Despite the best efforts of Rob Baggs and Stevie Baggs, Wally Buono the veteran coach of the British Columbia Lions escaped as the Leo's outplayed the Saskatchewan RoughRiders 35 - 20. Buono along with quarterback Buck Pierce have been underfire as the Lions struggled to a 1 - 4 start but the Riders with their lack of a quarterback and inability to stop the run proved to be the perfect tonic.
All week long Riders coach Ken Miller preached to the players about the importance of hydrating themselves and after watching Friday's performance you wonder with what.
The Riders looked like they were under a giant hang over. The defense started as well as you can forcing three consecutives turnovers. Darian Durant responded well with two touchdown passes to Rob Baggs and it looked like the Riders were off to the races. But in typical Darian Durant fashion, its start well, fade and then get progressively worse. Finally, fourth quarter, in comes Stephen Jyles who on this night had one play. Look, duck, run like hell. It worked for a couple of gains but not much more.
Last week Miller employed a start Durant, go to Jyles, back to Durant rotation that resulted in a win over Calgary. So why not this week?
In my mind there isn't any quarterback controversy at this time,'' Miller said. "In the first half, Darian made some really good decisions, otherwise I would have gone with Steven a little bit earlier for a series or two and then put Darian back in. We had the situation where we threw that interception and I wanted to get Steven into the game.''Miller added that Durant remains the starting quarterback. Jyles said that he's OK with Miller's position.
The ever generous Wally Buono even tried helping the Riders out with a third down and inches gamble that gave the Riders a shot in BC territory. But again Jyles could not move the ball and the Riders fell. Would that not have been the time to return to Durant?
According to Miller, there isn't any quarterback controversy at this time. If that is so, then the blame for this loss lies squarely on the coach. And thats only fair.
Miller received critism for his two quarterback rotation against Calgary and then high praise from fans and media alike when it worked. So why not use it this time?
The answer lies with the coach and in this case so does the blame.
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