he didn't wait that long. He, immediately, threw the flag on what was an obvious fumble.
You would think the Riders lost judging by this write-up, but I am somewhat frustrated to see an effort that is simply mediocre on a weekly basis. They needed to play with more urgency today and didn't. They still won and for that we should all be happy. But, mark my words that this team will lose the Banjo Bowl next week if the effort isn't better. To this point, I have no reason to believe that I'll witness a lights out performance, but the pieces are there to do it. Talentwise, this is as good as a Saskatchewan Roughrider team is going to get. I maintain they win most times in spite of their coaching and today was one of those days.
No comments:
Post a Comment