Is REAL responsible for rash of Rider Injuries?

After the game Saturday night between the Riders and Stampeders fans were invited to go down on the field at Mosaic Stadium.

I went down to get pictures with my cousin Brandey Yasinowski and while I was waiting I walked around on the turf and noticed that it was not even, but bumpy and lumpy and if you weren’t paying attention, it was easy to trip over a bump.

I started thinking about the fourth quarter when Trevor Harris suffered a fracture after scrambling and a 300-pound Calgary defensive lineman fell on his leg awkwardly.

The Riders have suffered a rash of injuries this year, and people have looked at everything from the athletic trainers to lack of padded practices, but considering the number of leg injuries, I began to wonder if a number could be explained by people thinking the turf is flat, when it is anything but, when they run or play on it.

If you have your leg lying on top of a gap in the turf and there is nothing under it and someone falls on it, a fractured or injured leg will result from that.

The turf, FieldTurf Revolution 360 is about seven years old, and I am not sure what the life span of the turf is supposed to be in the catalogue, but someone asked the question of what impact the ice rink the Regina Exhibition Association Limited places on the turf during the winter would have on the turf.

One impact would be weight, the other would be the water that would have to go somewhere and could not help but warp the turf.

REAL put up the rink and in addition to free public skating, it also charged for private bookings. REAL needs the money and usage of the stadium because so far, the stadium has only hosted concerts with Bryan Adams, Guns and Roses, The Eagles and Garth Brooks since it opened in 2017.

It is interesting to compare the condition of the turf with that of Leibel Field, where the Regina Thunder play and how much flatter it is.

Until I walked on Mosaic Stadium and experienced the bumps myself, I never thought about what impact it would have on football injuries and the rash experienced by the Riders this year.

So last week was an interesting week for many reasons in the CFL with Edmonton owning the home game losing streak by falling 37-29 to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats with the cherry on many Elks sundaes being a pick six by Elk quarterback Cornelius Taylor who should have eaten the ball while being sacked.

The implosion by the Elks, coming off a game they should have won last week against the Riders, brought several things in view.

Edmonton has a four-year contract with Chris Jones, not a series of four one-year contracts. Edmonton is handcuffed by still paying out for previously released coaches and the CFL’s football operations cap designed to keep costs down on coaches and so far, is penalizing teams.

The other question in Edmonton is with Jones not just the head coach, but general manager and defensive coordinator, who on the staff would be able to step into the various roles?

Edmonton, which fell to 0-6, is now looking at the prospect of going 0-9 and now has to ask the question, is Cornelius Taylor really the answer at QB? Jones’ mishandling of the quarterback situation has resulted in Elk fans feeling like they have been repeatedly hit over the head and forced to ask – Thank you sir, may I have another?

Hamilton avoided being the answer to a trivia question by beating Edmonton, but suffered the loss of starting quarterback Mathew Shiltz to the six-game injury list. He joins Bo Levi Mitchell who went on the list after getting injured in week 2 against Toronto.

Hamilton will now start Taylor Powell at quarterback with former Edmonton QB Kai Locksley as back-u. The Cats will also bring a QB in this week as the third option.

Toronto went to Montreal and while I thought Toronto would prevail, Montreal ended up giving Toronto a better game than people expected despite losing 35-27.

It might be useful to look at stats, but the problem is the CFL who promised a world class stats site still has no idea of what it is doing. You would be better off doing the stats yourself and be confident they would be more reliable than anything you find on the CFL website.

Montreal is still having problems with protection, but Cody Fajardo seems to have found some receivers to work with despite the Montreal running game drying up faster than an illegal liquor still at Stony Mountain Penitentiary.

Fajardo’s stats are comparable to those of Trevor Harris, although that will change with Harris out for the season. It would be fair to see this is a test for Fajardo to see if he can mature past being a one- or two-year wonder.

Toronto for its part continues its impressive showing on defense and Chad Kelly is doing well as quarterback as he learns from being on the job on a regular basis. With quarterbacks dropping like flies, Toronto is going to have to be careful to keep Kelly upright, but with the best defensive line in the league, Toronto can more than compensate for any offensive shortcomings.

Saturday saw a couple of epic games, with the first coming from Ottawa where the Stony Mountain Bombers came to town, expecting to roll over the Ottawa Redblacks who were starting their fourth string quarterback, Dustin Crum.

The Bombers were up 25-6 before Crum ran wild, forced overtime and made the Bomber defense look like Grumpy Old Men in a 31-28 wildly entertaining win.

It was a win Ottawa needed, especially in front of their fans, and demonstrated that even though they do not have their starter, the other players can play as well. Whether Ottawa can continue this roll is unclear, but at least for this week, they and their fans can bask in the public service they performed in sending the Bombers back to Stony Mountain.

