The Riders practiced in the rain on Day 1 of their practice week. Here are some notes from the workout.
- 24 hours after being cut by the Blue Bombers, receiver Scott McHenry was picked up by the Riders and may take Jordan Sisco's spot on the roster for Labour Day Classic XLV Sunday at Mosaic Stadium. McHenry was asked if the Rider coaches will pick his brain for info on the Bombers.
"I'm sure they're gonna ask me," McHenry smiled. "I'll tell 'em whatever I got. I'm sure on special teams Winnipeg will change their lingo and all the words that they have but whatever I can do to help us here, that's why I'm here."
- WR Dallas Baker, who came over from Montreal in the Mullinder trade, will replace Terrence Nunn on the roster. Rider head coach Ken Miller expects big things.
"I think he's a guy who can be an impact player," Miller said. "I think he'll catch some balls. He and Darian are developing a good relationship and I expect him to contribute in a big way."
- There will be a couple of changes on defense. Rookie Chris Graham will replace the injured Barrin Simpson at middle linebacker while safety James Patrick is moving to Sean Lucas's outside linebacker position while rookie Craig Butler will line up at safety. Miller explained the move with Patrick.
"We had struggled at that position," Miller explained. "The dime position requires someone with a lot of abilities. You have to be able to play in the box and defend two back runs and you have to be able to play like a D-B. There aren't a lot of guys who can do that, but James can. What's enable us to do that is we've had great play from our rookie safety Craig Butler."
- The Riders have the element of surprise on their side on Sunday. Bomber DC Tim Burke told the Winnipeg Sun he's not sure what Ken Miller and Darian Durant have up their sleeve and Darian says that's a bonus.
"We're gonna bring back some things that we did well a couple of years ago," Darian winked. "Coach Miller is always an innovative guy and he comes with new things all the time. It'll enable us to keep them off balance and always wonder what we're gonna do. It's gonna be fun.
"Most of the guys on offense were here when Coach Miller or Lapo were the O.C's. It's not that hard. It's not new things but it's different terminology. It's good that they don't have film on us and it should be a good game for us."
Coming up on the Sports Cage today on 620 CKRM, we'll be joined by Rider linebackers coach Alex Smith at 5:10 pm and former Blue Bombers coach Mike Kelly will be with us at 6:10 pm. You won't want to miss that!
RP
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18 comments:
Do we have clowns running the scenes here? First off they didn't want Lucas and signed him anyway when they had a younger cheaper player in Bullock around, then because Lucas has sucked major balls they move their All-Star Saftey to LB?
They sack Kornegay, because Taman suddenly realized once the season began he was to expensive. They cut Bullock,who was cheaper , sit Lucas because of the ratio and now move Patrick to LB. I am trying to understand this one.
They do what they feel is best for the team! Figure it out!
Lucas won the job in camp.
Bullock was a baby and questioned Taman's decision to move him to halfback, so he can "kick rocks". Beat it!
Kornagay didn't want to play corner and complained since the first day of camp and he had a big salary so he can beat it too!
Ya clowns everywhere I guess. Bullock is so good that he was picked up by which team exactly after we cut him??? Nobody. Lucas has been an allstar before and up until recently was able to be good at both run D and coverage....he was one of our more versatile players and one of Richie's favourites. Who knew that he would regress so quickly - it is so easy for all of you to criticize with the benefit of hindsight. Whether it is age, injuries or whatever, he has not been the same player since the middle of last year - they thought it was injuries last year and that he would rebound this year - he has shown flashes of his former self but has not been consistent - maybe they are just trying to wake him up by benching him (similar to what the great Austin did by benching Fantuz in 2007) or maybe it is a ratio thing. Not sure how it is Taman's fault for these moves (or for that matter why it is anyone's fault) - it had nothing to do with Taman suddenly realizing Tad was too expensive - the coaching staff determined during training camp that they wanted a different body type at LB and Tad was actually replaced by Freeman not Lucas - Tad is not a good corner so there was no place for him at the time and he was expensive (note that he has done nothing in BC either). So Taman let him go. We are still saving money and an import spot here since we are putting in Butler (non import) for Lucas and Butler is cheaper than Tad would have been. Geez - they don't make changes and they get hammered - then they try to make changes and they get hammered anyway. Why is no one giving Taman props for drafting Butler who is going to be a good one. Can't win with you guys....
