CHAMBLIN PROVIDES TEAM UPDATE

Here are the comments of Rider coach Corey Chamblin upon the team’s return from Edmonton and Friday’s 24-0 loss to the Eskimos which left both teams’ records at 9-4:

INJURY STATUS:

CC: Taj Smith has a shoulder injury.  I don’t know the extent of it.  We’ll be able to evaluate it more now that we’re back in town.  Tristan Jackson, I haven’t met with the medical staff yet, but he was up walking around so I don’t think there’s anything too over-bearing.

WAS YOUR TEAM ILL-PREPARED FOR A PARKING LOT FIGHT?

CC:  I’m not gonna say ‘ill-prepared’.  I thought we went out and did some things but like I said, they played better.  There’s never going to be excuses about whether it was a short week or things like that.  We just didn’t execute well enough.  I think that game could’ve been well out of hand.  But we slowed them down and that was the key.

QB SITUATION

CC:  Everything has to always be evaluated, and I’ll evaluate everything, coaches included, and see if there’s any major changes, or tweaks, going down the stretch to get us the wins we need.  We’re in this situation at QB due to injury.  This is the hand we were dealt and how we handle this will determine how we finish the season.

ARE YOU SEARCHING FOR A VETERAN QB?

CC:  For me, my job is to coach the ones we have.  If management feels that’s what we need to do, then we’ll go in that direction.  I don’t know who the options are, so we’ll have to go from there.

ON A STARTING QB AGAINST CALGARY

CC:  I’ve watched the game, I’ll look at it again, and see who had a better feel for it.  One was 5/11, the other was 6/12.  To me, that’s the same guy.  Everything’s week to week.  They are here and what we’re dealing with are Tino, Seth and Keith.  Until something changes, that’s what we have.

There were some balls thrown.  Both guys did some good things but we need to be be better offensively.  We need to be better in all three phases.  That’s the way the game went.  This week we’ll have a few more days so we’ll see how it goes.

ON EDMONTON RUSHING FOUR AND DROPPING EIGHT

CC:  That’s base defense.  They have a great front.  They put 44 men out and we put 44 men out.  Our 44 weren’t better than theirs and our coaches weren’t better than theirs on that night.  That’s football.  It’s not season-ending.  We just have to re-tool and go back and get ready.