Top 5 Things Alex Wants to See From the Riders Against Toronto

Top 5 Things Alex Wants to See From the Riders Against Toronto

Published: Friday, Oct 20th 2023, 2:10pm

By Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

 

Well, the Riders can put a ton of pressure on the Calgary Stampeders by beating a bunch of the Argos backups tomorrow, but the green and white have given me no good reason as to why I should expect that. Instead, we put all our Rider playoff hopes in the hands of the Stamps and hope they lose to both BC and Winnipeg. While I still think that ACTUALLY happens and the Riders manage to get into the dance, I just don’t know what to say anymore.

 

Anyways, here’s my wish list for the Riders tomorrow against Toronto:

 

1. Dolegala figures things out – Jake Dolegala is at his best when he’s pushing the ball downfield. He’s at his worst when he’s making short throws. I want to see him use his eyes to look off defenders (something he didn’t do last week against Calgary). Time to take that next step of reading a defense. We know he has the arm strength, but his accuracy leaves something to be desired. Time to put it together when the team needs you the most.

 

2. Jamal Morrow gets sick of running – The last few weeks, Jamal Morrow has been great. I do expect a lot of the offense to be run through him again, but I want more. Wear him out. He’ll have a week off next week, use him until he literally can’t anymore. 

 

3. Keep Teitz out of the secondary – I like Micah Teitz, I think he can be a decent rotational linebacker in the CFL. But Jason Shivers is putting him in situation after situation set to fail. He can’t run with receivers. He just can’t. Keep him near the line of scrimmage or on a running back. I’ve seen MORE than enough of him trying to keep up with receivers and it’s hurting the defense. I beg of you, Coach Shivers, stop dropping Teitz into coverage!

 

4. 1K for Bane Jr. and Emilus – Going into tomorrow afternoon, Shawn Bane Jr. is 23 yards away from 1,000 on the season and Sam Emilus is 40 away. Both would be firsts in their careers and while I typically don’t care about personal stats for players, I really hope they get there. Both have been very good for the team this year and have proven they should be used as primal focuses for the 2024 team. In a disappointing TEAM season, having a few individual accolades would be nice.

 

5. Give the fans SOME sense of hope and optimism – A win is essential to this team’s future. And not just for making the playoffs this year, I’m talking about keeping fans in the stands next year. I know of plenty of season ticket holders that have said they aren’t renewing their tickets. Things are bad here in Riderville right now, but you HAVE to keep the fans involved. If you give the fans something to cheer about, they’ll be back. If you don’t… well, you’ll have to give away more than 8,000 tickets per game next year like you have the last couple of home games.

 

For more on this game and everything else going on in Riderville and the CFL, check out this week’s episode of the Piffles Podcast (presented by Dairy Queen Grill & Chill)!