MULLINDER’S WEEK 13 PRIMER

By: Luc Mullinder

Speaking solely from an athlete’s perspective, there are three types of film sessions that follow a game.  Even though technology nowadays allows players to download the game immediately and review it personally; there is always (barring time conflicts) a review as a unit, for all three phases of the game.

Before we go into Ottawa, I’ll briefly describe each scenario, so the rest of the Primer makes sense…

Scenario 1:  You play a great game; statistically and assignment wise, you made plays and really contributed.  Individually, this is the best case scenario whether the team won or lost.

• It’s a lot easier to joke around in the locker room prior to the start of the meeting.
• You don’t mind walking through the hall where all the coaches’ offices are.
• Your McDonalds breakfast tastes INCREDIBLE and you may have an extra hash brown or egg McMuffin laying around for a teammate.
• When you break off into meetings, you’re still upbeat and you sit up straight making direct eye contact with the coaches.
• You know every play that is going to be talked about, and all of a sudden, people should be paying attention in the meeting room.  Double bonus if your coach mentions your high level of play in front of the group; you’re really ready to watch film now if that happens.
• When coach points out someone else messing up or struggling, if they’re near you, you’ll coach em up and offer words of encouragement.  “It ain’t that bad g”
• When the coach points out the plays that you’re killin’ it in, your teammates will make comments out loud like, “good sh*t bro” or “I see ya ____”; you just act like it’s no big deal and mutter something like “preciate ya.”  In reality, you’re beaming with pride; you might even take a nice long exaggerated swig of the water bottle that you brought into the meeting with you.  #professionalvindication

Scenario 2:  You played ok; nothing good, nothing bad, you got the job done.  #meh
• Still easy to joke around in the locker room, but you might mention a couple reps that you hammed up.  (This gives a “heads up” and eases the ridicule when the play is shown.)
• There’s an awkward pause when you see your position coach, you don’t know what he thought of your performance just yet so you give him the obligatory “Whattup Coach!” and keep it moving
• McDonalds breakfast tastes INCREDIBLE and you may have an extra hash brown or egg McMuffin laying around for a teammate…However this now becomes a deal:  “I’ll give you this hashbrown but you better not laugh when you see me get pancaked in the 2nd qtr bro”
• You hope the coach doesn’t spend too much time on the plays you look bad in, but you also hope that he spends some time on the ones you look good in…They sort of cancel each other out.
• Any positive comment is a lapped up like a thirsty dog
• You’re VERY receptive too coaching points and offer an “I gotcha coach” or “yeah I gotta do that better” just to let him know that you’re on the same page.   #IgottaGetBetter

Scenario 3:  In your mind’s eye, you played terrible, and the coaches probably think the same thing; the following bullet points are made worse depending on if you’ve played this way consecutively.  It’s a production based business and jobs are always on the line.
• Depending on who you are, you may lose sleep over the prospects of what the film shows.  You definitely aren’t in a hurry to get to the facility that’s for sure.
• Not into joking around today, you probably stick to yourself a bit more, get changed earlier, maybe go get some treatment on your jammed finger that now bothers you a whole lot more than it did before the game.
• No way in hell you’re going anywhere near the coach’s offices…I’m talking duck and roll “Mission Impossible” manoeuvring around that section of the building.  You also avoid all contact with your position coach, and if he’s in the locker room talking with others: Time to get some more treatment…
• Worst part here is your awareness is heightened.  You notice every coach and their conversations in the locker room for some reason.  Normally, when you’re playing well and a coach doesn’t acknowledge your presence, you don’t care or notice.  If you’re playing bad and your coach doesn’t acknowledge your presence, not only do you care; you also start thinking about depth chart scenario’s and guys that play behind you etc etc…
• McDonald’s breakfast tastes INCREDIBLE but it’s the only good part of the day.  #NoHashbrownsForAnyone.  And if give any extras to a passing coach in hopes of making amends for you poor performance, you’re a brown noser of the worst kind.  #SlapYourself
• When the meeting starts and the film rolls, it feels like there is a white hot light on you; especially if your personal poor play, or missed assignment, costs the team in any way.
• There is a deafening silence that comes along with the poor play on film.  Your teammates know it, your coach’s talk about it, and your position group can’t help but judge.
• Every play you’re struggling in hurts.  The next meeting seems like its hours away.  You want nothing more than to get up and go to the bathroom FOREVER, but you know that’s the coward’s way out…

The reason I threw those out there Ridernation, is that every guy on the 42 man roster of the Saskatchewan Roughriders goes through one, or a combination of the aforementioned scenarios, after each and every game.  Here’s the important part:  As hard or as easy as the game film was to watch, you MUST, as a professional athlete be able to improve and make adjustments too your individual game.  Once again, it’s a production based business, and there’s ALWAYS someone else that is hungry for that rep.

It’s hard for the untrained eye (especially when you guys only have access to TSN camera angles) too really be able to analyze the Hamilton TiCat game from last week.  Obviously all eyes were on the performance of the Riders new QB, and the scrutiny that followed him after the loss provided an easy “out” to those looking for answers.

