Edmonton ran for only 29 yards against Saskatchewan and that doesn't get it done offensively in the new CFL.We're an undefeated 5-0 team but we look like a Lions team that has been mauled ourselves. Dickenson is out, Buck is fighting turf toe, a sore hand, and bruised ribs that needed to be given the needle at half time against Saskatchewan, Marsh is out, Simmons is out, Clovis, Washington, and Banks were all hurt in Saskatchewan and their status is unknown, and Otis is still day to day!
The Riders will see a wounded lion lair and will be trying for the kill! However, nothing is more dangerous than a wounded Lion! Let's have a closer look!
DEFENSE
In order to stop the Riders we have to stop their running attack, just like we stopped Reynolds. Calgary was brain dead to trade Cates to Saskatchewan. He was a key missing piece to the Riders offence that is going to make them much tougher to defend...he can run and he can catch the football and he has breakaway speed.
Saskatchewan ran the football against Edmonton for 155 yards passing while only throwing for 183 yards. It's the new way to go..a balanced offence! In order for defenses to shut down opposition offences they have to unbalance it. Stopping the run and not allowing Joseph to scramble, is the way to beat the Riders. We also need to have something special for Dominguez...he's a big, strong, receiver and neither Glover or Mitchell will be able to handle him without help!
Jamal Johnson could be a key to this game. Johnson had a great game, with 7 tackles against Calgary and when forced to go wide to cover a receiver he did a hell of a job. My favorite defensive Leos player is starting to emerge and if Otis still can't go he will need to spy Joseph at times. This is going to be the toughest game for our defense to date and our injury situation doesn't help.
LFITQ made an astute observation about our Leos front four in the fourth quarter against Calgary. Our defense was on the field a lot and our front four was getting tired. We need to get back to more of a rotation and get Foley into the game along with Kirk at times to keep them fresh.
OFFENCE
Who would have ever thought, only a short time ago, that our offence would become a unit in which our rushing exceeds our passing. It happened again against Calgary. We ran the football for 176 yards, with Joe Smith picking up 112 of them, including a big touchdown scamper. We finally used the two back set of Lyle Green at fullback and Smith at tailback and it worked impressively. We even handed the football twice to Green to keep the defense honest. Lionbackers finally got their wish and it worked wonders. This game, hopefully, we'll see both versions of the two back set with Smith/Smart and Green/Smith.
Against the Riders we have to run at Fred Perry and Kitwana Jones, their defensive ends. They are lightning fast and that creates a problem for our big offensive tackles. However, we can pound them because they are light defensive ends, built for speed. We also need a screen series, preferablly out of the two back set, hitting Green and even Smith for quick screens. It's another key way to hurt defensive ends who get upfield fast.
We need to start Jarious against Saskatchewan. That won't be easy, since Jarious has had the least game reps by far, of any of our three quarterbacks who started the season with us. However, he's our only healthy quarterback with any experience. Pierce's turf toe injury concerns me the most, over his bruised ribs and sore hand, which will heal. We know what happened to Printers in 2004, having his turf toe shot up before each game and the damage it caused, requiring surgery. What most people don't know is that 50% of all turf toe injuries are not completely healed after 5 years....it's a very miserble, painful injury, with ligament damage, and some healing time would help Buck. He could be the backup for the game.
We're depleted at quaterback, lucky we didn't trade Jarious, and may even need the "Italian Stallion" before Thursday is over. We only passed for 118 yards against Calgary and it's becoming more obvious that the problem is our quarterbacks not having confidence in their reads. It was said we couldn't pass to Simon because he was covered...wrong...and that was proven against Calgary.
Our quarterbacks are just plain missing open receivers...Buck deep and Jarious short! Dickenson really only played one and a half games, Buck has had a good numer of game reps now and Jarious has seen some action. The more we look at it the more the problem is evident. Our quarterbacks have not executed the passing game well this season. It's quite simply making their reads, finding the open reciever, and delivering the football. We have receivers open on every play!
Saskatchewan will stack our run unless we can execute in the passing game more effectively.
SPECIAL TEAMS
LFITQ said our special teams have been under the radar this season. He's right. Our downfield coverage has been outstanding. Jamal Johnson is tied for most special team tackles in the league with 11. McCallum has been on the money in his field goal kicking. Smart runs hard and gets good yardage on punt returns and always looks dangerous. McCallum, not known as a great punter before coming to our Leos, continues to impress with both his yardage and accuracy, pinning teams down! We've blocked two punts and Wake added a field goal block against Calgary!
WRAP
We'll need all three units to play well to beat the Riders. Players will really have to step up! This is going to be a tough game and a war! Win and we have a very big lead in the standings. Lose and the Riders will only be one game back. The obstacles are there, we're wounded, but hopefully we'll be even more dangerous!
