Six and Four!
A few weeks ago when the Montreal Alouettes beat a struggling Roughriders team everyone was ready to throw McAdoo and Jones to the wolves but suddenly in week 12 of the CFL pitch fork and torch sales have plummeted in the wheat province. We find our Saskatchewan Roughriders on a three game winning streak with the last win coming on another Labour Day Classic against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers which moves them into second place in the western conference after the Edmonton Eskimos fell to the first place Calgary Stampeders. How sweet it is!
Chris Jones is now three-for-three wearing the green "Diversity is Strength" tee shirt. When asked about it in a media scrum last week he said wearing it had been mandated by the players after an apparent vote was taken. He said it gets put in his locker and he puts it on. It would appear to me that our Saskatchewan spirit has permeated to Chris Jones black shirt wearing core. I've always been a Jones supporter and as hard as some of his decisions have been to accept I have been so happy that we have someone in place to make them. I've never been concerned with what his wardrobe was because in spite of my own superstitions I've been told what I wear has no bearings on whether the Riders win or lose. And yet...here we are, while Jones has been wearing green I am three-for-three wearing my Giant Tiger Rider shirt, denim capris, green shoes, Hillberg & Berk earrings, The Balm eye shadow and the most important - 306 Chad Owens signed hat. The combo seems to be working and I'll be sporting the look until our next loss which hopefully is not in the Labour Day rematch aka the Banjo Bowl.
While my Riders are sporting this record which moves them higher in the standings I'm not planning any parades yet. What I know is that this Riders team has an amazing defence. Charleston Hughes who was the best pick up of the off season has 13 sacks. If he's not chasing down quarterbacks then Willie Jefferson is and if he's not then you've got the likes of Tobi Antigha, Sam Eguaven, Matt Elam, Nick Marshall and Ed Gainey to contend with just to name a few. In the LDC, the defence wasn't putting out their best performance and yet were able to get pressures and cause enough issues for the Blue Bomber offence to knock them off their game plan. Special Teams are really putting together some special performances. Christion Jones banged up? No problem we'll just have Kyran Moore in only his second CFL appearance run back a punt for a touchdown. The offence is the part of the three phases that can cause some concern. On Sunday the offence did just enough to win. We all know offense wins hearts and I feel like we are just begging to see some razzle dazzle or explosive plays. The Zach Collaros led offence shows flashes of that brilliance and I feel like they are so close to finding that groove. We didn't know who Jordan Williams-Lambert was coming out of camp. We do now! Naaman Roosevelt continues to play with incredible heart, mind and body. We aren't missing Duron Carter at all, but that's a whole other subject.
Two weeks ago Matt Nichols was upset that Blue Bomber fans were booing at the end of their game against the Ottawa Redblacks. Nichols had been shaken up and for some unknown reason was allowed back into the game. The crowd not liking the coaching decision boo'd the coaching staff but Matt took it to heart and spoke out about it in the media. The following week in the Bomber loss to Calgary he seemingly threw his receivers under the bus by saying he couldn't find any open receivers. Matt, I know you seem to be an emotional player as most football players are but for the love of meatloaf stop talking to the media. Your team needs leadership. Even though Mike O'Shea has said he * thinks * Nichols is his quarterback there's already murmurs to put in Streveler and you can bet those shouts will only get louder in the Banjo Bowl if the fans don't see that Nichols is getting the job done. Just imagine if Darian Durant had been their back up. He's not and I'm sure he's enjoying his family and retirement to the fullest thanks to the Bombers signing bonus.
I think it's also an interesting theory that the Blue Bombers were winning when they were using trick plays to get the job done. When they moved away from the tricks they started losing. Was it that they showed their cards too early in the season? Was it that other teams are now expecting them to try trick plays, are anticipating them and shutting them down? Is it that they decided they had to be able to learn to play fundamentally sound football instead of resorting to those style of plays?
Saturday the Roughriders are at Investors Group Field where the fans are apparently the loudest in the CFL. I can see the Bomber fans being restless and if they find their team faltering in any way they likely won't be as loud or even still sticking around the stadium to see the end of the game. I know I'm sounding pretty sure of myself but trust me I'm not drinking the green Kool-Aid. I know how hard it is to play the same team back to back and come out victorious however the Roughriders were able to pull it off against the Hamilton Tigercats. They can use that experience to gut it out and get their seventh win of the 2018 season. This Roughriders team is learning to play with confidence and play the full 60 minutes of every game. They are believing in each other and that leads me to BEL13VE in them too.
