Riders Take Labour Day 31-23
Published: Monday, Sep 3rd 2018, 5:09pm
by: Greg McCulloch (@GregOnSports)
Cue the “Let’s go streaking!” chat, the Riders have won their third in a row dropping prairie rival the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 31-23 in front of a sold-out crowd.
Thoughts From The Game
– Raise your hand if you had Nick Marshall leading the Riders in touchdowns. This is a recording… Marshall put another 2 TDs on the board on offence and just looks great doing it. He runs that that short yardage offence better than the actual listed QBs.
Marshall now has 6TDs which is only 1 less than how many receiving TDs this offence has produced so far this season.
– As much as I was banging the drum for Marshall as the Riders nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie, Alex and Steve have swayed me into the Jordan Williams-Lambert camp for now. The guy plays like a CFL vet and will be a very productive receiver for many years, well if the NFL doesn’t come knocking.
– The #PifflesBump is starting to be a real thing. Matt Elam almost took Winnipeg’s opening drive to the house for a pick 6 but slowed up just before the goal line and got knocked out at the 1-yard line.
I don’t know if he was gassed because he worked hard to get the ball all that way or wasn’t expecting that offensive lineman to keep running on the play but NEVER SLOW UP TILL YOU CROSS THE GOAL LINE.
– While not their best game, (more on that in a bit), the Riders defence was everywhere last night with 2 Interceptions, a forced fumble, a blocked kick, and 3 sacks, including Charleston Hughes 13th of the season. Riders now lead the league in sacks with 26.
– The defence’s HUGE weak spot was the run game. Andrew Harris was ripping off big runs in the middle of the field all game and averaged over 10 yards a carry. Yes, the Riders kept him out of the end zone but at the Banjo Bowl, they will need to take him out of the game early in a hostile environment.
– Kyran Moore, the man who calls himself Swerve on Twitter. I haven’t seen an “undersized” player play that fearless for the green and white since Weston Dressler made a name for himself.
You know Moore is good when the Head Coach and GM, who is known for putting a premium on big receivers is trying to find ways to put him on the field. I lost count at how many broken tackles Moore had in the limited touches he got.
Swerve indeed.
– Brett Lauther had a quiet night only lining up once for a field goal and nailing it. So we only get $3 off pizza this week, the only true downside for scoring touchdowns instead of settling for field goals.
– During the August bye week, the Riders signed DB Louchiez Purifoy, since then Jovon Johnson has been a healthy scratch twice. But if you looked down the sideline you could see Johnson in his street clothes talking to the DBs telling them what he saw and was celebrating all their accomplishments. Leadership will never be a stat the CFL tracks, but it makes a huge difference.
Be sure to check out this week’s Piffles Podcast where we will break down the Labour Day Classic game and look ahead to what will be a crazy Banjo Bowl.
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