Riders press day

[Guest]

Uta 31 Pho 19

well.....we kept them under 40????? nothing here to even try and salvage here 1st play of the day is a 3 yd pass to Hugh Emerson who fumbles, that utah recovers and they score a td. we score a TD in the last min to make it LOOK less of an ass whuppin than it was.





1st 7 possessions lost fumble, 3 out, 3 out, 4 out, 3 out, 3 out, 3 out. again horrible on 3rd down 4-18.



we stumble our way into the playoffs not much hope here Facing memphis my ONLY bright spot is its on the road!
where i was 6-2, ironically our match in week 8 was one of my few home wins. but that was a special games fest we took the opening kickoff back for a td and slugged the game out.

we lost TOP by nearly 10 min, out gained by almost 130 yds, 5-13 on 3rd downs might be time for some extreme measures. after all the definition of insanity and all that...

if only i could install a wishbone

[Guest]

Mem 23 Pho 7


man that was brutal, another 1 and done in the post season. only 50yds on the ground bitter pill to swallow but we lost to the better team clearly and our 3rd down woes were painfully evident in this game

[Guest]

2028 post mortem

well that was painful......


2028 was an interesting year, with the frodo trade we improved our team and gave Monty his chance. and we did well perhaps in spite of him and his ineptitude on 3rd down.

cant put all the blame on him tho as we did a horrible job protecting him he was sacked a club record 44 times (2nd most in the league).

our running game was much improved with the addition of Hugh Emerson. we moved up in total yards and YPC from 27' the 1-2 punch with Peter Briggs worked well. also at RB Alvin Baker set a franchise record for punt return yards and even caught a TD

the WR corps was bolstered by the arrivals of Stan Morison & Pat Donaghy to offset the decline of Alfred Morison. The younger Morison's season was ended early hopefully there wont be any long term effects as his future looks bright

our offensive line is showing its age allowing the afore mentioned 44 sacks.
and the young guys will have to step up next year.

our d was the one shining spot Bernard Kirk recorded 15 sacks (3rd in the league) 2nd in hurries.


as a team we were +9 in takeaways (3rd) as well as 3rd in PR% (3 of the top 5 teams in PR% were in the ac west). and we left them on the field far too much and we werent able to convert 3rd downs so we really put a lot of pressure our D



the one other bright spot is the 3 TD returns by Bernie Richardson giving him 9 for his career tying him for #2 all time.


all in all lots of smoke and mirrors here we had one of the easier schedules and we parlayed that into a playoff birth were just missing a few peices and well be ok....except for the whole utah thing

[Guest]

2029 outlook

well '28 was interesting to be kind 9-7 with a wild card loss the defense was solid giving up 21 or more points 6 times all 6 losses, the offense was bad dead last in 3rd down conversions what also didnt help was our porous pass protection allowing 44 sacks. so what did we do to address that?



1st we brought in 3rd year QB Sammy Jennings, untested but seems to have all the tools well try to attack a little more vertically and jennings can make all the throws so he should be an upgrade from Monty,

2nd we upgraded out protection with the retirement of Marcus Martin we had some holes to fill and so we signed Mercury Southrey Hell play G and T untill our 1st round pick is ready.

well rounded player allowed only 7 sacks last year. Along the same lines we drafter Don Parrott G out of Clemson he may need a year to "ripen" well see what he does after cam but hell be a fixture for 10-12 years

We also picked up Lincoln Gunn well try him out at G looks to be a capable backup hell compete with guys like Andy Cash, and Lonnie Stargell for the backup spots on the line.


Also we upgraded TE with our other 1st rounder Antoine "Wild thing" Vaughn and free agent TE Bryan Sheldon both are capable pass blockers and will help in the pass game as well giving Jennings good sure handed targets and added protection and will help in the running game.



3rd trying to keep our d strong. we return 10 starters from last season however, the other big retirement was Cris Lowe solid defender not a real int guy but a good defender we may have gotten lucky finding his replacement in Corey Wenzel not a great run defender but hell hold up in coverage and hopefully hell get a few ints to make up for his lackluster tackling then again at 5-8 178 cant expect much physicality against 200+ lb running backs. hell start as the nickle back and have a shot to start opening day


Also the signing of S Winfred "Ozzy" Osborne hell help with the run D and ease the transition of Mo Lyon in his 11th year. with him Lyon and Anderson i like the safeties we have we should allow the front 4 to get more pressure.




this years schedule is tough only 3 of our non conference game are against teams with losing records in 28' plus 2 games with utah and Denver is always dangerous. this season will be a challenge with all the new faces and tought playoff teams well be lucky to break .500 im looking for more explosion on offense. we won a the 17 -14 kind of games but we really need to score more well open things up and give Jennings a chance to earn his next contract

[Guest]

So as we break camp and look forward to the preseason and seeing if teh line we patched together will work things are lookig bright in the desert.

especially after looking at Greta's report of "Best QB's" and seeing Sammy Jennings "inch" out Frodo for the #9 spot. (Frodos short! god now i know why this was so fun!)


but the lines been revamped sammy has the keys to the car with 3 WR with over 70 bpr at his disposal and a what should be a very productive TE he has all the tool for success. now to beat Utah. but baby steps first get thru the pre season injury free.

