After the Love is Gone

That year saw the arrival of Tom Clements and after seeing him run for his life behind the Rider rookie line, and the birth of a new child, Lancaster took mercy on Clements and sent him to Hamilton.

I expected to see the same with Cody Fajardo but to my surprise, Fajardo managed to last the season without serious injuries, despite running for his life and being blessed with receivers who were either hurt, inexperienced, or well, not that bright at times.

For rabid fans perched behind keyboards like giant ravens anticipating bursting garbage bags tumbling off the Rider bandwagon, picking over the leftovers of the season seems pretty easy – we need a new offensive coordinator, uh, maybe a quarterback, how about someone who can block, uh, a Kenton Keith style of running back but more trustworthy in the locker room…the shopping list doesn’t seem to end.

First off, considering the number of injuries, where they took place, and the relative inexperience of the offensive line, the Riders were not that bad.

They did not dominate like Winnipeg, or try to be flashy like Montreal or Toronto, but despite being made of at times some selfish players, the Riders showed character in trying to learn from their mistakes and get better.

Overall the most surprising disappointment was not the offensive line but the receiving corps. They were hit with injuries to players like Shaq Evans, Jordan Williams-Lambert and Kyran Moore, but even when Evans returned, he had lost his mojo.

In the western semi final, Fajardo’s first two interceptions were to Evans who didn’t even fight for the ball. As has been pointed out, someone like Rob Bagg would have mugged the defensive back rather than let him pick off a pass intended for him.

As a result, the only receiver that provided a real threat was Duke Williams and his turf toe, which is like gout but 1,000 time worse, didn’t stop him from being the only real threat in the western final. Compare that to Evans who was not even targeted in the game.

Our Canadian receivers are a work in progress with Kian Shaffer-Baker likely going to be a star next year. Brayden Lenius had his moments over the middle, while receivers like Mitch Picton were OK, but more of a possession receiver who had a couple of interceptions thrown his way.

If you start with the premise that with a rookie offensive line, Fajardo had to get rid of the ball to counter the opposition pass rush, the five yard pass to the flats makes a lot of sense. At times the Rider rushing game seemed to work, but it was inconsistent, much like the Riders.

If you think Cody Fajardo needs to be replaced, consider this. If you were behind center and you knew your tackles were more likely to lose to the opposition edge rushers and you had two, maybe three seconds at best to read the defense and find a receiver, what kind of results would you expect?

While it is easy to say we need a better running back than William Powell, that overlooks the fact that while he was inconsistently used, he also helped to block for Fajardo and be an outlet back.

The easy scapegoat would be Jason Maas, the offensive coordinator who did not have much to work with and so the Rider offense fell behind the standard set in 2019. But Maas had to work with an offensive line going through growing pains while doing everything he could to keep his quarterback alive.

Fajardo wears his heart on his sleeve which is an admirable quality, but maybe needs to develop in the light of the fickleness of Rider fans. The western semi final despite being played in probably the best weather seen in a football stadium in late November, drew between 20,000-22,000 while apparently Stoney Mountain Penitentiary held conjugal visiting day at Dollarama Stadium for the western final and drew a full house.

While a Bomber fan of some acquaintance liked to point out the difference, he was not wrong about the reason. Casual Rider fans didn’t think the Riders would beat Calgary and the feedback loop known as the Internet reinforced that attitude.

I thought the Riders would beat Calgary, but suspected only an act of God would help them beat Winnipeg. The defense did their part with six turnovers which should have clinched the win, but if you can’t pull the trigger, you can’t hit the target of getting to the Grey Cup.

It almost seemed like the Riders were expecting to get their defense to turn the ball over to them in great field position for a field goal, or if they were lucky, a touchdown. However, with only one receiver seemingly on the field, luck was somewhere around Pence trying to get out of the ditch and back between the lines.

So with the Riders hosting the Grey Cup, the pressure will be on them to field a Cup contending team and the Riders should keep an eye on Edmonton who are looking to hire a new president, GM and head coach and the name of Chris Jones is expected to come up.

Which makes things interesting for the Riders because Jones left his assistants in Saskatchewan along with a lot of players he brought into the league. If he lands in Edmonton, how many will he entice to return to the frozen land of the Chronic Wasters?

The overwhelming number of free agents since most CFL players sign one year contracts means the Riders may or may be able to reassemble their parts and add some character to say, their receiving corps.

The first thing is to re-sign Duke Williams. His gutsy performance in the western final goes up there with Wes Cates playing in 2007 with a broken foot or even George Reed needing to be frozen because of an injured toe.

The Riders will need to bring in some American tackles to compete for those critical positions. For the most part the Riders interior is fairly solid with Canadians and they have depth. Bruce Boyko did better than he did in BC at one tackle position.

It takes Canadian offensive linemen several years to develop into competent players after being exposed to professional level play and I think the Riders have a fairly good young bunch who can develop and play together. Winnipeg has been following a draft policy of picking offensive linemen early and developing them so they have depth in case of losing them in free agency or injury.

The Rider defensive line was probably the most welcome surprise of the year. The release of Charleston Hughes had many thinking the Riders would be a one trick pony with AC Leonard on one end.

However, the emergence of Pete Robertson and Jonathan Woodward to lead in sacks was a great development and the defensive line had the nastiness to make things tough for opposing offenses. Then again, the Riders also lacked the personal discipline to keep from taking retaliatory penalties that sabotaged good plays.

For the Rider linebacking corps, if it would be possible to get Larry Dean back to play middle linebacker, with Deion Lacey on one side and Micah Teitz on the other, that would be an interesting unit.

So apparently there is a Grey Cup this year, a rematch of the 2019 Grey Cup where Winnipeg ended an epic Grey Cup drought.

So the difference this year is Hamilton made it after finishing third in the east like Winnipeg finished 3^rd in the west in 2019. However, Winnipeg played more consistently in the regular season than the Tiger-Cats this year.

The Cats are a better team with Dane Evans at quarterback and their offensive line has grown through the season. Whether it is enough against Winnipeg is another question.

The Cats are playing at home in front of their fans, who taunted the Argos after beating them at home. Hamilton gets the home field advantage, and maybe a better understanding of the weather conditions.

The interesting thing is Winnipeg looked shaky in giving up the ball six times in the cold, reflecting how they were not ready to play. Hamilton by contrast in playing the last two weeks has maintained a consistency that will help them as Winnipeg thinks it can shoot itself in the feet repeatedly with no ill effects.

The game will come down to the question of if Hamilton’s defensive line can handle the performance enhanced efforts of Andrew Harris. If Hamilton can work that particular magic, they will pick up their first Grey Cup since 1999.

I’m going to cheer for Hamilton, but Winnipeg wins 21-17 because that seems to be the score they are happiest with.

by Greg Urbanoski

After the Love is Gone

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