By Greg Urbanoski

Riderville

The Best is Yet to Come

Jul 2, 2024 | 9:59 AM

“The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the position of Pattison Media and this site.”

It was a pretty goodbye week for the Saskatchewan Roughriders until Sunday morning rolled around.

unday was the first day of practice for the team following its bye week break after a 36-20 win over the Hamilton Tiger- Cats. The game featured starting Rider quarterback Trevor Harris leaving with a lower leg injury in the first half, returning in the second half but only to the sideline as Shea Patterson took the reins the rest of the way.

Patterson, who won the back up job from Mason Fine did not lose the game for the Riders, although a couple of ill-advised passes that should have been intercepted argued otherwise. What he did leave behind was the image of someone who seemed nervous behind the line of scrimmage, forcing the ball a couple of times to receivers. I’m not sure too much could be read into the performance considering he had minimal work with the starters, but the news Sunday morning that Patterson would take over from Harris while Harris went on the six-game list for a slight MCL strain send a shiver down the spine of Rider fans. I was taking in practice Sunday morning and Harris was wearing a leg brace, moving with a minimal limp.

Rider coach Cory Mace said the move was precautionary and with Mace’s former team, the Toronto Argonauts coming in following a loss to Montreal, the gauntlet was set down in front of the team. The Riders signed former Winnipeg back up Eric Barriere who played against the Riders in the exhibition season opener and promptly threw two interceptions. Barriere though comes from the CFL quarterback factory of Eastern Washington State and the state of Winnipeg’s quarterbacking and potential rib injury to Zach Collaros has me thinking this move was made to cut a rival away from a potential quarterback fix while the Bombers struggle at 0-4.

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The Riders are 3-0 with the Argos coming in after a loss to Montreal, which begs the question of how the Riders will overcome the adversity of losing their starting quarterback. It was fascinating to see offensive coordinator Marc Mueller let fly with a few choice words about the performance of the performance during the scrimmage which tells me the Riders under Mace are not going to use Harris’ absence as an excuse. The Riders will go with a short passing and running game to get some traction going for Patterson against the Argos.

Montreal beat Toronto with astute play calling and a suffocating defence and the Riders will have to use ball control as a means of wearing down the Argos defence and use the Riders defence as a means of shaking the ball away from the Argos. Patterson is a quarterback who played about as well as could be expected against Hamilton and this week must bring his game up to a new level. He won’ be asked to win the game on his own, but I think Mueller will not mollycoddle Patterson with a play package that does not stretch the field.

Mueller and Rider Nation will want to see how Patterson responds with starting reps and I would think the Riders will bring in Frankie Hickson at running back to provide a contrast with AJ Ouellette. If Ouellette is the thunder in the Rider offence, Hickson has the speed to provide a contrast and keep the Toronto defence guessing and not so inclined to focus exclusively on Ouellette. Mace has faces and overcome challenges as head coach and this one early in the season will be a major one. The Rider defence can hang with the Toronto offence, but can the Rider offence do the same?

This is a game the Argos can use to rebound after their loss to Montreal but keep this in mind. When western teams travel east, it is usually wise to bet on the home team. The same goes when eastern teams travel west. The Argos are on a short week and the Riders are coming off a bye. I suspect the Riders used their bye week to help Patterson get caught up with the playbook and figure out which plays work best for him. Last year the Riders put up a token offensive effort before they cratered after Labour Day. Based on the tirade Mueller unleashed on his offence, he is not going to be happy with moral victories.

The Riders play BC, Winnipeg, and Montreal during their stretch with Toronto kicking things off. The Riders must lose sometime, but I suspect that comes next week. Riders 32-25 over Toronto. Winnipeg has dropped to 0-4 and Bomber fans have been good enough not to share their thoughts with the rest of the league. The Bombers dropped a 22-19 walk off loss to Calgary in overtime and had to replace Zach Collaros with Chris Streveler who proved yet again he is just a one trick pony when it comes to being a quarterback who just runs

The Bomber game was fortunate to go into overtime considering the worst zone defence ever attempted by a Calgary defence trying to keep the Bombers out of the end zone. The fact Streveler threw the first passing touchdown for the Bombers is a stark reminder of how the Bombers injuries and the way they structure contracts has led to their present predicament. The Bombers give huge bonuses while keeping the rest of the salaries at a minimal level.

The problem is when you must replace people for injury, they can only use the salary amount paid, not the bonus, so finding minimum wage receivers is not as easy as it seems. The Bombers could easily be 2-2 but between receiver injuries and gaps yet to be filled on their offensive line, have yet to find any real consistency.

The Bombers look like they are relying on muscle memory to beat opponents, while not really renewing and developing inexperienced players to step in for those who may be slowing down. The Bombers this week host Ottawa who beat them in Ottawa and are coming off a walk off win against Hamilton. Ottawa looks to be competitive with teams of equal talent and coaching, but while this should be a competitive game, the law of average suggests that while I would love the Bombers to go to 0-5, Ottawa does not have the talent or consistency to sweep the Bombers. Winnipeg 24, Ottawa 23.

Montreal came out of its 30-20 win over Toronto with sole possession of first place in the east and arguably the title of best team in the CFL at this point. Montreal has created a good defence that makes it nearly impossible to play catch up with and Cody Fajardo is taking some hits but is moving the Montreal offence by playing within himself and not forcing his throws as he did in Saskatchewan. Calgary is coming off a mercy win over Winnipeg in overtim that should have happened if Calgary knew how to play zone defence.

They play within in their limits but looking at the Stamps receiving corps, they don’t have the speedsters that would keep the Montreal defensive backfield playing honest. The game is in Montreal so again, go with the home team in an east-west game and Montreal should get out to a healthy lead and hang on to beat Calgary 27-20. Finally have BC going to Hamilton and BC is going to have to find some way from keeping games close. BC hung on to beat Edmonton 24-21, and this week plays another star-crossed team in Hamilton who dropped a game to Ottawa on a walk off field goal.

Edmonton could be suffering from psychological issues and Hamilton is cursed by stupid coaching moves. Hamilton is not known in recent years forgetting off to good starts, but the longer they fail to stay with the other team in the east, the more they fall out of playoff contention.

BC does just enough to win, something that will bite them in the as before the season is over.

They will continue that trend against Hamilton as BC wins 27-24