The Roughriders dropped a heart breaker at home to the B.C. Lions on Saturday 29-18. The loss puts an end to Riders' playoff hopes and brings out the all-too-familiar Saskatchewan saying, "Maybe Next Year".
The Roughriders dropped a heart breaker at home to the B.C. Lions on Saturday 29-18. The loss puts an end to Riders' playoff hopes and brings out the all-too-familiar Saskatchewan saying, "Maybe Next Year".
The End of an Era! 2011 now marks the first time the Riders have missed the playoffs since 2001. A trip through the past decade starts in the Roy and Danny era where the club crawled out of the basement to hover around the .500 mark year after year and found ways to make the playoffs. Move ahead to the pinnacle of the past 10 years when the Green and White won the third Grey Cup of the team's history in Toronto with Eric Tillman and Kent Austin at the helm. 2008 saw a bit of a hiccup under Ken Miller and way too many broken legs! Next Gang Green rebounded to make Grey Cup appearances in both 2009 and 2010, both times falling short to the Alouettes. 2011 sees the Green and White fall back down the stairs into that same basement, leaving all of Rider Nation scratching their heads and wondering what went wrong. When you take a bird's eye view it's been good times in Riderville over the past decade and we can only wonder what is to come in 2012 and beyond.
Casting Call! In Coach Miller's post-game press conference he mentioned that wholesale changes can't be made at this point due to the salary cap implications. Even so it begs the question who is in and who is out for 2012. Some of the names mentioned already for possible exit are Gene Makowsky, Baron Simpson, Wes Cates and Dario Romero among others. Not to say their play hasn't been good, but a lot may come down to age, retirement and the direction the team chooses to go. The remaining games of 2011 bring a perfect stage to test some of talent already here and give them some more reps. There are several receivers and linemen already in Riderville waiting for their opportunity. Brandon West has brought some electricity to the stage and should be given some more touches at running back to see what he's made of. This could definitely provide the organization with some extra evaluation time in preparation for "Next Year".
Colour Blind! Staring through the green-tinted glasses of Rider Nation, it will be a tough pill to swallow come November when there is no green to be found in the CFL playoffs. However, Roughriders and Argos aside, it has been an exciting year around the league and with all the talk of parity in the sport today the CFL has found just that. We now know which six teams will be in the playoffs, but the order in how they finish is completely up in the air with three weeks to go. This still leaves us with six quality weeks of CFL football leading up to the battle for Earl Grey's coveted trophy!
Be Loud and Proud!
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