Cha…cha…cha…Changes Coming for Riders

In 2013 the Riders did what they needed to do to stack the team. They brought in experience and leadership in players like Geroy Simon and Ricky Foley and the team won a game memorable to Rider fans who could only have dreamed of the spectacle of their team playing at home for the biggest prize in Canadian football.

Fans can be forgiven for thinking that teams that host the Grey Cup owe it to their fans to be as competitive as possible because the financial rewards of winning a Grey Cup at home are substantial.

The 2022 Riders instead left vacant an offensive line unable to block, resulting in a starting quarterback whose bloom has left his rose and is acting like a shell-shocked soldier who looks around and sees nothing but the enemy around him.

The Riders only realistic hope of making the playoffs is finishing with a better record than the third-place team in the eastern conference. That is currently the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who have their own problems, and a Rider win would have all but sewn up a playoff spot.

Except the Riders showed a lack of leadership, character and desire, allowing Hamilton to run on the Riders at will and Hamilton ended up with an 18-14 win and a clear path to a playoff spot.

Hamilton has one game left against Calgary and two against Ottawa to round out the season. The Riders have a bye this week and then two games left against Calgary. Calgary is probably the second-best team in the CFL and the team most like to give Winnipeg problems in getting a three peat.

So, let’s say Hamilton loses to Calgary this weekend because Calgary is in a dogfight with BC for second place and BC closes out their season with a pair against Winnipeg who look like they will be resting many of their starters since Winnipeg has clinched first.

Rider fans looking to Calgary to take their foot off the gas should wake up and smell the coffee. Teams will not lose to the Riders to help make their fairy tale dream of getting to the Grey Cup come true.

With this being a bye week, speculation is already underway about what changes will be made to the Riders next season. Craig Dickenson is not expected to return as Rider coach because many feel he lost the locker room due to his handling or lack thereof of the players.

Then there is the school of thought that wonders about the future of offensive coordinator Jason Maas. On the one hand you can criticize his handling of the offense, on the other hand with what he had available on the offensive line, you wonder if he would be better off going elsewhere, like say Montreal or Ottawa as a head coach.

You also must ask questions about Jeremy O’Day and how the team has slid this past year even though everyone knew the offensive line sucked. O’Day is a former offensive lineman and not bringing anyone in to improve the quality of protection for the quarterback is a failure of epic proportions.

The Riders seem content to stress continuity at the expense of uh, winning or trying to grow the team. Hindsight is 20/20 but in retrospect, the contracts to Duke Williams and heck, even Cody Fajardo have been cited as some of poorly made decisions since Hamilton decided to go all in on Dane Evans as their quarterback.

The first probable move would be the removal of Stephen Sorrells as offensive coach. Those of us that lived through the 1979 and 1980 seasons featuring the worst offensive lines in Rider history never thought we would see anything this bad until the last two years.

Either Sorrells cannot coach offensive linemen, or our offensive linemen are just nothing more than green pylons.

Finally, we ask questions about Rider CEO Craig Reynolds who boldly hired Chris Jones to bring the team out of sustained mediocrity and who went for the Grey Cup hosting rights but put profits in front of team performance. The Riders treat their fans as nothing more than portable ATMs whose job is to pay $60 for a hat and $230 for a fan jersey and let’s not forget the $10 beer and shots.

Reynolds may have played on Rider fans memories of 2013 to make a profit the last couple of years, but I suspect that once the Riders are officially eliminated, there will be a flood of Grey Cup tickets on the market and the Riders should expect much smaller crowds next year.

Rider fans have been faced with overpaying for tickets, food and merchandise just so the team can pay off the investment in Mosaic Stadium. The COVID pandemic showed how easy it is to disrupt the current business model and the decision to cancel the 2020 season allowed people to find out there are other things to do in life than watch CFL football.

As a fan it is insulting to watch the current edition of the Riders, which is now lurching to the delusional aisle of the sports marketplace as they face the reality, they are not a competitive team and the best thing is for them to be eliminated before the playoffs, so fans are spared the spectacle of them getting stomped in say, Montreal.

