The Saskatchewan Roughriders are currently enjoying their bye week in week 4 of the CFL season, albeit with a lot to think about and work on.
The Roughriders offence is underachieving, with no ability to sustain drives–something we have come to expect otherwise from the men in green in recent years. Their defence is struggling to keep up, and considering a team’s defence is usually further ahead early in a football calendar it gives some reason for concern. And then there is the string of turnovers which have gifted their opponents with far too many points on the scoreboards.
Times are tough in Riderville early this sesaon.
Case in point the running back position, which features arguably the best RB in the league last year, yet there is a lot of uncertainty at the position this year. Anthony Allen was on his way to securing the number 1 RB position on the Riders depth chart with a league leading 231 rushing yard after week 2. Doesn’t seem to bad until one factors a problem with a lack of ball security which saw him glued to the bench for week 3.
In week 3 we saw Hugh Charles line-up in the backfield for the Riders against the B.C. Lions. His stats were a competent 83 yards on 12 carries, numbers most teams would take. However a fumble on his 13th carry not to mention a dropped pass in the endzone cost him his job. Charles won’t see another game in green and white.
We still have yet to see anything for Jerome Messam, who in 2011 had a career year. The word from those close to the team is that he is still working hard in practice to regain form, but now with the signing of Will Ford he may be seeing very limited action. Will Ford has good numbers and serious credentials with dual purpose as a return man. The question remains who is going to step up and be the number 1 guy?
The absence of Kory Sheets is really hurting the Riders to the point that they don’t believe in working out the “kinks”. The season is still early and eventually as a coach you have to trust your guys to do their job. In Allen, there are issues with fumbles, but patience is warranted here, and they must invest the time to work with him on that issue. He has shown promise in the position, boasting great speed and posing match-up issues out of the back field for defensive coverage.
But if they won’t exercise resiliency with Allen in week 5, will they turn to Messam or newly acquired Ford? On a bye week we won’t know and as of now the team hasn’t divulged their choice, though it gives us more time to play armchair coach where our decisions are always spot-on. The interesting thing the almost (but doesn’t) contradict the glaring problem in the backfield is that through week 3 they were atop the CFL in rushing yards at almost 130 yards per game–a figure that some fan bases would only drool at. But given the bad case of dropped balls, the issue is real and it has already proven costly with points needlessly given to their opponents.
With a great offensive line and an athletic quarterback, the only thing the Riders should do is trust someone now and let them work on their ball security. Spend the next few weeks working out the kinks now before the season gets away on them. In the always tough West Division, time is of the essence and the longer the speculation continues, the worse it will be on the situation at hand. Give the offence time to gel as a unit and not have a rotating door at the position.
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