I'm watching this to laugh at Chris Jones Apparently Durant isn't playing? You'd think they'd want him to get at least a a few series in, it's almost like he hasn't played for two seasons and will undoubtedly be rusty (no matter how good Riderfans think he is). Oh well CFL ball is back. BMO looks like a great place to watch a CFL game. Congrats Argos and Bluto, your long Rogers nightmare is over ...

1 hour ago, Ripper said:

That's probably a fair statement.  Every team's fans push their players to where they would like them to be moreso than where they really are sometimes.

What you got there are some OK receivers but no real star power. They could all be upgraded on and I think the lack of a real honest to god #1 guy is going to hurt. Saw it all the time with the Bombers post Milt. Bunch of OK guys but was always lacking. 

1 hour ago, 17to85 said:

What you got there are some OK receivers but no real star power. They could all be upgraded on and I think the lack of a real honest to god #1 guy is going to hurt. Saw it all the time with the Bombers post Milt. Bunch of OK guys but was always lacking. 

Honestly the only rider receiver I would take over any of our guys is bagg over kohlert, and baggs knee will always be a huge concern. 

1 hour ago, Blueandgold said:

Honestly the only rider receiver I would take over any of our guys is Bagg over Kohlert, and Bagg's knee will always be a huge concern. 

Plus, I think Vitt has potential and Richards showed well in his brief time on the field. The Roughies are paper-thin on NI receivers.

First I'd just like to say that this was preseason. So the results are what they are but not a measuring stick for the year.

Saying that, I really hope those imbreds at the rider forum are riping Jones a new one. I mean according to most the bombers looked horrible in their WIN against MTL. Some even considered it a battle of the worst 2 teams this year. Now bc is certainly on that list of bottom feeders and the riders couldn't even compete. Starters or not. I'm sure they're making up all sorts of excuses as to why they looked like garbage though.

I can't wait to see how mad Jones gets throughout the year.

Is John Chiles supposed to be the #1 guy in that receiving corps? That's sincere... Not being sarcastic... I'm not sure how they have that set-up over there... 

It's going to be Roosevelt who everyone over here is sleeping on, but he's going to have a great year.

5 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Is John Chiles supposed to be the #1 guy in that receiving corps? That's sincere... Not being sarcastic... I'm not sure how they have that set-up over there... 

Roosevelt looks to be the number one. 

14 minutes ago, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Roosevelt looks to be the number one. 

He was a nice deep threat last year, but not consistent enough to be a number one receiver. 

By game four many Riderfans are going to be "tar and feathers" mad at CJ for basically gifting Dressler to us and letting an up and comer like Smith go and replacing them with the average at best crew they have on display now. Why? Well an interesting question came to mind while I was listening to all of this "we'll be OK we've got Durant" talk from riderfans (especially when they saw how crappy their quarterbacking was last year and last night) ... how good Durant is without Dressler? I seem to recall when Weston was trying out with the Chiefs a few years ago their passing game suffered (ie. Darian didn't look like the Darian we were used to seeing). IIRC that's why so many over there were desperate to get him back and Taman signed him to that contract Jones thought was too rich. He's gonna have to prove he can come back and play up to the same level he did in 2013 just for the Riders to maintain some level of competitiveness in the West never mind make the playoffs IMO. He won't have Sheets, Dressler, or Simon on this years squad. Why is that important? Well basically Durant hasn't played very much since then, save 8 or so games in two years and while they were 6 - 2 or something like that without Dressler, I seem to recall the defence was winning a lot of the games that year. He hasn't had to play without a very good supporting receiving core much in his entire career with the Riders either, something I don't think they have this season (at least yet). That's why in my opinion he's a big question mark going into this season for them as well. Check out this article from 2014 when Dressler came back and see if it doesn't seem to point to some of this ...

Quote

 

The Riders (6-2) have won five straight games and sit tied with the Bombers (6-3) for third place in the West Division standings.

Though much of the Riders’ recent success can be attributed to the stellar play of their defence, which has allowed just two offensive touchdowns in its past three games.
Saskatchewan’s lone touchdown in its 20-16 victory over B.C. last week was scored by reserve offensive lineman Dan Clark on a goal line play-action passing play.

 http://globalnews.ca/news/1534627/dressler-trying-to-get-up-to-speed-with-riders-in-time-for-game-against-winnipeg/?iframe=true&preview=true

 

Durant's 2014 stats (without Dressler for the most part) compared to the five prior years:

Year            Team        GP        Comp         Att              Yds              Tds       Int        Avg

2009	SSK	18	339	562	4348	25	21	7.7
2010	SSK	18	391	644	5542	26	22	8.6
2011	SSK	18	299	489	3653	18	14	7.5
2012	SSK	18	313	486	3878	21	12	8.0
2013	SSK	18	325	531	4154	31	12	7.8
2014	SSK	10	138	228	1792	8	5	7.9

Edited June 13, 20169 yr by IC Khari

1 hour ago, Blueandgold said:

He was a nice deep threat last year, but not consistent enough to be a number one receiver. 

Not bad for a rookie though. And he's got pretty much every attribute you'd look for. I wish he was a Bomber. 

