Riders Down Stamps to Even Record

Riders Down Stamps to Even Record

Published: Monday, Aug 20th 2018, 1:08pm

By: Stephen Safinuk (@Safimod)

In front of a sold out crowd last night, the Riders ended the Stampeders hopes for a perfect record en route to a 40-27 victory.

Thoughts From The Game

• – Nick Marshall is an absolute beauty. Another game changing pick 6. So far he has played Mike Reilly, Bo Levi Mitchell and Ricky Ray in his 3 career games at defensive back, and picked off 2 of them (BLM and Ray)
• – That punt block and return by Sam Eguavoen was great. Put himself in the right position to avoid any contact with the kicker in case he didn’t get the ball. That moment set the tone for the rest of the game
• – Also – Marshall was the first player since Milt Stegall in 1999 to score a touchdown on both offense and defense. I love what he could possibly bring to a wildcat formation down the line
• – Brett Lauther is straight up money. 6/6 on the night, and 25/27 (92.6%) on the season. I no longer get nervous when we line up for a field goal longer than 35 yards
• – Charleston Hughes is aging like a fine wine. Another 2 sacks to add to his league leading total of 11 through 8 games. He is still on pace for 24 sacks this season. He seemingly cannot be stopped. Remember when the Ticats traded him to Saskatchewan for Vernon Adams?
• – STOP THE DAMN WAVE ON OFFENCE. Actually, just stop the wave in general, but if you absolutely have to do it, do it on defence.
• – We were high on Jordan Williams-Lambert out of preseason on the Piffles Podcast, and he’s really doing a solid job of making us look good. Over the past 2 games with Zach Collaros at the helm, JWL has 14 catches for 238 yards. It’s just a matter of time before he starts hitting the end zone.
• – Our thoughts go out to Caleb Holley, who appeared to suffer a season-ending ACL injury in the 1^st half of last night’s game. Will this mean the return of yet another late training camp cut (Grant/Owens)? Or do they put one of Rob Bagg or Devin Bailey in that spot? I imagine we will see at practice early this week.
• – Congratulations to Jim Hopson and John Terry on their induction into the Plaza of Honour. A well-deserved honour for both of them.

All in all, we saw a total team effort from the Riders as all 3 phases of the game were working. They will still need to work on putting the ball in the end zone when they hit the red zone. 6 field goals isn’t a recipe for success in the long run. We moved the ball all night long, just have to finish those drives and this team will be a nightmare to contend with come playoff time.

 

• – STOP THE DAMN WAVE ON OFFENSE