Another black mark for CFL officials courtesy of Andre Proulx. The TSN crew maybe summed it up the best when Jock Climie said "I'm afraid the league will fine me if I say what I want to". It was another purely laughable call by Proulx and his mates as they stole a win away from the Eskimos. However, one must look at the tremendous amount of positives put up by this Rider football team. Where do I start...
1) The never quit attitude. After a 3rd quarter in which they gained a measly 4 yards in total offence, Marcus Crandell and the offence just kept plugging away until things got back on track and did they ever in the 4th quarter. They came back from a 13 point deficit at the start of the game and a 15 point deficit in the 2nd half. They found a way to win when maybe they didn't deserve to. That's the mark of a championship team.
2)Play of the backups. Kent Austin has preached that if backups were to get in, he expects them to play and make a contribution and that was the case tonight. How about the efforts of Henri Childs, Michael Palmer and Anton McKenzie. Their efforts must be applauded. Speaking of applause, I could not be happier for Neal Hughes. FINALLY after four years in the league, Hughes got his first career touchdown. Its long overdue and its much deserved by someone who has given a lot over his time here and could show so much more if given an opportunity over an extended period of time. Congrats Neal!!!!
3) T-J Stancil gets the award for hardest hit of the year. It was like Jackie Mitchell's hit on Dave Dickenson last year. It was one of those where you just scream as you see it. They can replay that over and over and over again.
The story will be what happened at the end of regulation and with good reason but the story should be another strong performance by the Riders and another outstanding job of coaching by 2007 Coach of the Year Kent Austin. (Sorry Kent...but deep down you know that is the case!!).
By the way, I wonder how much the Eskimos will get fined for criticizing the officiating!!!!
RE: Holding
Well, I guess this proves that Andre Proulx does not have a grudge against the Riders. He's just an incompetent referee. Go Riders!
Holding
As Glen Suitor said, the player is allowed to "punch out" but he has to let go of the end after the punch. On the replay you can see that he in fact punches out but then wraps his arm around Kornegay's neck and holds him back. You can also see it because when Kornegay comes around the edge and tries to dive to block the kick, he only goes about 2 yards. Although that penalty is rarely called, in this situation i belive it was the correct call.
holding
From the angle I was watching there is no WAY I would have called holding. However, the official was on the other side. When Maurer put his arm up he could have had a big handful of jersey and was pulling the guy down? The official sure looked sure in where he was looking and when he pulled the flag.
I would LOVE to be able to give the benefit of the doubt to the official...however with it being Proulx I just can not.
As much of a Eskimo hater I am...I feel for Fleming.
That all being said...with the Riders not playing so many non-starters, the Eskies should have finished us off so many times over. They do not deserve any more chance at making the playoffs.
And once again you are wrong
And once again you are wrong although that call is not made often that was holding end of story. Mabe you should stick to the NFL Blairboy
Holding? Hard to say.
I watched the play over and over, and I can not say if it was holding or not. TSN showed the play from only one angle and that was from the riders backs. Proux had a view from the front. I wish we could have seen the view from the other side of the field. Maybe Proux saw something we didn't, we will never know!
Ugly, but we found a way to
Ugly, but we found a way to win, and fact alone is big.
Other big pluses from that game:
-Michael Palmer can play. Someone kidnap useless Yo and hide him until the playoffs are over so Tillman can’t order Kent to play him ahead of Palmer.
-Flick has grown some heart. Earlier in the year there was a pass over the middle that Flick pull up and stopped on rather than taking the hit. Today he had a similar play but he went for the ball, made the catch, and took a big hit, so that was a huge play in a couple of different ways.
-Did Mackenzie really have 10 tackles? If we lose Hunt to BC next year we’ve got a great looking prospect to fill his place anyway.
Some minuses:
-Our second string secondary got beaten for a lot of yardage by a backup QB. Lefors is going to be a good QB some day, but Kornegay, Frazier and Jo. Johnson did not push any of our starters with their performances tonight. Luckily, as far as I know, Justin, Robinson and James Johnson should be back for the playoffs.