I am giving props to Taman for hiring Mike Kelly, and for all of the grey cup rings he has under his pillow.Woz your comments are way to long, now i know what the Cubans felt like listening to Castro for hours under the hot sun.Yawn !!!
I like the idea of moving James to linebacker. This way he will be able to make even MORE plays since he is closer to the line. Plus Craig Butler has played well enough to get a chance to start at Safety.... To all the haters, we NEED to make changes we are currently 1 and 7. These are good changes
Trevor
That would be the Trevor who wears green and white, not the yahoo who wears blue and gold!
So THAT's where Rob Halford has been hiding!
For all the Bullock lovers, who is he with now? Oh yeah, he is sitting at Mo Lloyds place waiting for the phone to ring.
Wake up losers!!!
This weekend is PRIDE vs SWAG, lets hope Rider Pride wins out.
And there is a story in the Winnipeg Sun saying they think their fans our louder and Canad Inns Stadium is louder then Mosaic. We need to show again why we are still the greatest fans, even at 1-7 we still come to games and make noise and hopefully we turn this thing around.
Lon
Give Taman his dues, the Mike Kelly hire was because of Lyle Bauer. Otherwise I don't know that he would have been hired. I hate the Bombers but don't pin that one on Taman.
Paul I was JUST going to comment the same thing about Rob Halford! LOL Good one!!
Val
are we really at the point again where we are picking up other team's retreads. Wow. Welcome to 1991.
This team is in the crapper.
We have the best fans in the league by far. We are the loudest, we sell the most merchandise, and we love our team through good times and bad!!! GO RIDERS!!!
So is Lucas sitting on the 1 game injury list or is he still on the active roster ???
Red - get your facts straight. Bauer hired Kelly despite the protests of Taman - in fact Taman was so upset with it that he RESIGNED!!! So obviously Taman saw a shit storm coming.
As for Winnipeg Stadium noise - anyone who has been there knows that they pump noise through their speakers - it is sooooo obvious you can practically feel the noise knob being turned. As far as I know we make our own noise at Taylor Field. So Bumbers - turn off the stereo and lets see how much noise you make....
Woz - Kornegay was an all-star playing the hybrid position. His body type compares with Lucas, not Freeman. He would be a perfect fit for that role. Patrick is the best safety in the league. Taman should have drafted Hugh O'Neill,a needed kicker, and not traded down to pick a player who plays the same position as your best defensive player. Not sure how you can defend a GM who took a championship team to 1-7 in 2 years. Look at teh roster. Its not just the coaches fault.
CM - you are right that Tad was more similar to Lucas in body type but the reality is they replaced Tad at LB with Freeman in the starting lineup. The lineup was Tad, Lucas and Williams the year Tad was an all-star. Patrick as played strong side in 2008 before. Tad has done nothing in BC so why the tears for him - we can be just as good with Patrick and a cheaper Butler. Taman deserves some criticism for the roster but it is not all bad. Besides - Taman has only really been running this team for a year and a half and if you want to say that there has been a downgrade in talent then it has to go back further than that....Tillman took Shivers team plugged a couple of players in and rode Roy's coat tails to the Cup. But since then Tillman won squat while he was here and our talent level slow disintegrated under his watch. Tillman left us with nothing on the negotiation list and he also basically drafted no one other than Shologan in the years he was here. He was also on pills and dealing with a lawsuit the last couple of years he was here so how good of a job was he really doing? As for Womack - he sulked after not getting the GM job and therefore brought in no one of consequence last year. So although I disagree that our talent is completely bad there is plenty of "blame" to go around if you want to go there. We also got old in a hurry after Tillman left - Taman was left with greybeards like Morgan and Szarka and little in the stable for young offensive lineman due to Tillman negligence. I also disagree with drafting a kicker early. We just needed a stop gap until Luca was back (and he will be back next week) so why draft a kicker in the first round when he would just need to be cut or traded after 8 games? Butler is a good player and will be good for the next 10 years. He is also a ratio breaker - kinda nice to have Butler to go in if we need to start an import elsewhere. My understanding is they wanted to keep Curious George on the roster so they needed to find an import to sit and replace with Butler. Nothing wrong with that. In fact wasn't it always the Taman haters that said he could not find Canadian talent? Looks like he has done well with our young o-lineman, Butler, Shomari, Groh, Neufeld, etc. 2007 was 5 years ago and many of our stars from then have retired, or gone for greener pastures. Taman has been able to keep our veteran core while under the cap. We are just reloading and I prefer to be positive about the future and with the job Brendan has done/will do.
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