One thing became very evident as the Montreal Alouettes were pulling away from the Saskatchewan Roughriders in the second half at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday, on their way to a 39-25 Week 2 romp:Greg Marshall did not inherit a well-oiled machine when he took over as head coach for this season, and it wasn't simply a case of him taking over the wheel from his predecessor Ken Miller.No, this team has some issues as they sit at 0-2 but the issues don't seem like anything they can't overcome. The Riders share last-place with the BC Lions with identical 0-2 records while Edmonton leads the West Division at 2-0 and Calgary sits second at 1-1. What is this, 1991?As feared the Riders played far better against Montreal than they did in Week 1 (a 42-28 loss to the Eskimos) but they still lost. The team's current weaknesses were exposed as the secondary was torched for five aerial touchdowns by Anthony Calvillo (tying a career high), and their inexperienced receivers dropped passes left and right, killing drives."I thought we did a good job in the first half, and I told them there would be ebb and flow, and there was in the first half," Marshall said on CKRM's post-game show. "I thought we'd do that in the second half but in the third quarter the conditions favoured them. We didn't get them off the field. We dropped some passes and that didn't help."Giving the Alouettes the ball and the wind to start the second half proved to be the death knell for Saskatchewan. The Als outscored the Riders 15-0 in the third quarter and choked their opponents wind off in the fourth.Marshall's next comment, to me, encircles what's plaguing this team the most as they prepare for back-to-back eastern road trips (Week 3 at Hamilton and Week 4 at Montreal)."I told them after when you play a good team like this you have to play for 60 minutes and we didn't do that. And I told them nobody's gonna feel sorry for them. There's a good team in that locker room, they just have to show it."And therein lies the secret. After their Week 1 loss, Rider slotback Weston Dressler said the Roughriders were "out-worked". The term hasn't been used around here since the pre-Kent Austin days. After this week's loss defensive back Chris McKenzie told reporters the club "lacked enthusiasm" coming out for the second half.Now that is inexcusable, but also correctable, you would think. The talent seems to be there but they're not giving maximum effort. Everyone from the coaches to the players is admitting as much.The task facing Marshall is very clear; known for his all-business, take-no-prisoners approach, the first year head coach needs to put his stamp on this team and do it pronto. So far this team hasn't played Roughrider football, but Marshall knows exactly what that is and what it takes.He needs to find out how to get there, and if/when he does, that's how he'll make his mark as a head coach in this league.(Rod Pedersen is the voice of the Riders on CKRM radio)