[Guest]

week 1 preseason is over and were MOSTLY healthy (Pat Donnaghy sprained knee out for 3 weeks)

the new faces looked good as Jennings and Vaughn did well and Parrot did fine by simply not getting his name called.

week 2 will see more of our 2te sets as we see Sammy Jennings go back to face the team that drafted him in Chicago.


just trying to stay healthy coach up the younglings Tony Andrews will see the field in this one to see how things went in "summer league"

[Guest]

week 2 in the book

couple of minor injuries offense was anemic with the b unit playing with a few bright spots Jeff Berry had 4 catches on 7 targets for 61 yards including a 31 yard strike.

Andrews had a rough day with 4 passes dropped going 15-27 181 and a int as did the D Chicago's 1st 4 drives resulted in 4 tds. after that tho we shut em down!

week 3 monty will get some action but looks like hes gonna be #2 on the depth chart after what, objectively was a fine season 3400+ yds 20 tds 81.9 qb rating and a 9-7 record.


one slightly major injury G Lincoln Gunn well put him on IR and keep him around he looked ok going +3/-2 in camp well see and hope the injury doesnt hurt him.

here to hopefully a healthy week against a powerful Pearl Harbor team

[Guest]

week 3 monty looked very bad with the B team 9-25 ouch but the line had him on the run with 7 hurries and had a couple drops the d was surprisingly good allowing only 16 points with our offense being as poor as it was.

the only bright spot was the 80 yd td run by PR/RB alvin baker, and DT Kurt Romero 3 tackles 1/2 a sack and 4 hurries. hes making it hard to realize that hes just here to fill a spot for camp


we will have some tough cuts to make but the youth movement looks like its gonna be served in 2029

[Guest]

well week 4 in the books my #2 back has a pulled groin but other than that were ok. were gonna have to make some tough cuts some guys we liked and some longtime vets


not looking forward to week 1 we visit Denver for our season opener. i hate that denver D i hate that denvier field i hate those denver Wrs.

one hell of a game for Sammy Jennings to make his 1st regular season start hell have all the tools at his disposal with the trio of morrison, vaughn and emmerson we should be able to put up more points to take some of the pressure off the D

[Guest]

breaking camp we had to make some tough decisions we released 9 year Vet Ernie Morris he was just never the same after an injury a few seasons ago fits the youth movement motif, we also had to part ways with K Horace Galanski after 13 years he is #1 all time scoring for us but Quentin Dodge needed the spot to live up to the promise of those combines (last time i draft by combines alone)


the defense returns 8 starters the core of the front 7 intact the offense went thru a bit of a shake up in spite of Monty having a good season 3400+ yds 20 td and only 9 ints Sammy Jennings was brought in to get the ball to Stan Morrison anything less than 90 catches for him is a failure on my part, and slinging Sammy is the right guy.....we hope

[Guest]

Den 27 Pho 6


maaaaaaan that sucked. Jennings was nervous his first pass was "badly overthrown" leading to the 1st of many 3 and outs. rough rough 1st game for him. the 2 bright spots, no ints and an 80yd 17 play drive to throw his 1st career TD.


all in all not a terribly bad start not a good one. didnt get any passes thrown in the direction of my te now we go to S Maryland to face Sammy's former mentor Ethan Lepsis.

[Guest]

SMD 3 Pho 27


a game nobody wanted to win 10 turnovers for both teams combined. Sammy Jennings faced his former mentor Ethan Lepsis. in the home opener Jennings was much more comfortable completing passes to 9 different players even ran for a td but it was called back :(. Stanley Morrison had his coming out party 9 catches for 154 2 tds (35,34) on 10 targets and inspite of the injury to C Rosie Bennett we kept sammy vertical no sacks.

on D Chester "Jizzman 2.0" Jizmejian skeeted his way to his 1st career sack filling in for the injured jeff brooks. 4 ints on the day merely offset the 3 fumbles and 2 picks we had so the d kept things from being much worse than it could have been.

all in all we played 45 min of good football the 2nd quarter was horrid great balance 33 passes 36 runs. we face a tough waco team on the road. Alfred Morrison and Vinny Ireson were drafted in the same year and but for 3 injury plagued seasons Morrison was just as good however the years have been kinder to vinny

[Guest]

Waco 9 PHO 23


Game was much much closer than the score indicated and was VERY much in doubt until 1:45 in the 4th quarter. wacos d was tough including a goaline stand when we had 1st and goal from the 1.


waco stuffed or run holding us to under 3yds per carry and made us earn every inch. both teams were stingy in the red zone not allowing any tds on 5 tries (2 for us 3 for waco). waco lead in most offensive categories. the difference in the game was on 2 plays a 73 yard strike to Stan Morrison, and a 42 yd int return for a td by Chris DiPietro to seal the game.


sammy jennings gets his 2nd player of the game award and the dynamic duo seems to be gelling

[Guest]

in the midst of a 3 game losing streak the only bright spot was that Bernie Richardson got his 10th career kick return td tying him #1 all time

[Guest]

well this has been a season of subtext and what a story.

from the preseason with Sammy Jennings going back to the team that delt him and in week 2 playing against his former mentor Ethan lepsis, to the new Ohio feud and the trade for Grant Lienning deal and then facing denver 5 weeks later, facing boston who picked the better qb, to the anticipated match up with brooklyn Morrison vs Mier


but now we face utah (yay) we control our own fate as of now win out (unlikely) and were in lose and well need help the rest of the way. with stan morrison out for this weeks game it will be a tall order to beat the Utah juggernaut guess the subplot could be frodo only beat utah once HOPEFULLY Sammy can do better