Monday, October 08, 2007

Reflections on a long weekend

Gotta love a 4-day weekend! Even better if the Jakester were around, but now I'm just getting greedy.

The Regina Pats knocked off the Moose Jaw Warriors 4-2 Friday night. The Pats had this one well in hand, until Moose Jaw scored twice in the third period to make things interesting. Sunday, the Pats travelled to Edmonton and dropped the Oil Kings 6-2. The Pats had this one well in hand, until Edmonton scored twice in the third period to make things interesting. Starting to sound familiar?

On Monday, the Pats took a 3-2 lead into the third period in Saskatoon. Then, the wheels fell completely off the bus, as the Blades scored FIVE unanswered goals to take a 7-3 decision. You think the Pats coaches will be hammering home the importance of playing all three periods in practise this week? The other question is - will the players be listening?

Still, the Pats did win three in a row, and now sport a 5-3 record on the season. Things could be worse.

The Green Bay Packers blew a 20-10 lead against the hated Chicago Bears Sunday night, losing 27-20. I really hate the Bears. The Pack's offense in the 2nd half reminded me of the Nealon Greene era with the Riders. U-G-L-Y. Still, the Packers are 4-1 and lead their division. Things could be worse.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders improved their record to 9-5, with a 33-21 victory in Calgary on Monday. Good thing the running game was clicking, because Kerry Joseph looked terrible throwing the pigskin. Joseph ended up with 290 passing yards, but only because his receivers did a great job adjusting to poorly-thrown passes. That's gotta stop.

On the positive side, the defence looks to be rounding back into form - thanks in no small part to the return of DB Eddie Davis to the active roster. Luca Congi missed a couple of field goals, but also made six of them! Next up, a home-and-home with the flailing Hamilton Tiger-Cats. This time, it would be prudent for the Riders to put away a struggling opponent if given the chance. Still, the Riders have won two in a row, and have almost sewn up a home playoff game. Again, things could be worse.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am here to tell you man, this is not a championship calibre team. This team is 5-3 and could be just as easily 3-5. In 25%(2/8) of their games they have had real butt kickings. In another couple of games had the period gone 5 mins longer, the Pats would have been in trouble. In 3rd periods
they have been badly outplayed in their last four games but thanks to Rowatt, they have three wins!

The Pats are not imposing their will on teams and really outside of the first weekend, haven't looked good for 60 mins in any single game. A couple more losses and they will be what a number of people think they really are, a .500 team. At this pont they are not as good as either Brandon or Swift Current(look at goals for/against and I rest my case). Evidently not as good as Saskatoon either. I am disappointed with the start but not truly surprised! The talent in a lot of areas is way over-rated.

Great teams win 8 or 9 games in a row before losing. The team is VERY FORTUNATE to be where they are.

They are truly lacking grit and real leadership!! The loss of Stoez gets bigger every day. This team has not smashed anyone around, doesn't forecheck hard and usually gets outhit, like in Edmonton. Until they start imposing a huge physical presence, they will muddle through the season in mediocrity.