Thanks to the bye week, there isn't much to talk about by way of news about the Saskatchewan Roughriders. And indeed even off the field the times have been fairly quiet, as the big story a week ago (the possibility of signing Reggie Hunt to patch up the team's linebacker corps in the wake of injuries to Rey Williams and Kye Stewart) remains a matter of speculation at best. But the lack of an immediate game to dissect should also present an opportunity to look at the season as a whole - so let's compare where the 'Riders are now to where one might have expected them to be.
The obvious good news for the 'Riders this season has been the defence - despite a surprisingly high number of points against (worst in the league at 256).
At its best, Gary Etcheverry's line has been a turnover machine which has made virtually every quarterback other than Anthony Calvillo look unusually uncomfortable in the pocket - and even at worst it's generated regular pressure while keeping most offences from putting games out of reach. With the exception of some issues in wrapping up running backs, there's been little dropoff in the linebacking corps despite the loss of Mo Lloyd and Anton McKenzie. And the secondary has managed to become more opportunistic than it was under Richie Hall without sacrificing its coverage on opposing receivers.
About the only question going into the second half of the season is then whether or not the front seven in particular can stay healthy - and if not, whether any injured players can be replaced without too much of a drop in production. For now, the 'Riders have managed to get solid efforts out of backups on the defensive line (and thankfully so in light of Scott Schultz' retirement) and the linebacking corps. But it's not hard to see how another key loss or two could be the breaking point, and that could be a problem particularly given John Chick's history of injuries.
On offence, while the story has changed from week to week, the results are actually best described as remarkably steady. Darien Durant ranks a solid fourth or fifth among CFL starters in nearly every key passing category including completions, yards, touchdowns and QB rating, while posting a decent but unspectacular TD-to-interception ratio of 11 to 11. Likewise the 'Riders rush offence ranks fourth in the CFL, though with a bit more variation in the players involved than some teams (as due to Wes Cates' early absence no single 'Rider ranks higher than eighth). And not surprisingly, the combination of average passing and average rushing has led to an average point total, as the 'Riders sit fourth in the league there as well.
The good news is that there's some obvious room for improvement in the second half. With any luck the offensive line should be healthier and more experienced - and it looks like Andy Fantuz will soon rejoin a group of receivers that has been surprisingly effective in his absence. And most importantly, the extra experience which Durant has picked up over the first half of 2009 should help prepare him to move from solid to upper-echelon down the stretch.
Of course, the reason the 'Riders have managed to struggle at teams even with the offence and defence generally doing relatively well has been the special teams. But rather than hammering the same point that seems to be dominating discussion about the team, I'll take a moment to point out that some key parts of that unit have been reasonably solid, as the kicking numbers of Jamie Boreham and Luca Congi aren't all that far off from past seasons. The issue has instead been with the return and coverage teams (where to my surprise it's actually the punt return coverage team which ranks as worst in the league by a wide margin, while the rest have been merely below average) - which means that a fix requires more than just putting somebody new in the returning roles.
Which may make for the general theme for the 'Riders: there doesn't figure to be much room for improvement based on trying to sub in new personnel for what the team has. Instead, the key is to get back to health at a few positions, and to continue to developing the talent on the roster where it hasn't yet come together. And while the team still looks more like an average CFL unit than a top contender, there's plenty of reason for hope that it has enough potential to emerge from the pack over the rest of 2009 and beyond.
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