RIDER NOTEBOOK: ALL WE NEED ARE WINS

Craig Reynolds

The roller coaster which has been the 2017 Saskatchewan Roughriders season will start another upwards climb on Wednesday when the team returns to practice for the first time since Saturday’s 30-15 loss at BC.

A lack of consistency on the field has plagued the Riders so far this year, with their 2-4 record looking like this in the opening third of the season: L-L-W-L-W-L.

However off the field, the Riders have sold out five consecutive games and the financial fortunes appear to be on the upswing. Although the Rider Nation is on fire with the team’s frustrating performances, it’s clear that everyone is paying attention.

Rider President Craig Reynolds feels that as soon as his organization turns the corner, the 306 is about to explode. In a good way.

“Everything is poised for that,” Reynolds said on 620 CKRM’s pregame show on Saturday. “We’ve got an outstanding stadium experience, we’ve got an outstanding game day experience and our fanbase is waiting for that.

“You see it coming. It’s a little bit of a process, as you know. It doesn’t happen overnight. We live in a world where you’d like it to happen overnight but we made some progress last year and this year we’re seeing continued progress.”

Reynolds said his cohorts around the CFL’s Board of Governors table agree.

“You see it when you talk to people throughout the league. They see it as well,” Reynolds continued. “It’s coming. But it’s a very, very competitive league. Literally any team can beat any other team on any given week. We just need to consistently do what we need to do which is build on any success we have, have this young team grow, close out games like the Toronto game, and learn how to win.”

And that’s the only thing holding this franchise back. Other than the on-field performance (which we know is the most important thing), the Riders are at the top of the league in most other areas.

“Absolutely. I can’t say enough about that stadium and the fans’ response to the stadium,” Reynolds explained. “We have that five game sellout streak including the last game at Taylor Field and the atmosphere is just amazing.

“It’s such a social atmosphere. Whether it’s in Pil Country, hanging out along the railings or in the Harvard Studio 620, it’s an amazing, amazing atmosphere. Our players feed off that as you see them playing very well at home.”

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Reynolds was one of the CFL Presidents who was on-board with Commissioner-elect Randy Ambrosie’s decision to cut coaches’ video challenges down to one-per-game last week.

“That was a really important move and I give full credit to our Commissioner for addressing the issue of the challenges and really, the flow of our games,” Reynolds said. “I hear it consistently from the fans as well, and I expressed that in the call to Randy.

“We were collectively supportive as team Presidents, GMs and Head Coaches. It was an important issue that needed to be addressed.”

Reynolds agreed that other than that rule glitch, not much else was standing in the way of the CFL being, perhaps, in its best shape on field that it has for decades.

“This has been an absolutely amazing season of Canadian football,” Reynolds surmised. “Close finishes, that Winnipeg comeback against Montreal just speaks to what Canadian football can be, and is. The rules are in great shape; scoring’s up, penalties are down and games are shorter.

“We had that one issue where the flow of the game was impacted by too many challenges, coaches were fishing, and there were obvious changes which needed to be made and our Commissioner made them.”

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The elephant in the room facing the CFL right now is the attendance issues in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. There are thousands of empty seats in a lot of stadiums across the country this season, but the biggest embarrassment comes from the biggest cites.

Reynolds said every team is pitching in to lend a hand.

“Certainly, with the Riders, we put the league first,” Reynolds said. “And so we’re all actively involved in making sure that we’re doing the right thing, as a league, to support the big market teams. They’re the ones having some attendance challenges right now.

“We work collectively on things that help improve the game, and with those markets to help determine how to get fans out to games.”

Fan 590 Toronto radio host Bob McCown reportedly said last week that the Toronto Argonauts are an impossible situation and will never be fixed. I disagree, and so does Craig Reynolds.

“Absolutely,” Reynolds said hopefully. “They have a fantastic stadium, they will have a good team and they have good football people running the organization. It’s not without its challenges but that brand has been damaged over the last number of years and they’re working proactively to help restore the brand.

“But it takes time. It’s not an overnight fix. I think everybody’s aware of that and you’ve heard both the Commissioner and the Argos say that. They’re working hard to fix that brand and it’s absolutely fixable. Toronto’s a very, very important market for the CFL.”

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Quarterback controversy? What quarterback controversy?

As everybody knows, the Roughriders were trailing 30-0 late in the fourth quarter Saturday in BC when quarterback Kevin Glenn was lifted in favour of back-up Brandon Bridge.

Mullinder

Bridge – known as “Air Canada” because of his Mississauga, ON roots – promptly launched two late touchdowns to make the score respectable. That touched off a mild QB controversy which lasted up until about midnight on Saturday.

CKRM football analyst Luc Mullinder chimed in with his $0.02.

“Obviously all the attention goes to the quarterback when you can’t manufacture any points, but the offensive and defensive lines cost the Riders against BC,” Mullinder explained. “BC manufactured way too much pressure for Kevin Glenn to get going. Brandon Bridge threw darts late, but it’s one thing to do that in garbage time.

“You still build positives into Brandon Bridge’s performance. All the way from camp, he’s played well. It’s not his fault he’s getting in when it’s 30-0 and he’s been able to put good things on tape.”

Like Chris Jones stated on CKRM’s postgame show, Mullinder agreed the BC Lions “called off the dogs” late in that football game.

“BC just sat back in their zones,” Mullinder explained. “They knew the Riders were going to try to go through the air because of the situation they were in and Brandon Bridge came out and found those spots.

“The Riders executed well in the last two minutes but you can’t go out – not play well for 58 minutes – and then expect to do anything when there’s only two minutes left.

“It doesn’t even make sense.”

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NOTES: The Riders will hold a walk-through at 11:45 am on Wednesday … For out-of-market fans, I’ll be chatting Riders on Fan 960 Calgary at 1:20 pm Wednesday and on TSN 1040 Vancouver at 10:10 am on Thursday … This week’s guest on 620 CKRM’s Coaches Show is defensive line coach Ed Philion. The show airs today at 5:07 pm. … Rider Hall of Famer Wes Cates joins us on In The Huddle this week. The show airs on Shaw Wednesday at 6:00 pm and again on Access Thursday at 7:00 pm … Sunday the Roughriders host the BC Lions at 6:00 pm on 620 CKRM and TSN.

RP
@rodpedersen