After an explosive start to the 2010 CFL season the Saskatchewan Roughriders find themselves barely hanging on to a playoff spot, losing 2 of their last 3 games leaving with a 6-4 record. The Rider just came off their worst lose of the season losing to Winnipeg 31-2 in the annual Banjo Bowl. The game was a poor display on the part of the Riders once again, and it leaves rider nation concerned about the lack of production seen by the offence, defence, and especially the special teams.
“I don’t know where his ability went,” said GM Brendon Taman after the loss to Winnipeg. This was a comment aimed at Dominique Dorsey. Dorsey who is the kick and punt returner for the green and white, was expected to do a lot of good things for his new club, but he has failed to meet expectations. This comes as a surprise to many fans as Dorsey was the CFL special teams player of the year in 2008 before he started a short time with the Washington Redskins in the NFL and then being released and signed by the riders. He is in the bottom of the league in punt return and kick-off return with an average of 6.2 punt return and 20.8 kick-off return yards.
The sceptics are putting the blame in all different parts of the team. The easiest place to put the blame is always the quarterback, and in this case it applies heavily. Darian Durant who is a 3rd year starter has not looked good in the previous couple games.
Durant threw 5 interceptions and had no touchdowns to show for in the last 3 games. Their run game hasn’t been much better, Wes Cates has only rushed a combined 91 yards in this last three games, but it’s not entirely his fault. The offensive Line, led by the 15th year veteran Gene Makowsky, has had very disappointing games of late, and are said to be the cause of no run and game, and they are not giving Durant a sufficient amount of time in the pocket to use all of his offensive weapons. On the other side of the ball they have not faired much better. The defence has allowed over 400 yards on the ground and almost 650 in the air. The defensive line has let the opposing quarterback have his way in the pocket with only 4 sacks. The only solid part of there game recently has been their punting and kick-offs.
Some of the fans and Riders personal are not too worried. Every team will go into some kind of slump through-out the years, as long as they can get out of it before it effects the season too much. As some fans might recall the Riders lost 3 in a row in the middle of the 2007 and yet they still captured the Grey Cup.
The are not to many things that can be done to make the team better. The biggest part of the problem is that most of the players now are not playing that good, and until they start it’s out of everyone’s hands. Some changes that could be made as far as moving people in and out could be is that they need to sign a couple of offensive lineman. The o-lineman are thin in depth with a few injuries to some starters. A new punt and kick retuner is a must, a player can only have so many second chances before he gets the boot. As soon as the defensive steps up and makes plays, and Durant gets more comfortable in the pocket, the team will no doubt they will start winning again. The road to recovery wont get much easier for them as they the play Calgary next week who has only lost one game thus far through the season.
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