I have Grey Cup tickets and I have friends and family from across Canada coming in for Grey Cup weekend. I will be selling them on having a good time and not so much on where the Riders blew it.

So, what will happen in three weeks when the season is over?

At the very least, the Riders will be looking for a new offensive coordinator and/or offensive line coach. I suspect the Riders may look at Paul La Police who got fired from Ottawa as head coach but is better suited for just a coordinator position.

Doing more than that might be thought of as reacting too emotionally because Dickinson before this year did have two winning seasons, built on a mostly Chris Jones foundation, but the Riders may look east to Winnipeg and how close Mike O’Shea was to being released as Winnipeg coach until he changed the culture of the team and led them to back-to-back and potentially a third Grey Cup championship.

The Riders may give Dickenson a one-year contract to clean up this mess and show some growth, especially in the standings. They may also give Fajardo a one-year contract, mostly incentive based, and allow him the opportunity to clean up this mess and get the Riders back in the winning column.

Fajardo needs a quarterback coach like Tom House, who can help with his mechanics and his headspace. Being chased like a gazelle by wild hyenas does not help to build confidence and Fajardo’s confidence is gone right now.

There was talk about Jason Shivers being a potential head coaching candidate but the way the Rider defense has demonstrated the art of not tackling means Shivers is not as fundamentally sound as it might have seemed the last two years. The Rider linebacking corps is sound, the defensive line is a joke, and the defensive backfield does not know how to tackle.

The Riders will have to move about two thirds of their roster because of lack of talent, or lack of common sense and commitment. The BC Lions laid the foundation for their season last year when they replaced Bryan Chui as offensive line coach with Kelly Bates of Humboldt who knows how to team the offensive line position.

It might be as easy as finding a fundamentally sound teacher for the offensive line. It might also help to have a scouting department capable of identifying good players, or at least coachable one.

The Riders under Craig Reynolds have opted for the convenience hire or signing rather than making the investment in coaches or players who can be durable. The Riders are about to find how easy it is for Rider fans to tune them out.

So, this week we have Montreal at Ottawa and Montreal has a chance to clinch at least second place. Ottawa surprised last week with a win under interim coach Bob Dyce, but Ottawa also suffered some injuries that may take the glow off the faint playoff hopes they still entertain.

Montreal is a team that surprises when least expected and chokes when expected to win. Montreal may get back running back William Stanback who should be basis of whatever Grey Cup hopes Montreal is entertaining.

The addition of Stanback should help key a Montreal offense looking for balance ever since Stanback got injured. Montreal maybe takes a step forward and wins this one 31-17.

Hamilton goes to Calgary and Hamilton has a game in hand on the Riders while being two points back in the standing. Calgary is in a dogfight with BC for second so I cannot see Calgary calling off the dogs against Hamilton.

Hamilton may try to mount a running attack, but Calgary’s defense has impressed me as amongst the top three in the league. Hamilton barely beat an inept Rider team and they have two games against Ottawa who may be eliminated this weekend.

Calgary should not have a problem with Hamilton and win this one 34-20.

Toronto goes to Edmonton and may have clinched first place before the kickoff if Montreal loses to Ottawa. Toronto has a good defense and a passable offense, and Edmonton is wrestling with not just being eliminated, but also not having won at home in over 1,000 days.

Edmonton has talent, but Toronto has its motivation and wins this one 28-14.

Finally, we have Winnipeg going to BC and Winnipeg is resting Zach Collaros and starting Dru Brown at quarterback. Expect to see more Bombers being rested in a game that means absolutely nothing to Winnipeg and everything to BC who may need to win just to keep up with Calgary.

BC may be getting more receivers back like Bryan Burnham and Lucky Whitehead and if the rumors of the return of Nathan Rourke are true in the next couple of weeks, the western semi-final will be a classic.

BC wins this one 24-14 because I suspect Winnipeg wants to play BC in the western final feeling the Lions are less capable of handling the cold in Winnipeg than Calgary, so if BC wins second place, Calgary will have to go to BC and deal with a hyped crowd and team.

Maybe at that time the Riders may be announcing their search for a new CEO, GM and head coach.

by Greg Urbanoski

Cha…cha…cha…Changes Coming for Riders

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