MONDAY TAMAN COMMENTS

In his weekly radio appearance on 620 CKRM’s SportsCage on Monday, Saskatchewan Roughriders GM Brendan Taman updated the Rider Nation on the state of the 0-7 football club.  Here are some of his comments:

ON THE TEAM’S MINDSET AFTER THE BYE

BT:  Guys came back into town over the weekend.  I think we’re getting anxious to get back on the field and get back to work.  We’ve had a rough stretch so far to start the year but it’s behind us now and we start 0-0.  This week we’re getting ready for Calgary (5:00 pm Saturday at Mosaic Stadium), a good team coming in who’s been a very good team for a long time.  We have our work cut out.

WHAT DID YOU DO IN THE BYE?

BT:  On a normal week it’s pretty hectic with people coming in and out but even on a bye week, there was a lot of work being done here. The coaches came back on Friday and I was here all week doing some odds and ends and evaluating things.  You saw some releases on the weekend, so there was some work being done.

ON THE RELEASE OF DB’S GEOFF TISDALE AND MICHAEL CARTER

BT:  Tizz came in when we had some guys down in our secondary so we were literally out of healthy bodies.  He came in and got us through a few games.  He’s a cagy vet who did some good things but we reached a point in the season where he probably wasn’t going to be on the roster going forward so we moved him on.  Michael was removed more than anything because Keenan MacDougall is going to be back.  That’s a positive so Michael came out on the short end.

WHO ELSE WILL BE BACK AT PRACTICE THIS WEEK?

BT:  Marshay Green will be practicing.  MacDougall will be back.  We’ll see on Dressler.  Hopefully he can go this week.  We had some guys get nicked in the Toronto game so we’ll see how the bye benefitted them and who’s back.

WHAT HAS YOU POSITIVE FOR THE NEXT 11 GAMES?

BT:  Five of the seven games we were winning in the fourth quarter.  That gives me belief and hope.  We’re not getting blown out.  We’re losing, that’s the bottom line, and that’s discouraging but I believe we’re there and once we get over the hump, we’ll get some positive momentum going not only in one week but for consecutive weeks.  I see a lot of effort here, a lot of good players here, and a team that still believes in itself and whenever you have that, you have a chance.

DID YOU SEE IMPROVEMENT IN QB BRETT SMITH?

BT:  I did.  I think we all did.  He moved around and did a lot of good things.  He got us out of a lot of trouble with his legs, getting away from the pressure Toronto brought.  Unfortunately he got some touchdowns called back because of penalties that he should’ve had.  I thought he did a really nice job.

IS ANYTHING BEING DONE ABOUT THE PENALTIES?

BT:  Oh ya.  I can assure you of that.  I won’t say how or what but they’ve been addressed quite sternly and we’ll just leave it at that.  I don’t care how good you are, nobody’s going to win taking 24 penalties.  That’s just wrong and not good.  Corey went at it very hard already – that’s all I’m going to say – and the guys got the message.

WHAT’S THE ROSTER PLAN GOING FORWARD?

BT:  When you’re 0-7 you’re a little more aggressive trying to make a change or look at what’s in the market, or kicking tires on trades which we’ve been doing.  If you keep playing the same players over and over again with the same results, I think that’s the definition of insanity.  So that isn’t going to work.  We have to come up with new ideas on how to get our players to play well and if those guys don’t perform then the next step is we have to adjust the other way.  We all believe we have good players here, we just have to go out and show it and make enough plays to win a game.