It was not beautiful, but at the end of the day, they do not ask how you earn. Well, I guess we do… Still, a win is a win as the Riders improved to 2-0 thanks to a 26-16 win over the Edmonton Elks. There is not much else to say about this as a whole, so here is the good, the bad and the stupid of the Riders’ second game of the season. The good Although the Riders’ attack did not ignite the crowd or take over the game late last week against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, they came out of the unit well enough to cross many toes – more on that in a moment. What was extremely promising for the Green and Whites was the sudden appearance of the run game. Jamal Morrow, who is running backwards, had his party with the Elks, who rushed for 126 yards individually as the Riders built 186 yards on the ground as a team. Last week, the Riders ran for just 76 yards, but 42 of them came from General Cody Fajardo, the team’s top rider in the game. While running is definitely a part of Fajardo’s game, it is never great when he is the team horse. Obviously, that changed for the Elks. Chris Jones’s unit struggled to keep up with the running, and for the most part, attack coordinator Jason Maas — who is not always happy — got stuck with it. For this, he deserves praise. The Riders were so dedicated to running tonight that they went to the old school and that warmed the heart of this beloved writer. Late in the second quarter, Maas gave a package to double backs James Tuck and Albert Awaki and brought back the power or super I. This led to the first big Riders game. This is the type of fullback related content that will make you turn off your laptop when someone else enters the room… James Tuck and Albert Awachie open the way as the Riders take the lead again. # CFL #Riders # BEL13VE #BringIt #FullbacksArePeopleToo pic.twitter.com/nSZ7NmB8Je – 3DownNation (@ 3DownNation) June 19, 2022 Do you like to see it? The bad While the Riders took the win and will take it, there is definitely a lot to work on. Saturday night was basically a master class on how to keep a team that needs to win the game and give it hope all the time. A turnover led to a touchdown of the Elks and the flags fluttered all night. Too many times Riders take penalties in bad times, killing many promising drives. Eventually they got away with it, but against a better opponent, it would not be nice. In total, the Riders were labeled nine times for 85 yards. Many of them were of the variety of misconduct, including a pair of linebacker Derrick Moncrief who led to his dismissal. This is not a new problem for riders. Last year discipline was also an issue for the team. Last week against Hamilton, the team seemed to be in control, but not anymore. Coach Craig Dickenson has to get tough on his team before he gets out of control, as he sometimes did in 2021. Were some of the calls bad? Yes, because – as I have said many times before – Al Bradbury is the referee you think Andre Proulx is. However, especially in the case of misconduct calls, whether you like the rule or not – I do not – players need to know and act accordingly. Otherwise, he could come back to haunt you at the wrong time. The dumb There weren’t really some fun, silly things going on in this game, but there was one really silly thing that just needs to stop. This is an open letter to the CFL on TSN. Enough with the in-game interviews already. Yes, we all want to hear from the president of the Elks, Victor Cui, during the first game of the team, without a doubt. He has done a wonderful job during the first months of his career. It’s a great story to tell and it needs a bigger platform, as I think it could be a factor of change throughout the league. However, we do not need him at the booth for a third of a quarter. Let the game be the game. I do not know anyone who enjoys these long, seemingly endless interviews in the game. The Hall of Fame game earlier in the day included a series of smaller interviews that did not interrupt the flow of the game and so badly. The big one that happened during the game contained Henry Burris, who could probably be a good color parser, so he was not that bad. Every time these interviews take place, something big tends to happen on the pitch. In this case, it was an incredible interception by Moncrief. A moment that lost some of its magic because of the interview that was going on. Do these interviews at halftime or any other time that is not the game. Please. I am begging you.
