It would be tempting to simply pass on any comment on yesterday's trouncing at the hands of the Blue Bombers. (And I'll do just that when it comes to special teams.) But this may instead make for an important decision point for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in figuring out their best course of action for the rest of the season - so I'll toss in my two cents' worth on what we've learned in recent weeks.
At the beginning of 2010, the 'Riders looked to be putting together a match for the Alouettes' successful strategy of the past few seasons: an offensively-oriented team with a skilled quarterback throwing to a deep receiving corps, with an opportunistic defence ready to punish opponents for trying to match that quick-strike capability and no glaring weaknesses to be exploited. And early on, that combination seemed to work just fine.
But in recent weeks, the 'Riders' offence has seen a serious downturn. Even putting aside yesterday's putrid performance, the team's ground game has evaporated over the last month, allowing defences to focus on attacking Darian Durant and put a serious dent in the passing game. And with the biggest weakness looking to be an offensive line that seems helpless against aggressive defences, there's little prospect of matters improving based on outside player additions.
So if the 'Riders can't count on their offence to carry them, what's the next best option?
Fortunately, the team should have an ideal blueprint: after all, it was just three years ago that Saskatchewan won the Grey Cup primarily on the strength of a turnover-happy defence, paired with a ball-control offence that relied on a quarterback's running ability to keep the chains moving when all else failed. And the 'Riders' personnel would seem to be ideally suited to a similar philosophy with just a couple of changes on each side of the ball.
On offence, the major change would be a far more concerted effort to get Darian Durant running rather than dropping back on the vast majority of plays. Granted, there's bound to be some concern about his absorbing more physical punishment that way. But he's been taking far too many hits as it is with the pocket regularly collapsing around him - and it may take some more regular quarterback runs to get defensive lineman back on their heels to reduce the damage.
Meanwhile, the big change on defence would be even more focus on taking advantage of turnover opportunities.
On that point, I'll note that the talk about "turnovers called back due to penalty" in yesterday's game somewhat misses the cause and effect involved. After all, at least two of the turnovers (James Patrick's first interception and Brent Hawkins' forced fumble) wouldn't have happened if the penalties hadn't been committed.
But there were plenty of other opportunities to turn the tables on Winnipeg's offence, including a near-pick by Mike McCullough and a number of runs which were extended as the 'Riders tried unsuccessfully to strip the ball. And if the 'Riders are going to have to settle for a less potent offence than planned, then the defence may need to dial its aggressiveness up a notch further in order to serve as the team's dominant unit.
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