Roster depth will determine playoff fate of Saskatchewan Roughriders

The Riders had easily handled Montreal a month ago, but Montreal brought back quarterback McLeod Bethel Thompson, BLT to his friends, McBLT to those of us who think of him as very high maintenance, early off the six-game injury list because amid a five-game slide, Montreal was in danger of slipping out of the eastern conference playoff race.

Montreal also got their top Canadian receiver back along with a few other weapons, but since Montreal’s fifth string quarterback was not moving the team, McBLT seemed like the best option to get the offense moving and give their overworked defense a break.

The Riders did their part in ensuring Montreal got off by not playing Canadian cornerback Tevaughn Campbell and American Marcus Sayles. Campbell has impressed many who were not impressed with Campbell’s earlier stint with the Riders but after a few years in the NFL has managed to combine his sprinters speed with a better working knowledge of how to play cornerback.

Until I saw Kerfalla Exume, Campbell’s replacement, I thought the worst performance of a defensive halfback or cornerback would have been that of former Rider Junior Mertile. McBLT did what any quarterback would have done if they knew one of the opposition was making their first start in a high-profile position like cornerback – throw everything at Exume and see how he responded.

Mertile became infamous in Riderville for stepping out of the way of an opposing player scoring a touchdown, but Exume gave Mertile a run for his money by being caught out of position and running after Montreal receivers after they had burned him going deep. Exume became known as Exhume because it was like having a dead body out there for the Riders that didn’t know it was dead.

It is a tad unfair to blame Exume for everything that went wrong for the Rider defense because the defensive line failed to get even a sack on McBLT and Montreal ran at will on the Rider defense. It was a team wide let down, which is somewhat understandable when you think how the Riders learned they had clinched a playoff spot when Winnipeg and then Edmonton lost their respective game before the kickoff.

It was similar to the final game of the 2024 season when the Riders got thumped by Calgary and Jake Maier after they learned they would not be playing for first place when the Bombers won a game in Montreal thanks to a well-timed gust of wind. The Riders were flat then and they were flat against Montreal, a team they could well be playing in the Grey Cup.

The Riders made some personnel moves like sitting receiver Joe Robustelli and adding some Canadian content on the offensive line. The Riders were shockingly short of defensive back depth and this week have signed a few defensive backs to get their numbers up before the last stretch of the season and the start of playoffs.

The Riders are enjoying their final regular season bye week before finishing up their last five games against Edmonton, Ottawa, Toronto, Stony Mountain and BC. The Rider loss saved them from going 16-2, which did not work out for the 1989 Edmonton Eskimos or 2023 Toronto Argonauts who both went 16-2 but bowed out in the western and eastern finals.

If I was going to guess, I would venture the Riders finish likely 13-5 or 14-4 but more importantly for the Riders is avoiding injury to key personnel in the last five games. Expect to see a rotation of players going in and out, with back ups getting valuable playing time and veterans getting much needed rest and rehab.

While the Riders are enjoying the bye week, the CFL standings have tightened quite a bit and the prospect of a western crossover to the east which seemed viable then, is not looking so promising now.

Montreal emerged from their thrashing of the Riders with a lot of confidence they can hang with any team and head to Toronto for a crucial second place showdown.

Toronto edged Edmonton 31-30 on a last-minute field goal but lost quarterback Nick Arbuckle, who is my choice for eastern player of the year, went out with injury, leaving Toronto in the hands of Jarrett Doege, who was a former back up QB in Montreal. Doege may be the brother of former Rider QB Seth Doege which probably doesn’t mean anything, except the guy may actually have muscles.

Doege will be starting for Toronto, and it will be interesting to see how the team responds to him than what he thinks the team should be doing. Doege is in the hands of Ryan Dinwiddie, who was a back up quarterback for the 2007 Blue Bombers who was thrust into action in the Grey Cup game and did well, but not enough to prevent another Bomber loss.

This is where I suspect this will be a battle between the quarterbacks and Dinwiddie seems to have a chip on his shoulder from the prognosticators who are picking Montreal but forget Dinwiddie has a history of coaching up his quarterbacks and having been in the position where you get thrown to start the Grey Cup with just a few days of practice, Dinwiddie seems determined that no one else swill question his faith.

Montreal should be feeling good about itself, but Toronto is also getting people back, none as high profile as McBLT and with Doege being the big unknown the question will be can he handle the Hamilton defense. You can take Toronto to win 29-27.

BC goes to Calgary to battle for playoff positioning and Calgary is hoping to pick up a game from the rival Riders and move closer for help. BC is coming off a home win over Calgary at 38-27 so this week they change locations and BC hopes their defense will come out of the usual suspects.

Calgary will likely try running all through their players getting buy in from the receivers to catch first half. The BC offense is finding it was staying away from what they were doing well in favor of catching a player breaking curfew.

BC can be run against, and I expect Calgary will be looking at unveiling their running game to counter the BC big play running. There is also news the Lions may be looking at expanding their roster and with the recent rash of literature it would not be a stretch to thinking of a dirty bomb coming into the ball room.

Calgary should win what seems to be a running battle royal but the competition this year is unreal so let’s say Calgary wins 28-25.

The Bombers are coming off a 32-21 loss to Hamilton when Zach Collaros was benched for taking a few two many steps. The Bombers were forced to try everything from gamesmanship to short kicks.

The Bombers are discovering Collaros is not in camp and is waiting to have the doctor exams to determine his status for the game Sunday. The Bombers were forced to rely on Quarterback Chris Streveler who had some moments in the NFL, but Streveler is not Touchdown Tommy!

Ottawa may start Dru Brown, the former Bomber quarterback back up whom Bomber fans want back at the end of the season. What makes Winnipeg’s slide so frustrating is the amount of team personnel who really should not be on the field, but since Winnipeg is hosting the Grey Cup, it wants to sell to their fans the idea that an appearance with this crew is possible.

Ottawa has two soft spots – Coaching and depth. They have some talented players but have squandered that talent to make decisions that really blow people’s mind. The Bombers are in my mind like Michael Myers from the movie Halloween and I will only believe they are well and truly finished only after them seeing them stroke out, or have a stake driven into their ribs.

Ottawa may be ready to take a step forward to the playoffs, but they have all season to get ready, but no one is paying attention. The Bombers should win this game 28-26.

Finally, we have Edmonton go to Hamilton where Hamilton has started to get some room between them and Montreal only to have Montreal beat the Riders and make this race probably as close as it has every been Hamilton took out Winnipeg without Collaros.

Hamilton will get to brush shoulders with royalty and look to stay afloat in the east while Edmonton hopes to push its way into the somewhere country of a potential playoff crossover. Edmonton lost a chance last week to move into position by losing to Toronto and if Edmonton is going to be taken seriously in these last few games, they will need to shut down Hamilton.

The onus will be on the Hamilton defense who cannot afford to let opportunities like this slip through their fingers, so I am going to say Hamilton 29-26.

by Greg Urbanoski

Roster depth will determine playoff fate of Saskatchewan Roughriders

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