10 THINGS

Taking shots …

1 – LAPO: The inevitable happened on Saturday when the Ottawa RedBlacks fired head coach Paul LaPolice following a 34-19 loss at BC the night before. It was Ottawa’s third loss in a row, dropped their record to a CFL-worst 3-11, and left LaPo with a 6-22 mark over two tumultuous seasons in the nation’s capital.

Everyone’s pointing to LaPolice’s 22-50 career mark as a head coach in the CFL, supporting the critics’ argument that he’s “a great offensive coordinator but not a head coach.”

But I don’t buy it. Paul inherited trainwrecks in Winnipeg and Ottawa, as newly-hired head coaches traditionally do, but in this case RedBlacks GM Shawn Burke clearly felt the team simply wasn’t getting better. That’s tough to argue.

But at 52, LaPolice is far from done. I may have jumped-the-gun on Saturday by Tweeting that LaPo will be a head coach again in the CFL as early as next season – my loyalty and affection for Paul shining through – but I’m not convinced that won’t happen either. There will be an opening or two, and I can’t think of anyone better than Paul.

CFL teams should covet a coach with LaPolice’s character, I know he’s a tremendous leader of men, and no doubt he’ll use this latest setback as a tremendous learning opportunity.

All the best ones do.

2 – RIDER SLIDE: The Roughriders were up against it in Week 17, going into Winnipeg to face a salivating Blue Bombers team whom was eager to atone for the 48-31 shellacking they absorbed in Hamilton in Week 15.

But the Green & White never really gave themselves a chance on Friday night, losing the turnover battle 6-1. The TSN Turning Point was the play with a minute to go in the first half when Rider WR Tevin Jones gave up on the play, the pass was intercepted, and seconds later Bomber QB Zach Collaros found Nic Demski in the endzone for a touchdown and a 17-3 lead. Funny how you just know it’s over at certain points in the game.

The Cody Fajardo dropped snap in the second half, and lost fumble, was just further evidence that the Riders just weren’t with it on this night.

With three games left, and losers of eight of their last 10, you have to wonder if they’re ever going to be.

3 – WHAT’S NEXT: While many in the Rider Nation – and many more in the CFL underworld – have already written off this Rider campaign and are looking ahead to what should be a wild off-season, you know Craig Dickenson and the “men in that locker room” have not. And can not.

It’s a playoff game-come-early in Week 18 as Saskatchewan visits Hamilton this Friday night. A Roughrider victory would move Sask three wins up on the Ticats in the chase for the final playoff spot in the East Division, via the crossover.

Entering this week, the Ticats have four games remaining and the Riders three, and Saskatchewan HAS to finish with more wins than Hamilton to claim the final berth.

You’d like to say the Riders are in the driver’s seat, but they are precariously perched in it. However they hold their own destiny, which is what you want.

4 – WHAT IF: Who knows what the mandate was for Saskatchewan entering this 2022 season. Was it Grey Cup or bust like it was in 2013? Or will simply making the playoffs be enough for everyone to keep their jobs?

From what I hear, many in Riderville are in job-preservation mode as it is but that could be just talk.

If the worst-case scenario hits and Saskatchewan misses the playoffs, everyone believes the axe will swing but then the question becomes ‘how deep does it swing?’

It’s useless to debate right now because all the chips haven’t fallen yet.

5 – QB CAROUSEL: However none of this “calmer heads” talk is going to stop The Insiders from gossiping about what the future holds in the CFL.

Football people in attendance at Saturday’s Argonauts-Stampeders game in Calgary sent me photos of Bo Levi Mitchell standing nowhere close to his QB brethren. They feel it’s a sure sign that Bo has checked out but you never know what’s going on within that organization.

The Insiders maintain that Cody Fajardo will be gone from Riderville after this season – they think he’ll land in the East – and be replaced by Bo Levi.

What happens with Nathan Rourke? Vernon Adams Jr.? 

Fun to discuss.

6 – TUA: Here in South Florida the football-mad citizens are in a frenzied holding pattern waiting to hear the status of beloved Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa who’s in concussion protocol after having his bell rung by the turf twice in five days.

The video of the hit he absorbed in Cincinnati Thursday night wasn’t nearly as tough to watch as the consequences. A First Responder wrote to tell me Tua’s grotesquely twisted fingers after the hit as he lay motionless on the grass are a sign of major brain trauma.

But I believe very little of what I hear, including the circumstances surrounding the independent doctor who was fired for misreading Tua’s concussion test results last Sunday after the Buffalo game. That poor guy (the doctor) will likely never work again but he’s just collateral damage of the pro football machine which renders careers discardable.

