Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – August 14, 2018

Alex’s CFL Tuesday Takes – August 14, 2018

Published: Tuesday, Aug 14th 2018, 2:08pm

The Curious Case of Duron Carter

By Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

First off, let me start this by saying I LOVE Duron Carter, pretty much everything about him. On the field, I love his talent, I love that he doesn’t stop talking, I love that he’s his own person. Off the field, I love that he is outgoing, a character, he’s not a cliche machine like 80% of other players. So to say I’m disappointed that he’s no longer a part of my favourite team would be pretty accurate.

On Saturday night while watching the Montreal – Ottawa game, news broke that Duron Carter was released from the Riders.

First, the shock: Wait…. WHAT?? *checks calendar… nope, not April 1st*

Second, a bit of anger: WHAT THE HELL ARE THE RIDERS DOING??

Third, curiosity: Oh man, what did he do now?

Next, acceptance: Well, what’s done is done, time to move on I guess.

Then of course on Sunday we find out literally nothing from Chris Jones when he addressed the media. “Going in a different direction.” Such a cop out. I HATE this excuse and that’s exactly what it is. An excuse. I’ve heard this in the business I work in. HATE. IT. Just be honest about it. You don’t have to tell the whole story, but give people a sense of what it was. SOMETHING! But we didn’t get it.

Now, I can respect the fact that Chris Jones didn’t air all the team’s dirty laundry. No way should any fan know everything that goes on behind closed doors. Trust me, things aren’t as sunshine and lollipops as they appear and if you saw how some things are done, you may not be as big of a fan of your team as you are.

Now, Duron is a polarizing figure. You either LOVE him or you HATE him. Like I mentioned, I’m in the group that loves him. In a world full of “gotta play a full 60 minutes” and “trust the process”, it was a breath of fresh air to hear Carter call out the Riders anemic offense after their loss in Edmonton. And he’s bang on too. The Riders offense isn’t giving their best players the ball. Carter and Roosevelt are standing there watching hitch passes go the other way, they are asked to block for a run game that outside of 2 nice runs, hasn’t done a thing this season.

I get his frustration, us as fans are extremely frustrated too. 8 touchdowns in 7 games just won’t cut it in the CFL. A ball control offense doesn’t win in the CFL. You NEED to score points and that’s the reason the Riders are sitting out of a playoff spot right now. That said, you can’t really expect to badmouth your coaching staff without some sort of reprimand, in this case, being cut.

According to Chris Jones, there wasn’t one incident that caused Carter’s release. And I truly believe that. You have to babysit him to stay focused and even then, doing that didn’t really work here in Saskatchewan. If you’ve ever been to a Rider practice, you see everyone do stretches, coaches included. Except for one person. Duron Carter. He will walk up and down the field with his teammates, but he won’t participate. I know that seems like a minor thing, but you know his teammates see it. Duron isn’t above the team, but little things like this make him come across as bigger than the team.

Add up all the little things and it becomes taxing on a team, on a coach, on a locker room. This is why you can’t get by in pro sports just based on pure talent alone. You still need to put the work in. So to hear that Duron got released, it doesn’t really come as a surprise. It comes as a disappointment. Disappointment that a man that I truly enjoy watching just couldn’t figure it out for another 3 months to finish the season. I hate to see him go, but I get it. His welcome was worn out. Too bad, he’ll always have a fan in me, no matter where he goes.