38 minutes ago, IC Khari said:

By game four many Riderfans are going to be "tar and feathers" mad at CJ for basically gifting  Dressler to us and letting an up and comer like Smith go and replacing them with the average at best crew they have on display now. Why? Well an interesting question came to mind while I was listening to all of this "we'll be OK we've got Durant" talk from riderfans (especially when they saw how crappy their quarterbacking was last year and last night) ... how good Durant is without Dressler? I seem to recall when Weston was trying out with the Chiefs a few years ago their passing game suffered (ie. Darian didn't look like the Darian we were used to seeing). IIRC that's why so many over there were desperate to get him back and Taman signed him to that contract Jones thought was too rich. He's gonna have to prove he can come back and play up to the same level he did in 2013 just for the Riders to maintain some level of competitiveness in the West never mind make the playoffs IMO. He won't have Sheets, Dressler, or Simon on this years squad. Why is that important? Well basically Durant hasn't played very much since then, save 8 or so games in two years. He hasn't had to play without a very good supporting receiving core much in his entire career with the Riders either, something I don't think they have this season (at least yet). That's why in my opinion he's a big question mark going into this season for them as well.

Durant's 2014 stats (without Dressler for the most part) compared to the five prior years:

Year            Team        GP        Comp         Att              Yds              Tds       Int        Avg

2009	SSK	18	339	562	4348	25	21	7.7
2010	SSK	18	391	644	5542	26	22	8.6
2011	SSK	18	299	489	3653	18	14	7.5
2012	SSK	18	313	486	3878	21	12	8.0
2013	SSK	18	325	531	4154	31	12	7.8
2014	SSK	10	138	228	1792	8	5	7.9

Rider fans like to tell us how Durant's running was the difference in their championship year but I'm not sure how well he'll be running on those old legs with one achilles tendon that has already been blown out most inauspiciously. 

On 6/11/2016 at 7:54 PM, AtlanticRiderFan said:

Everyone on rf is wondering the same. They're up way too high.

 

On 6/11/2016 at 7:54 PM, instigater said:

What is up with the name plates on the Rider jersey's? They're kind of sticking up and don't look right to me.

Not sure if anyone is reading this thread anymore - that's Chris Jones - he wants his players wearing jersey's two to three sizes too small, tight like yoga pants lol. That way defenders don't have anything to 'grab' on to? He employed the same philosophy when he was here in Edmonton.

16 hours ago, Noeller said:

Is John Chiles supposed to be the #1 guy in that receiving corps? That's sincere... Not being sarcastic... I'm not sure how they have that set-up over there... 

I believe Chiles and Roosevelt come out of camp 1A and 1B, in no particular order. I do believe Roosevelt is a clear number one by end of season.  

On 2016-06-11 at 10:16 PM, Throw Long Bannatyne said:

Jones needs to get Popp on the phone and pick up whichever QB he's willing to get rid of.  Cato or Crompton would be a much better security net beneath Durant than the backups they currently employ.

Popp gave up a 2017 1st round pick to get a QB from B.C. Maybe Popp can get a 1st rounder from the Riders for one of his QBs...this year's 1st rounder is available I hear.

Edited June 13, 20169 yr by DanoT

where is Jill St. John right now?  Hanging out with Henoc?

1 hour ago, DanoT said:

Popp gave up a 2017 1st round pick to get a QB from B.C. Maybe Popp can get a 1st rounder from the Riders for one of his QBs...this year's 1st rounder is available I hear.

Not bad, Cato for St. John, win-win for both teams considering St. John may never wear green.

Matt Nichols for the Riders 2017 first and the rights to St. John.

I just watched the highlights of the Tor-Ham game... I guess along with the new tailgate area they were also having a "dress like an empty seat" promotion night... good to see the fans were getting into it... 

17 hours ago, rebusrankin said:

Matt Nichols for the Riders 2017 first and the rights to St. John.

I wouldn't be a hurry to trade Nichols, he'll be your starter pretty quick if you don't get that mess on the OLine cleaned up.

after watching Willy getting batted around like a piñata last night I have to wonder how long he's going to last again this year.  He can't take that kind of punishment all season.  That being said, it was strange that both Nichols and Bennett seemed to be going untouched.  Nichols was getting the ball off a lot earlier than Willy.  Willy has to get faster in his progressions, especially if he's going to have guys coming in unblocked on him on a regular basis.

Those guys got a way better effort from the OL in the second half, without question. I'm betting Wylie kicked some asses in the locker room at the half, because it was like a whole other line in the 2nd...

50 minutes ago, Noeller said:

Those guys got a way better effort from the OL in the second half, without question. I'm betting Wylie kicked some asses in the locker room at the half, because it was like a whole other line in the 2nd...

Just my 2 cents but you guys starting running the ball more when Flanders came in, Nichols was getting the ball out there quicker as well as rolling out, and Ottawa likely had more backups playing at that time.  All these things took a lot of pressure off your oline.  I like Drew Willy and think he is a good QB, but him holding the ball seemed to urge the pass rush on also so he had a part to play in it too.  Look at our game, Coleman got the ball out quick and things ran smooth, as soon as Brett Smith came in it was a shyteshow because he held the ball too long.  The Dline pins their ears back and comes after him if they think they can get there. They slow up and stay lane responsible more if they fearing a running play or a hot read

We tried to run the ball a ton in the first half, with Harris, but the OL gave 'em NOTHING. Better effort in the second half, and Flanders had more room to work with than Harris did...

yeah no kidding, they tried to run early, just getting beat. I said it before I'll say it again, the depth won again but the starters were lacking. It's not just Willy, it's that once the #1s for Ottawa came off the D things improved. Now I will also ask whether we are seeing some better adjustments at halftime than we saw in the past, but I suspect it's mostly just the difference in players. 

Either way, as has been said by some other posters, we really aren't going to know enough about this team to judge until about Week 3 or 4...