Former Jets coach Rex Ryan barked on ESPN this week, “They’re LYING!!”

I’ve seen athletic therapists fired for refusing to fudge test results, doctors quit over the pressure involved with working on multi-million dollar players, and everything in between.

Like I said, I believe very little of what I hear and read in the media anymore.

What I do believe is that the NFL cares little for player safety but you can take solace in the fact the CFL actually does (see: Harris, Trevor). There was little outcry earlier this season when Harris was removed by the spotters during a potentially game-winning drive for Montreal. (They lost).

7 – FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS: Hurricane Ian caused a great deal of Friday night’s Florida High School Athletic Assocation football games to get moved to Saturday. I was invited to attend the Cardinal Gibbons Chiefs-American Heritage Plantation clash Saturday in Fort Lauderdale.

The Chiefs are the 19^th-ranked team in all of USA High School Football and are coached by my buddy Matt DuBuc, a former Argos & Bombers receiver from the 1990s. The Chiefs are two-time defending 5A State champions but were beaten 21-2 by a furious team from Plantation, FL this weekend.

If you ever get the chance to take in a Florida high school football game, jump on it! The stadium was soldout (between 2,000-3,000 I’d say) and I counted 25-30 digital media in attendance, not to mention the scribes in the Don Marino Memorial Press Box — not to be confused with Dan Marino. The sidelines were crawling with NCAA scouts too. Quite a scene!

You’ve got to love sports, at all levels.

8 – NHL PRESEASON: The scoresheet said 6,156 fans attended Thursday’s exhibition clash between the Carolina Hurricanes and Florida Panthers at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise, FL. It was a treat to be in attendance for another season, taking up my spot in the Roger Nielson Memorial Press Box.

But I found the game wanting. The effort wasn’t really there across the board – save for Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov who never mails it in – and I really only showed up to watch how Paul Maurice used star newcomer Matthew Tkachuk.

“Chucky” was on the second line but played left wing on the #1 powerplay unit. His skating’s always been criticized but he finds a way to get there, as evidenced by his 104 points last year in Calgary. Matthew had several chances, but didn’t bury.

I also enjoyed following the progress of WHL grads Ethan Bear and Zach Sawchenko with the Hurricanes.

Love being back in the rink.

9 – GO PATS GO: It’s very interesting following the fortunes of the Blueshirts. The Calgary Hitmen administered a 7-3 beating on the Regina Pats Sunday in the Saddledome and Connor Bedard finished with one assist and a minus-3 rating.

At 2-3-0, the Pats sit fifth in the WHL’s Eastern Conference but have played more games than anybody else. The Bedard Watch really is just a whisper now as the edict remains not to trade the 17-year old superstar and, from what I’m told, the Pats feel they can contend for the Eastern Conference crown. (If the Memorial Cup-host Kamloops Blazers win the West a la 1995, the eastern rep will advance to the Memmer).

I’d say that would be doubtful, especially the way it’s going.

10 – RANDOM THOUGHTS: Talked to John Frenzy today. He sounds … deflated. … The Regina Rams were picked sixth out of six teams in the Canada West preseason Coaches Poll? After clinching a playoff berth this weekend, I have to ask who are these coaches? … Mark McConkey for Coach of the Year. … All I can say about the Netflix series Dahmer is, don’t watch it before supper. I’d have been okay if I hadn’t watched it. … Why would you wear a mask if you’re driving alone in a car? … There are Jeep people, and then there are people who drive Jeeps. … Just like there are hockey people, and then there are people who work in hockey. … Bold Prediction: Washington’s Ron Rivera will be the first NFL coach fired this year. … Sneaky move by the Miami Marlins announcing during last week’s Dolphins game that Don Mattingly won’t return as manager next season. Love those old P.R. tricks! Nobody seemed to notice. … Radio listeners in Atlanta gave me flashbacks this week to my time as Religious Programming Coordinator at 1190 CFSL Weyburn in 1991. It was a job I didn’t take too seriously (I didn’t take much seriously back then) and irate listeners would call the radio station every Sunday if I put an old tape of The People’s Gospel Hour with Pastor Perry F. Rockwood on the air, rather than the latest episode. This week irate listeners to WQEE 99.1 FM Metro-Atlanta lit up my Twitter when old episodes of The RP Show were aired between 7:00-9:00 pm ET! Happy to report the issue has been fixed. … It got me to-thinking maybe I should be asking on air for donations like Pastor Rockwood? “May the Lord bless you and make YOU a blessing.” … And how was YOUR week?

Y’er welcome,
RP
@rodpedersen