All of that is under the bridge now, but it’s all relative to the upcoming clash with the REDBLACKS…There were things that stuck out on film, and not just for Tino Sunseri, in which the players and coaches will need to correct going into the Ottawa game and moving forward.  Whatever scenario each individual player went through in that first meeting after the game, they must learn from what they saw and get it right the next time.

Personnel

This isn’t a talent problem that I’ll mention here; it’s more of a numbers/matchup problem.

Teams, and Hamilton did this, are able to match up against the Riders Offense more efficiently now that the squad is missing all three of the Full backs that they entered camp with (Hughes, McHenry, and Moore).

Up in the press box, there is always a coach responsible for identifying the Rider’s personnel groupings that are running onto the field.  That personnel grouping will dictate the guys in which the opponent will send out.  That’s where the problem lies.  When the Riders had the luxury of a Fullback body and skill set to use, teams would have to respect that and scheme against the Riders with the Fullbacks versatility in mind.  Whether it was a single TE set or a double TE set, the playbook was still varied because of the presence of an all around threat on the edges.  With the current stable of injuries, particularly to the Fullback group, the Riders are limited to sending out Olinemen that are typically only going to be used as blocker.  No disrespect to Watman, who is currently in this role, but if he runs a corner post, we’ll all be SHOCKED.  The Riders only have Messam left to act as the versatile body type from the TE spot, and that limits what they can do creatively.

Every time the Riders sent out the Trio of Messam, Allen and Watman last week, Hamilton countered with 5 linemen and stacked the box, because they knew that this limited the number of receivers Cortez could use, and that there was only so much that the Green and White can do out of this group.  If the Riders Offense had one of the FBs on the roster, Hamilton would have had to play it more honestly, and probably would have left the 5th Dlineman on the bench.  Both team’s scheme and playbook would have looked a lot different.  Not having any FBs is making it easy for other teams to match up and play against.

Tino Sunseri

I stated in the last Primer that I thought Tino would be a nice surprise for some of you.  Obviously, things didn’t work out that way, however I still think that he’ll be ok … Especially now that he’s had a chance to see everything on film and get coached up.  Truthfully, he has to be better, or the Seth Doege fans, will pop up in droves.

At times during the game in Hamilton, Sunseri played like a young QB will.  There were downs where he spent too much time looking for the “big play” throw, as opposed to getting the offense into a 2nd and 3-4 type of situation.  If he gets the same type of looks vs. Ottawa, and he’s gone over things with his receiving core, expect Bagg and Swain to have good games and make some possession extending catches.

One can’t attest his pension for looking for the big throw to greed though; you have to chalk it up to inexperience.  There are some plays that are in the book that get called; and if it’s Darian Durant in at QB, the throw is pre-determined.  Doubles may know right away in some cases, that it’s not the 1st or 2nd option that will get the chains moved; it may be the third option right away.  As a QB, that ability only comes after a certain amount of snaps, or if you’re Peyton Manning.

I also spent a little bit of time listening to Tino after the game and during the practise week.  He spoke a lot about how much pressure he puts on himself, and his expectations, in regards to personal performance.  After awhile, the trained ear may hear a QB that is weighing himself down far more than anyone else will do.  Tino Sunseri needs to understand that he doesn’t need to sit and stew in a dark room about the game winning drive or throwing for 500 yards and 3 TDs.  He needs to realize that the talent around him is more than capable of getting to the finish line.  The faster Tino realizes that he is a part of the vehicle, and not the engine of it, the more we’ll start seeing the drive extending short yardage throws that set up the big play capability of Smith and Dressler.  You have to learn from the tape!!!

So this Primer’s point was too make it clear that this week’s opponent is not the real storyline.  This week is all about seeing how guys adjust to what they saw from the Hamilton game.  It was a lot more than just Sunseri; and Hamilton taking advantage of personnel groupings.

On defence, Hamilton exposed some mismatches they felt existed, and avoided having Fantuz line up across from Weldon Brown as much as they could.  The defensive players will attest that there were some missed tackles that would have led to Hamilton punts that the Riders didn’t capitalize on as well.  I’m sure some of the Olinemen would like to have a couple blocking assignments and technique stricken from history, and we all know that the Punt cover team is still very inconsistent.
The sky is not falling in Riderville.  I hated reading things like, the guys have to “sick together” or anything else that would suggest that the team is in trouble.  There’s plenty of chance for that to happen, however after one game, the feeling is probably more like, “Dammit, if we had made one or two plays here and there, we would have won.”  Shoot…if the Blue Jays win 7-8 in August, everyone in Toronto thinks we’re going to the show!!!

There are three types of scenarios that play out in the first team meeting after a game; we went over them…

There is only one scenario that can play out after that meeting…Adjust and focus on what needs to be done in order to go 1-0 against the next opponent.

In closing, I want to salute Reggie Hunt and Chris Szarka.  I’m blessed to be able to call you both friends, and it was an absolute honour to get to run out of the Green helmet and compete with you…

Kia Kaha

#ProPerspective