Brendan McGuire's blog

I've never been sold on Jarious Jackson as a quarterback and last night's big Roughrider win only added to my inability to believe he's as good a QB as the Lions would like to have every-one else believe. Take nothing away from an outstanding Rider pass-rush which executed blitz after blitz after blitz to perfection, knocking action Jackson onto his behind time and time again. Credit Richie Hall and coach Austin for recognizing the inexperience of Jackson and game-planning to blitz the hell of the B.C. quarterback, forcing him into making poor decisions with the football.

As hard as I searched my T.V. screen on Friday, I couldn't find Danny Barrett roaming the Commonwealth Stadium sidelines. Hadn't we concluded this team's penchant of squandering perfect chances to break away from .500 football were all his fault?

Kerry Joseph's ability to bounce back from what was admittedly his worst CFL game ever, will dictate his hold on the starter's job at quarterback. Kent Austin made it clear over the offseason that nothing would be given to Kerry just because of their past Ottawa relationship and to date, coach Kent has been true to his word. Joseph's sluggish start to the B.C. game earned K.J. a nice warm spot on the bench(as it should have).

It's been said every team in competition takes on the same identity of it's leader. The same can be said for real-life combat and just about any sport, especially football. It's a connection fans in this great province have become all too familiar with. Take Danny Barrett for example(hear me out on this one because I know we've beaten this one up a thousand times already). An 11-year CFL quarterbacking career took Danny through 4 different cities including stops in Toronto, Calgary, B.C. and Ottawa.

Tonight's game is a perfect situation for coach Kent in terms of his honeymoon with the Rider nation. In the worst-case scenario, the Riders go into Montreal and get slaughtered. So what?

I don't usually get all that excited about the Riders annual plaza of honour inductions. Normally there's one or 2 players I remember and a couple more I've never even heard of. But visiting with Vic Stevenson was a treat. A guy who spent most of his very strong career right here on the prairies. A transplanted British Columbian who came through Calgary and parked his family in Regina. The first 5 years of his career were mired in the team's decade long playoff drought.

Despite some who've suggested otherwise, I am NOT in favour of Marcus Crandell starting ahead of Kerry Joseph. In fact, quite the opposite. I applaud Kent Austin's efforts during training camp to create competition. In a day and age when so many other coaches throw us the corney cliches "Every job is wide open", or "no-one on this roster is safe", coach Kent actually means it which is more than I can say for some of his colleagues. Pinball Clemons said his quarterbacking position in Toronto was wide open at the start of camp.

It's not just the rookies who are on thin ice going into tonight's game in Vancouver. Here are a few of the vets who need to perform in the preseason in order to avoid being thrown overboard:

We spent a year and half dissecting and analyzing the Calgary curse on the Rider nation after Henry Burris became the latest Saskatchewanian to migrate west for greener pastures. It's occurred to me that last Novembers West Semi-final win has not only ended the Calgary curse,...but has truly reversed it. Let's recap what's transpired since that fateful November evening in McMahon Stadium:

1) Former Roughrider Hank finally loses to the green and white in front of the Alberta part of Rider nation

I've said all along not to expect hardly any rookies to make this year's starting roster, other than in the defensive secondary. Lance Frazier should hardly be classified as a rookie, especially since he's already started 8 games in NFL, but also the way he's been performing early in training camp. Frazier was an interception machine on day 2 and has quickly become a fan favorite for the hundreds who've been watching camp at Mosaic Stadium.