I’ve had a couple of days to ponder the Riders 33-31 loss to Calgary and the impact of the injury to quarterback Trevor Harris. In no particular order, I have these thoughts…

The string of Rider injuries has pushed the Rider depth to its limit. Players on defense seemed a bit hesitant in doing coverage and they were not helped by defensive coordinator Jason Shivers overthinking on defense in trying to confuse the Stamps.

The Riders have problems in the defensive secondary knowing their responsibilities and playing with confidence. This uncertainty was apparent in the fourth quarter when Calgary moved into position for the winning field goal, picking holes in the Riders zone coverage.

The Riders mounted a bit more of a pass rush, but what they are doing seems to depend on sending people in blitzes and the Riders are playing a defense that is forcing opposing offenses to march the ball down the field. The Riders need to move Anthony Lanier II back to defensive tackle and give Shawn Lemon a call to see if he might come in at defensive end, although Lemon might have a bit of a chip on his shoulder that could play a bit of havoc with the Riders revamped team chemistry.

The Riders offensive line shares the responsibility for the loss to Calgary with not only not pass blocking, but now adding a lack of run blocking to its arsenal. If the Riders have not yet called Brent Jones, they should, although one wonders how effective he might be after not playing for a number of years.

When Harris got injured in the fourth quarter, I saw something I had never seen at a Rider game before: the entire team coming off the sideline and kneeling by their quarterback in support. This was the fifth game for Harris, but the impact he has had on this team is considerable judging by how the team rallied to him following the injury.

I could only recall something similar in 1976 when Ron Lancaster was knocked flat by the BC Lions and Taylor Field fell quiet until he got up to lead the Riders to victory.

Harris will have surgery this week and while the Riders expressed cautious optimism Harris will return, a lot will depend on what the surgery reveals in term of damage to his ligaments.

Harris will likely come back to help be a QB coach for Mason Fine, Shea Patterson and Jake Dolegala, and the Riders could use his leadership to help steer the team through the next few weeks.

Of course, the Rider sites were filled with people urging Craig Dickenson be fired, or Mason Fine not start, or bring in McLeod Bethel Thompson. Let us begin with Thompson.

Thompson was released by the USFL New Orleans Breakers, but is not likely to come back to the CFL, especially to Regina, because of the lack of direct flights to Los Angeles, where he lives with his screenwriter wife. She is currently on strike so while the money would come in handy, Thompson would not relish spending up to four hours in the Calgary airport waiting to make his connection to L.A.

The NFL has expanded from two to three the number of quarterbacks teams can carry, and Thompson may have one last chance to cash some NFL cheques and have an easier time to get home.

When it comes to Fine, his familiarity with the Rider offense and ability to move around behind the Riders porous offensive line would probably compensate for his lack of height. Some fans are in love with Dolegala who has the size to see over the offensive line, but as Harris showed, a drop back passer behind this offensive line is a recipe for serious injury.

Here is an interesting tidbit – Fine is from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma who took over from Harris on the First Nations Game in Saskatchewan – a great marketing opportunity for the team if it chooses to take it.

However, as an owner of the Riders, I would like to see winning be the determining factor for the starting Rider quarterback. Fine has familiarity and mobility to help him behind the Rider offensive line.

Fine will also be helped by the lack of film of him, something that helped Cody Fajardo when he took over from Zach Collaros and went on a tear. Fine might have a similar impact, but the trick will be not to force passes but to play within one’s abilities.

The Riders need to make some changes on their offensive line, their defensive line, secondary and what the heck, why not the linebacking corps. The Riders will next five years will feature two games against BC, two against Winnipeg and one against Toronto.

The Riders can easily have a record of 3-7 and who knows, probably out of contention in the west, but the heart shown by the Riders despite their lack of overwhelming ability, doesn’t make the next five games all losses.

If there is anything Rider fans love more, it is a team that plays with heart. This is a quality that compensates Rider fans for only having four Grey Cup titles in 112 years.

The Riders should be getting more players off the six-game injury list, although whether they are fully recovered is up to them and the training staff. Those players will help the Riders with the lack of depth that was exposed against Calgary, even though the playing game experience gained by the inexperienced players will prove to be invaluable further on in the season.

The Riders may be as bad as 3-7, but this is not a given and it will depend on the character and locker room culture that Craig Dickenson wanted to rebuild this year. If Dickenson manages to salvage say an 8-10 season, he probably has saved his job, although he may ask there be no more hockey rinks built on top of the turf.

