The Rider Nation is scared of the secondary and whether or not Henry Burris can expose it Sunday afternoon. The leader of that secondary tries to calm the fears somewhat. Here's Eddie Davis.....
Scott Schultz knows how big Sunday's game is but he says they can't get drawn into the hype....
Kent Austin tells the Rider nation to relax and not worry about Wes Cates.
(Wes Cates with his foot taped up last week)
Kent Austin isn't too worried about it yet.
It wasn't supposed to be this way! Chris Szarka broke into the CFL in 1997 as a young fresh-faced rookie fullback whom the great Geoff Currier once described as somebody whose "gonna be a phenominal football player!" Wearing number 32 to start his career, Szarka surrendered the number when Mike Saunders returned to the football team late that season. Chris would switch over to number 33, a label which fans would later consider the trusty 'Szark' who plays each game like it's his last. That young rookie would get to play in a Grey Cup that November to remember and looked like he was a part of something special developing for the Rider nation. Unfortunately we sit a decade later and 'Szark' still hasn't seen a home playoff game. The one chance this grizzled vet may ever get to play in that long dreamed about game, has gone up in smoke. His partially severed fingers will keep him out of Sunday's Rider-Stampeder game. It would be nice to see the Roughriders somehow honour Szarka with a chance to take part in the pregame festivities or somehow get the spotlight on Sunday when fans could salute this longtime warrior. After all, Rider nation knows he's earned it!
(Rider fullback Chris Szarka will watch Sunday's western semi-final from the sidelines)
Do you remember the 1988 Western semi-final. Were you in Taylor Field the day the Lions beat the Riders in what had been the first playoff game in Regina in a number of years. If you were there or even if you weren't, you can now see that 1988 game on ESPN Classic. The network will air the game November 17 at 3 PM Saskatchewan time with a replay November 18 at 3 AM. Hopefully the 2007 game is better than the 88 one if you know what I mean......and I think you do!!!
Eric Tillman is confident that Saturday's performance against the Argos was an aberration and that the real Riders return Sunday in the Western semi-final. He discusses that and whether or not the team has exceeded expectations while visiting with us on the Drew Remenda Sports Show Tuesday night.....
Kent Austin explains his running back situation and why he brought today's practice indoors.
Luca Congi reacts to the CFL taking back his all-star award to give it to Stamps kicker Sandro DeAngelis.
Wanting his players to worry more about practice and less about the weather, Kent Austin moved his team indoors for today's practice. Coach Austin expects a mixture of indoor and outdoor practices leading up to Sunday's west semi-final at Mosaic Stadium. Meanwhile, Chris Szarka's partially severed fingers have not healed up enough to let him play against the Stampeders while Corey Holmes is ready to play. Wes Cates expects to dress although his coach has yet to confirm that. Linebacker Kitwana Jones is a definite no-go.
A 28 point loss on the eve of the playoffs should be of concern.....to the coaches, mostly Kent Austin. Don't panic Rider Nation!! Austin has Grey Cup rings, as a player and as an an offensive coordinator. He has seen first hand what it takes to win. Even though he is a rookie head coach, there is probably no better coach in this league to rally the troops after what he saw Saturday then Austin.
Looking ahead to Sunday, both offenses have the capability to be explosive. Even though the Riders are without Matt Dominguez, D.J. Flick has proven time and time again he can be a big play guy. We all know that Henry Burris has weapons to work with as well with the Stampeders. This game may be won on defense. That's where the Riders have the edge. The Green and White will need to return to the dominant pass rush that they had early in the season when they led the league in sacks. If Henry Burris is forced to do things with the ball, he doesn't want to do, he has been known to give up the untimely interception.
You have waited 19 years for it so what's another 30 minutes. The CFL announcing today that it is changing the start times of both the Eastern and Western semi-final because of Remembrance Day ceremonies. The Montreal-Winnipeg game will start at 1 o'clock Regina time with the Stampeders-Riders game now starting at 4 instead of the scheduled time of 330. The reason for the change is people in Manitoba were upset that the start of the game would disrupt Remembrance Day ceremonies in Winnipeg that start at 11. Fallen troops will be remembered during the game in Winnipeg and the game on Taylor Field.
The Riders are kicking off their 2008 Season Ticket campaign today. Fans who pay the full cost of their season tickets or flex packs before Deember 15th can save up to 28 percent off regular game day prices. For complete details on the season ticket campaign, call the Rider ticket office at 1-888-474-3377 or visit the best Rider related website out there which is www.riderville.com
The CFL announcing Sunday that a mistake was made in tabulating votes for the Western Division all-star team. Earlier in the week, Rider kicker Luca Congi had been announced as the all-star kicker in the West, but after further review the league found that was not correct and that the nomination should have gone to Sandra De Angelis of the Stampeders.
Give credit where credit is due. The Argonauts are a good football club....they didn't win their last seven because they are lucky but they aren't as good as what the Riders made them out to be. A lot of this has to be attributed to the fact the Riders knew where they were going to be next weekend while Toronto was still playing for something. The Riders just didn't have that cohesion offensively right from the get-go and when you are facing the #1 defence in the CFL its tough to get it going. On the other side of the ball, Toronto scored early and just kept pouring it on the way they had to to make sure they would finish first in the East. I'm sure there are some out there who are very worried after seeing that performance today but I can't see a repeat of that on November 11. It was just one of those games where despite what some will say some may have been looking ahead. Doing that against a team that had something to play for equals a bad result. If these two teams play again this season---and they will if Saskatchewan gets to the Grey Cup, the result will be different. The same team might win that won today but it won't be by 28. So to today's game, I say MEHHHHHH!!! It just didn't matter.