ROUGHRIDERS ARE LOOKING TO ‘BERRY’ THEIR NEXT OPPONENT
Bye week allows coaching staff to review, plan and prepare for the upcoming battle
When two football teams play a back-to-back set, the common refrain is that the games will end up being split.
Why is this, anyway?
What is more interesting about this week’s rematch between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Hamilton Tiger-cats is that there is a bye week between games.
The players won’t be affected as much, but both coaching staffs will have used this extra time to plan a strategy that they think will result in a victory, as they always do.
How many new plays will you see?
How many new personnel groupings/position adjustments will be created?
What matchups do you want to key in on?
What tendencies in schemes does a team exploit?
Do you need to change any signals?
A normal prep week is usually one or two days. The concurrent bye weeks for Saskatchewan and Hamilton enable those teams to have much more time than usual for game-planning.
The amount of video review the coaches will do is more than you can imagine. Plays are reviewed so many times that it would make your head spin.
A fan favourite of Rider Nation — former Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach and former Roughriders offensive co-ordinator Doug Berry, I’m sorry to tell you — was excellent at breaking down an opponent.
Countless times, he’d run into my office and howl in joy, “Come look at this!”
With a huge smile, he’d then advise me to (in this example) watch the right tackle’s outside foot. Doug would run 15 or 20 plays. Then, like Alex Trebek, he’d give you the answer.
“On pass plays, look ...”
“On run plays, look ...”
Voila! We then knew whether the opponent was running or passing based on the stance of the right offensive tackle before the snap. Who needs to steal signals?
This wasn’t unique to our club, but it does serve as an example of how detailed these coaches are and what valuable information they can glean from video.
In some instances, our strategy was to hold back a play or two, and possibly a special-teams fake.
Why is it significant to bring up Doug Berry and finding cues and looking into the tiniest detail on video?
Well, Doug learned all of this as an offensive assistant coach under Don Matthews. On Don’s defensive staff during that time: Chris Jones, who is now the Roughriders’ head coach and general manager.
You can bet your next box of Fantuz Flakes that Mr. Jones is doing much of the same with an extra few days of prep time at his disposal.
The coaches in these back-toback showdowns play such an important role.
Personnel guys can only do so much in these cases. You can’t change 10 players to surprise the opponent. If that happens, your team is either awful or injuryplagued.
After the first game of a backto-back set, it’s not complex to understand what each team needs to improve on or ensure it does better. After losing 18-13 at Mosaic Stadium on July 5, the Tiger-cats’ coaches are going to want to increase the touchdown production and keep the Riders’ quarterbacks (yes, plural) in the pocket.
Saskatchewan’s general efficiency on the offensive side of the ball must improve (duh).
Special teams always play a huge role in these second games. Hamilton needs to match Saskatchewan in this department on Thursday at Tim Hortons Field, given the impressive manner in which the Roughriders’ special teams performed July 5.
One wonders if either team held back a fake or a gadget play. If so, a coach will have howled with joy when it was implemented into the game plan.
Now for the weekly predictions, along with Rob Vanstone’s (futile) perspectives.
SASKATCHEWAN AT HAMILTON THURSDAY, 5:30 P.M.
Taman: Sticking with the backto-back theory. Tiger-cats by three.
Vanstone: Riders won’t have enough offence. Tiger-cats by nine.
B.C. AT OTTAWA FRIDAY, 5:30 P.M.
Taman: B.C. came off the mat to win against Winnipeg. Ottawa dropped to the mat last week versus Calgary. Do the mat! Redblacks by three.
Vanstone: Lions are coming off a victory, but that was a donation by Winnipeg ’s coaching staff (see: short-yardage failures). Redblacks by 13.
WINNIPEG AT TORONTO SATURDAY, 2 P.M.
Taman: Two ornery teams ready to battle. Blue Bombers by three. Vanstone: Winnipeg is the better team, but Toronto has the superior coaching staff. Marc Trestman > Mike O’shea. Argonauts by three.
MONTREAL AT CALGARY SATURDAY, 7 P.M.
Taman: Seriously? Ryan Dinwiddie or Marc Mueller should play quarterback for Calgary this week. Stampeders by 11.
Vanstone: More of a mismatch than Hulk Hogan versus Barry Horowitz. Stampeders by 23.
Records after Week 4:
Vanstone 14-5 (2-1 last week); Taman 12-7 (2-1).
FANTASY PLAYERS TO WATCH
Taman: Calgary defence. Just downright dominant all year. This week will be no different.
Vanstone: Watch for a bounceback game by Ottawa quarterback Trevor Harris, especially against a subpar Lions team.
Review of Week 3 fantasy picks:
I went with Edmonton’s Mike Reilly, who threw for 258 yards and two touchdowns and ran six times for a team-high 55 yards in Friday’s 16-15 victory over Toronto.
Vanstone picked Calgary’s Don Jackson, who had 15 carries for 102 yards (including a 48-yarder) and three receptions for 24 yards in Thursday’s 27-3 victory over Ottawa.
Two solid, but not spectacular, picks. Mine was better because it’s my column.