-Palmer stepped up, but Hill was nowhere to be found, and Washington alternated between good plays and bad plays, and Marshall has been here for some time now but isn’t even getting any playing time. It’s great that we’ve found some good depth in Palmer, and apparently it was Kent who said we should bring him in, but our import prospects look to be very weak indeed.
A Little More Positive
G'day SRF,
I finally caught hold of the thread from the other day and hesitated on commenting on your criticizing of Tillman...but in the end curiousity led me to this post. Why do you have it in so bad for Eric and Yo?
Yo and Kerry looked great in training camp and he provided a spark last year...I know he is old..but he produces and has chemistry with Kerry from the Renegades dynasty :)
You know lots so I'm not discrediting your opinions but you seem pretty harsh. Tillman may not have brought in any FA camp talent, but he has greatly augmented Roy's pickups and built us into a contender. Yo is a guy that if not bitten by the injury bug would have been a big performer for us. Of course since it never happened I'm just speculating, but watching him last year and in training camp (just a few practises I took in) he was making grabs..settling in zones and looked to be a reliable target.
Essentially we traded Armstead for Wayne Smith, DJ Flick, Corey Holmes, and Chris Getzlaf.....to me this shows that Tillman is pretty good on that front. Getzlaf is going to be a dandy...and the others..well they are all starters so what Eric has done speaks for itself.
I also saw your logic on the Cates trade..to me that was a win-win..not a slam dunk for us...sure maybe Eric could have found a guy like Cates by touring the U.S...but with Parenteau, St. Germain (if he is still around), and Chris Best we have enough Canadian talent to let Lazeo go. If trades make us BETTER..then why complain?
I know we are all in this together..but I also follow the transactions pretty close and think Eric has done damn good in getting us out of Roy's salary cap hell.
Dustin in Regina
Hunt
Since when is there talk of the Reaper going to BC, makes sense but has anything been said about it?
Only a rumour. I believe
Only a rumour. I believe that he’s playing out his option this year, and he’s been a little quieter both on and off the field this year. He’s also said that he’d like to play with his brother, so I’m thinking that it’s a possibility that we could lose him to BC. He also has a big contract and we’re going to need some money for KJ too, who we talked out of $125,000 this past off season and who is now making less than half of what the top QBs in the league are making. There are other places we could get the money, though, so that alone doesn’t mean that he has to go. Also, the fact that we kept Mackenzie and Jones and some other LB prospects all season suggests to me that we're at least planning for the possibility of him leaving.
they shouldn't complain
they shouldn't complain about the refs... they had the option to try another kick from 5 yards back, right? Or perhaps they could have attempted to kick it thru the end zone for a single.
From Mitch
10 yds back which would have made it a 57 yard FG
re:from mitch
that 57 yard attempt would have also been against the wind making it tough for even a single...
Why not try it?
I understand it would have been 57 yards against the wind. But why wouldn't you take a shot at getting a single out of it. It was the last play of the game. Give your kicker the chance to go out a hero. The fourth quarter showed the Riders had all the mo. Why would you give them OT without at least taking a shot at ending it? I think I would have tried for the single...but I am no Danny Machocia.:)
For Sure.
The odds of making the fieldgoal were very slim @ best, but when your season, (maybe), rests on getting one more point, why not give it a try.
Hell, if they didn't get a point, it was going into overtime anyway.
Bad Call, on Danny M's part.
He will probably be fired as head coach after the season is over anyway.
What's this I here re-naming him there G.M. ???? The guys doing the game on the Radio mentioned same.
CAN'T SEE IT HAPPENING.
Think so ????
dude, if it was a 57 yard
dude, if it was a 57 yard field goal attempt, that would make it a 77 yard single. against the wind. on natural grass. in late october . . . impossible.
Maciocia is still a knob regardless.
Fighting for a Spot.
I was sreally surprided that they didn't at least try for a single point, after all they were fighting for a "PLAYOFF SPOT".
Sure it was a long shot, but it was the only shot they had.
I think that Danny M. has only one more game as coach of the Eskimoes.
Since he took over, they have gone down hill badly.
Not that tht "BREAKS MY HEART", by any means.
It's about time that they were on the OUTSIDE LOOKING IN !!!
Bye, Bye, Danny MUN CHA CHA.
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