So, this week Edmonton goes to Stony Mountain for a parole hearing with the Bombers. The Elk are now trying to find any sort of traction, although as the situation regarding the contract status of Jones becomes clearer, it becomes more obvious that there will be no coaching changes because Edmonton cannot afford it and has no one who can fill all of Jones jobs.

The Bombers were surprised by Derek Crum of Ottawa last week, partly due to the lack of film on Crum, partly due to the Bombers starting to show their age. This week they go up against Cornelius Taylor on whom there is a great deal of film, and Jarret Doege who does not a great deal of film.

Glen Suitor was on Regina radio this week talking about being on a Zoom call with Elk players who talked about watching games this past weekend and how being down with little time left does not condemn a team to a loss if they play hard.

Uh, no kidding, and one would think that Jones or any of his staff would have pointed this out to the Elk players looking for a reason to remain optimistic. Compare that comment to the footage of Ottawa players celebrating after they defeated Stony Mountain and sent the Orcs back to the prison yard.

Ottawa, despite being on their fourth quarterback, still believes. Edmonton is looking for a reason to believe. Stony Mountain prepares the prison showers – Bombers 27 Edmonton 19

Toronto goes to Hamilton and while such a rivalry would spark fighting in the streets and deliverance like moments around Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton putting Matthew Shiltz on the six-game injury list probably means the Hamilton drive to the playoffs will soon wind down.

Hamilton gambled and lost with Bo Levi Mitchell and now are down to bringing back training camp prospects to try to keep some sense of continuity.

By comparison, Toronto is still the only undefeated team in the league with a great defense and a young quarterback who seems to be touched by an angel, or some supernatural being summoned from an enchantress in Kingston.

Hamilton also has not much of an offensive line which means whoever is placed back there – Joe Zuger, Chuck Ealey or Danny McManus – would have better luck trying to scramble through quicksand while being pursued by Sand Raiders from Alderaan.

Toronto will be rolling through this and the opportunity to further crush their rivals is just too juicy an opportunity to miss. However, the question has to be asked, if Chad Kelly goes down with an injury, how will the Argos respond?

Toronto wins this one 36-24.

So, Ottawa goes to Calgary in a tale of two teams getting must have wins to keep their seasons from sliding into the Elks dream kingdom where nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about…

But I digress. Bob Dyce was on his fourth quarterback of the season and Derek Crum managed to run his way through the senior citizens of the Stony Mountain Bombers, otherwise known to prison authorities as the Geriatric Unit, en route to a 31-28 win.

Calgary did their part with a good beatdown of the Riders, at least on defense. The Calgary special teams and their defensive secondary was not party to the beat down and the Stamps got away with a 33-31 win.

The game was the best of the season for Calgary QB Jake Maier who was blessed with the return of receivers like Reggie Beggleton. The Stamps running game though was not in evidence and while Calgary feels good about itself and making a run for first place, Ottawa is not going to be a pushover.

The reaction of the Ottawa coaches and players to the win against Winnipeg was Grey Cup worthy and in Crum Ottawa may have a QB whose legs will keep a lot of defenses, especially those made up of senior citizens, back on their heels.

Calgary does not have an aging defense, but they have a lot of rookies in their defensive secondary, and I suspect Ottawa will choose to mix things ups to keep Calgary on their toes.

This could be the game of the week as I think Ottawa will edge Calgary 22-21.

Finally, we have the Riders going out to BC to play the Lions in the first game of the Mason Fine era. Fine is a quarterback who was the Oklahoma high school player of the game and went to North Texas where he placed lifts in his shoes to convince that university to let him play for them.

Fine’s lack of height may be a bit of a concern but with the Riders Swiss cheese offensive line, a quarterback who can roll out and run may be just the thing to keep the BC defensive line honest.

The Riders’ back up Jake Dolegala has a great arm for going deep, but his problem is hitting short passes. Shea Patterson is the third down quarterback and while he is not overly strong for third downs, he can also throw and that is an option for the Riders to use.

The spread for the game as I write is BC by 17-18 points which I think is a bit much. BC has Vernon Adams Jr. who when he is good, is very good, but when he is bad, can be had.

I think the Riders will keep everything ahead of themselves on defense, forcing Adams to demonstrate patience, a quality he sometimes lacks. If Adams has to do a lot of long drives, the odds of him making a mistake pick up and the Riders may get some players back on defense to make things interesting.

BC should win, but I think about how the Riders responded when Harris went down by first all coming onto the field and taking a knee and then fighting back to almost win the game.

The Riders may be injury riddled thanks to the turf and the Regina Exhibition Association, but the team has demonstrated heart and character, something that was in short supply last year.

If this perception is real, the Riders will win 26-20.