Murray Wood: Who's hot... and who's not
Every Friday, Murray Wood takes a look at the week's news and decides who's hot, and who's not. This week's list include...
Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach Corey Mace quipped “bounce back or bounce backward” for the two options facing the Roughriders ahead of its game against the Ottawa Redblacks.
Wouldn’t you know, the Roughriders found a way to do neither.
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They bounced … no where.
They stayed put.
Stuck on neutral.
For every great point in the game where you could say they bounced forward, there is a point to which they bounced right back to where they started.
As evidenced from the first possession. A TOUCHDOWN?!
Did you know you’re allowed to score a touchdown on your first possession in the Canadian Football League?
It’s been a while for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who last scored a touchdown on their first possession two months ago against the Montreal Alouettes.
The much maligned offence, criticized for their slow starts, finally looked crisp on an opening drive.
A positive! Some forward momentum early.
Well, the Riders then went 38 minutes without scoring an offensive point.
“Self inflicted wounds,” was the go to line from the leader of the offence, Trevor Harris, after the game and he’s absolutely correct.
The Riders should have been able to put up 30 on Ottawa and not give TSN a thought of mentioning a “Crumback” when Dustin Crum stepped on the field for the Redblacks late in the game.
Instead, there was a dropped pass.
Then there was a missed block.
Then there was a bad throw.
Then there was a miscommunication.
Then there was a fumble when the Riders were within five yards of putting the game on ice.
Then, after being in control at 20-3, it was all of a sudden 20-13 and the Riders were starting to sweat.
The most frustrating out of all of this conjecture around the offensive struggles of late, is that they’re talented!
This isn’t a team who is cobbling together whoever they can find to play and hoping for the best.
The Roughriders have a quarterback, who has 5,000-yard potential. The Riders running back A.J. Ouellette is over 1,000-yards rushing. Dohnte Meyers and Keesean Johnson have both eclipsed 1,000-yards this season with Samuel Emilus, who is coming off of back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. And Kian Schaffer-Baker has returned to the lineup, who if he can ever stay healthy definitely has 1,000-yard potential.
The Roughriders are not an offence who should be sputtering along and turning Coach Mace, offensive coordinator Marc Mueller and quarterback Trevor Harris’ hair even more grey than it already is.
The reason me and other pundits and most fans are so critical of this offence is because THEY’RE BETTER THAN THIS!
And they know it too.
While some want to write this season off and believe the Roughriders fate is doomed once the playoffs roll around, I’m not with them.
The Roughriders defence played extremely well against Ottawa, with a trio of interceptions and completely limiting the big plays that have plagued the Riders over the last few weeks.
There is still time, though running short, to find that spark again on the offensive side of the ball.
Because if it clicks, like it was earlier in the season, start booking your flights and hotel to Winnipeg for Grey Cup week.
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