Pre-Season Game #2

A very busy day yesterday. We traveled back and forth from Saskatchewan on game day, which is not our usual MO. The team chartered a private jet for travel, which was rather neat I thought. Everyone's legs seemed rather tired going into the game, despite a slightly toned back Thursday practice. I receive the nod to start and played the first half before the other 2 remaining DEs took over.

This game didn't go quite as well for the team as the last. We couldn't seem to stop the Roughriders and our offense found itself unable to move the ball. That being said, the starting D did manage to hold them to only field goals, one of those being on a very short field thanks to a muffed punt. We hurt ourselves with penalties, but I think in a normal game we would have come out on top. We did not blitz at all and simply played base D the entire time. Our coaches purposely did not gameplan for the Roughriders, while it was clear that the Roughriders had planned for us. That being said, it is still frustrating to have a poor defensive outing. They were definitely a good team.

I personally played OK... knocking down a pass and hitting the QB twice. My pass rushes improved over last week, but I still felt as if I was getting there just a half second too late. No real opportunities arose to make tackles in the run game for me. Zero runs bounced to the perimeter for me to make a play on. We ran a few line stunts well, but we also messed up a few thanks to unheard call checks and several sloppy executions. I was dog tired by the end of the second quarter due to the long drives engineered by the Roughriders and the downfield pursuit asked of us by the coaching staff. Not to mention special teams. I was also the only defensive lineman that the coach did not rotate out during the first half. We probably got 35-40 snaps. I am really dying for a sack.

The coaching staff will make final cuts by 11:59AM today and the coach handed out 25 envelopes on the plane last night to players he wanted to speak with this morning. It could be bad or good news, but there is no real way for a guy to tell until he gets there. I suppose I am in good shape because I was not handed an envelope and didn't feel the dreaded tap on the shoulder. We will have to see what happens when I arrive for meetings at 3:00pm today. I am very glad they're that late, as we didn't get home until 2AM last night.

I will have a lot of things to get done if I make the final roster today, most notably of these is finding a place to live. As soon as I find out about the roster I will make another post here.