Tuesday Takes – October 17

Tuesday Takes – October 17

Published: Tuesday, Oct 17th 2017, 3:10pm

by Alex Dormuth (@RealAlexD)

Holy moly what a day Monday was in Riderville. Duron Carter apparently got into a fight with DB Sam Williams in practice. Carter then had a cryptic tweet that set the fans on quite the roller coaster, most assuming that he got cut. 3 Down Nation then does an article and things get crazier. The whole story has quite a few holes in it and the whole thing just doesn’t make sense.

First, I was at practice, sitting in the north end zone with the media. NONE of us saw this fight happen. DB Jovon Johnson did say something happened (later said that Duron was defending a teammate), but it wasn’t anything serious. Obviously if no one saw anything, nothing major happened. Not saying the incident didn’t happen, because players butt heads all the time in practice, but it was minor.

Let’s be real for a second here. The team would NOT cut a player who just had 231 yards receiving in their last game unless something illegal happened. ESPECIALLY when their other star receiver Naaman Roosevelt is out with his 2^nd concussion in 3 weeks.

Rider fans lost their marbles (understandably and predictably so) and we still basically know nothing. Chris Jones will address the media on Tuesday afternoon after the Riders closed practice and then we may know a few more details. However, I fully expect a statement by the team saying they are handling things internally and they are talking about the Calgary game.

To see a full rundown on what happened on Monday, see Greg’s article from late Monday night.

To actual football, Friday night’s 33-32 loss to the Redblacks was embarrassing. This was the type of thing we saw in 2016 and the first few games of this season. The bend but don’t break defense finally broke and hopefully serves as a learning lesson to all the coaches and players to make them better going into the playoff run. Much more on this game on this week’s Piffles Podcast.

I was right that the Riders wouldn’t clinch a playoff spot last week, but I got it the wrong way. Luckily the BC Lions lost and left the Riders 1 game away from clinching a spot in the postseason. Either 1 Rider win or 1 BC loss the rest of the year means we will get Rider playoff football for the first time since 2014. Where they will play is still to be determined.

Congrats to John Chick on his first win of the season! It only took him 17 weeks, but he finally played in a win! I was really hoping he would lose and the Riders would stay in 3^rd place, but I like the Riders chances in the East playoffs this year.

This WILL be the first year a crossover team makes the Grey Cup. Call it homerism, I call it a hunch. Doesn’t matter if it’s Edmonton or Saskatchewan, one of them will represent the East in Ottawa on November 26^th.

Calgary plays average all year and still has a 13-1-1 record. I’m worried how good they will be when they actually put together a full game in all 3 phases. Damn that’s a good team and I hate it.

I almost feel bad for the BC Lions (almost). What looked like a really promising team going into 2017 has completely shattered in front of us. It’s to the Riders benefit, but the Lions 20 year streak of making the playoffs is coming to an end. The fan base is dwindling in Vancouver (economics have a lot to do with it for their pro sports teams) and that’s not good. Time to blow it up there and start over.

I’m still convinced that Montreal will not win another game this year and I’m still convinced that Darian Durant isn’t hurt. I’m not sure where he ends up next year, but I hope for his sake the final image of him we see on the field isn’t one of him sulking on the sidelines not playing.

S.J. Green is a beast. To have over 1,300 receiving yards the year after tearing his ACL (especially at his age) is remarkable. Kudos on your return to being the best receiver in the league S.J.

We will discuss the Riders 33-32 loss to Ottawa on this week’s Piffles Podcast and also look ahead to their upcoming game in Calgary. We will also have our Coney Island Poutine Cafe Piffles Player Profile featuring Riders DB Crezdon Butler and much more, so be sure to have a listen to the show Wednesday.

In the mean time, give us a follow on Twitter @PifflesPod and like us on Facebook! Give us any and all feedback and let us know what players from the Riders you’d like to hear from!

Go Riders!