CFL.ca Staff

TORONTO -- CFL.ca columnists Matt Cauz and Jaime Stein along with Mitch the Intern will grade each team heading into the Eastern and Western Division Finals. Cauz and Stein have shared their opinions on the CFL all season long on CFL.ca. Mitch the Intern produced the weekly CFL.ca Rookie Report and is a lifelong Rider fan, giving him license to weigh in on all things CFL.

Below is the report card for the Western Division's top team from the 2009 regular season, the Saskatchewan Roughriders:

	MATT CAUZ	JAIME STEIN	MITCH the INTERN
QBs	B+	B+	B+
RECs	B	A	A+
RBs	B	B+	B
OL	A-	A-	A-
DL	A+	A+	A+
LBs	A	A	A-
DBs	A-	B+	B+
STs	C+	B-	A-
Coaching	A+	A	A

CAUZ says: First off let me say how nervous I am about giving any grade below an A+ for fear of upsetting the Green and White fan base. Please feel free to rip me in the comments section here at CFL.ca or on Twitter @mcauz56.
 
Beyond his impressive numbers I like the fact that Darian Durant guided his team to a .500 record (4-4-1) on the road. That might not seem overly impressive until you realize that every other team not named "Montreal" or "Alouettes" finished with a losing road record. The young guys usually fall apart late on the road. Of course Durant leads the league in interceptions so I can't give him an A grade.
 
I was really close to giving the WRs a B+ on the basis that there really isn't a huge drop off from WR #1 (Dressler) to #4 (Getzlaf). But they don't possess that classic #1 Alpha Dog wide-out that can singularly dominate a game from start to finish. These guys remind me of the Rolling Stones' classic album 'Exile On Main Street'. None of the songs would make the list of Top 10 but the album as a whole is really good. Remember if this grade was based on the whole league I'd easily give them a B+ but compared to the Lions, Alouettes and Stampeders they can only get a B.
 
I'm a big fan of Gene Makowsky, glad he got a Western All-Star Nomination.
 
John Chick and Stevie Baggs can control a game on their own and I nominate this play by Baggs (go to 1:03 point) as the sack of the year. Not sure if Rob Murphy has fully recovered.
 
Nothing overly special about the special teams. Jamie Boreham was average in the regular season but is out for the playoffs. He'll be replaced by rookie Louie Sakoda.
 
Here is what I love about the Roughriders coaches: The team is 2nd in points and touchdowns but are 6th in total yards which means that Saskatchewan is a top team in the red zone. They are last in field goals made which says more about just how smart their offense is and less about the skills of Luca Congi. Being able to come away with touchdowns over field goals is huge, especially in the playoffs. Throw in the development of Durant to an All-Star level and I can't think of too many negative things to say about Ken Miller and his entire staff. If there was an "Intangibles" category Saskatchewan easily would have got an A+.

STEIN says: It is easy to argue that Durant wins games thus he should receive an A for his efforts. However, his league high 21 INTs is cause for concern – especially because Michael Bishop only served up 20 picks. Plus, Durant's quarterback rating of 83.4 puts him in the lower tier of QBs.

Earlier in the season I spoke with Riders’ offensive coordinator Paul LaPolice and he told me that one goal of his receiving corps was to fight for extra yards. I said it before and I’ll say it again: Pound for pound this is the toughest group of receivers in the league. It is also the only group to boast the leading receiver in four different weeks this season.

A B+ may be a bit unfair for the running backs, but Cates was hampered due to injury this year. Szarka did have a resurgent season in ‘09 in his familiar role as the goal line battering ram. He has 6 TDs to show for his efforts. Hugh Charles was entertaining, but had some trouble hanging onto the ball in Cates’ absence.

Gotta hand it to the O-line which lost arguably its best player in Wayne Smith before the regular season started. But with guys like Makowsky and O’Day up front the hogs were able to hold down the fort and produce beyond expectations with a variety of newcomers on the line.

The last place on earth I may want to be is standing under centre with John Chick and Stevie Baggs staring me down. That’s a mean defensive line and the best of the remaining teams in the playoffs if not the league.

Saskatchewan was second best in the CFL this season scoring 144 points off of 54 takeaways. Credit goes to the fierce group of linebackers. I thought Tad Kornegay had a great season... plus he is entertaining to follow on Twitter (@T2Dak).

The defensive backs benefited from the strong front seven and did a decent job this season holding down the back end.

Special teams have been a weak point for the Riders this year. Boreham may have entertained with his big hits, but that does the Riders no good in the punting department. Before Jason Armstead arrived on the scene the return game was hard to stomach. Congi is solid at kicker.

I have to admit, I was a skeptic early in the season with regards to Ken Miller’s approach for developing his quarterbacks, but clearly it worked. He has molded Durant into one of the more promising QBs of the next generation.

MITCH the INTERN says: Alright let’s get this out of the way right now… I was born a Riders fan, I will die a Riders fan, I bleed green. That being said I will try, hard as it may be, to remove my green-shaded glasses for this assessment.

There is a ton to like about the ‘09 Riders.  At QB Darian Durant may not be Anthony Calvillo but in his first full season as a starter the ex-Tar Heel became the first Rider pivot to lead the team to a first place finish in the West since the iconic Ron Lancaster. He is a winner. After seeing the way he handled the back to back overtime games against Calgary and BC, with the game on the line I want the ball in his hands. Period.

Making Durant’s life a lot easier is an outstanding crew of receivers even with All-Star Weston Dressler on the shelf. Andy Fantuz can catch anything and Rob Bagg has emerged as a star this season. Wes Cates had an off season running the ball, but did show some flashes of his former brilliance. If the Riders can get him going during the playoffs to complement their passing attack the offence will be nearly unstoppable.

On D Stevie Baggs and John Chick are a quarterback’s worst nightmare. With 23 sacks between the two All-Star DEs they give the Riders the best one-two pass-rush in the league. While the Riders have struggled at times this season stopping the run, when you throw in three more Western All-Stars (Kornegay and Lucas at linebacker and Frazier in the secondary) and veteran leadership from Eddie Davis you still have a solid unit.

I don’t care what Cauz and Stein say, I like the Riders special teams. It was a weakness but has gotten much better. The return game got a serious boost when Jason Armstead re-joined the Riders mid-season.  Averaging nearly 25 yards per kick return and over nine yards per punt return (both better than Larry Taylor) the six-year vet rarely lets the Riders lose the field position battle. On the other side rookie Jerrell Freeman has emerged as a stud on the cover team. Maybe they don’t deserve an A but Luca Congi earns them bonus points for having the best-choreographed handshakes in the league.

Okay so I’ll be honest, on paper the Alouettes are the best team in the league… but I’m still picking Ken Miller’s boys to win the Grey Cup – then again, I do own an awful lot of green.


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