The Third Quarter Stretch...

So let's send it back to TSN control with Chris Schultz, Matt Dunnigan, Jock Climie, and Dave Randorf...

Randorf: Well folks what a wild third quarter we saw out there. Some good hits, flashes of pure arial brilliance, but really we have to start with play of the Roughriders backfield and slotbacks.

Schultz: Oh absolutely. The Head Coach and General Manager of the Roughriders have done a brilliant job of surrounding their young quarterback with heaps of talent in that offensive backfield, and the quarterback is making very good use of it. Not picking up big yardage, but enough to keep the defense on its heels a little bit and keep pressure off of the quarterback, which is helping him with his decsion making. Even after the big drive at the end of the 1st quarter that went all the way through the 2nd, he didn't make the greatest choices. I think in this third quarter we saw a lot more poise out of him.

Dunnigan: I'd have to agree. Although he did struggle early on in the 3rd. Losing his star wide receiver at the end of the 2nd quarter really hurt his confidence, and it showed early on with an early throw to a running back that appeared to be streaking downfield that went out of bounds. They came back to the huddle got it sorted out, and after that the ground game really took off, racking up quite a few yards along the ground. Up the middle, springing to wide side, little swing passes, the occasional shovel pass when he's desperate. That backfield was truly dominant in that third quarter, and what an excellent one-two punch the quarterback has back there.

Climie: There are certainly a lot of positives going on for the Riders here, but there are some things I am concerned about. The quarterback has not looked a ways downfield since about halfway thrrough the quarter, although once in a while I'm sure he saw some potential receivers getting little breaks from their coverage. He did hit those with passes twice, but they were wrapped up quickly, but importantly moved the chains. Once he did go for the deep ball, but it was bobbled, and went for a incompletion. The QB needs to trust his receivers that are getting those little breaks are going to hang onto the ball...

Dunnigan: Well to some extent I agree, but he's trying not to turn the ball over in what has been a very close game, and not give the opposition a chance to capitalize on his mistakes.

Randorf: One of the other interesting things that occured in the 3rd was the appearance of that receiver on the sidelines again, and where the Quarterback spiked his helmet out of frustration, and basically told the receiver "Get off my field, you're a distraction here, and taking away from my teammates. " I think he missed the deep threat but not enough to shake up the core of the team.

Schultz: I agree, but there he made a good call, and chose to focus what was right in front of him as opposed to being involved in off-field drama.

Randorf: Well the teams are getting ready to take back to the field, so what do we have to look forward to out of the Riders in this very important fourth quarter?

Schultz: I'd say watch the offensive line to continue to keep pressure off the QB, and watch his descion making become even more confident and poised.

Dunnigan: I'm going to have to say watch the runningbacks. They've nearly broken away on a few occasions, so watch for that one-two punch to maybe have a gamebreaking run.

Climie: And if they don't have that big run, it may open up some deep passing lanes for some huge arial gains. But he needs to take a chance on his receivers who are in one-on-one coverage.

Randorf: Well that's about all the time we have but just on the sidelines there we saw the quarterbck throw and absolute bullet that went clean through the receivers hands, so he's showing some of that arm-strength that we saw earliar in the game. And there have been rumours of a couple new players maybe coming on to the field for the 4th quarter, we'll have to see how that turns out...