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These are not Craig Dickenson’s Riders, this 2024 team, who in playing their second game in five days, defeated the Edmonton Elk 28-27.

The Riders brought a number of their second stringers to Edmonton to see who will play their way onto the roster. The one position everyone had their eyes on was back-up quarterback in the battle between Mason Fine and Shea Patterson.

Rider fans were divided on the decision to cut Jake Dolegala before the season, but Dolegala went on a six-game losing streak featuring questionable decision-making last season. He carried his streak over to BC where his first quarter saw him go one completion in eight attempts as BC took their scrubs to Calgary for a 30-6 beat down.

While Dolegala could throw deep, he also had his moments where his brain went into neutral and even had trouble in hitting a short pass after going deep. The bottom line is being able to move the team consistently to prevent the defense from burning out like it did.

That is not Dolegala and one wonders after a first half where Fine hit nine completions in 11 attempts for 75 yards, whether Fine has hit his plateau. Fine was pulled for medical reasons from the Winnipeg game and up against Edmonton starting defence hit short passes, did not turn the ball over, but did not push the ball down the field.

Again, Fine did not have starting receivers with him and an offensive line whose back ups still haven’t managed to figure out the way to block on short yardage. Edmonton also managed to get a decent rush on the Rider quarterbacks with four sacks.

Jack Coan, the rookie quarterback out of Notre Dame came out in the third quarter and was overwhelmed by the Edmonton pass rush. Shea Patterson who impressed in game one, came out in the fourth quarter and managed to move the Riders on a few drives, including taking advantage of a Edmonton fumbled punt to get the winning field goal.

The Riders came back to Regina for the last week of training camp and get acclimatized to their home, with practices every day. I love going to practice, but last year it was more a sleepy sun tanning opportunity with loud music playing and people standing around.

Corey Mace has injected the Riders with energy and there is no standing around

After seeing three practices, I would have to say the best free agent signing was Dan Farthing as strength and conditioning coach.

Farthing has the Riders doing stretching exercises at various times during practice, with the mandate of heading off the various ACL tears that have plagued this team over the last few years. Apparently when this was introduced in Saskatoon, the players talked through Farthing until Mace laid down the law that what Farthing was saying could well save their careers.

While the Riders offence and defence was made up mostly of back ups, the Riders special teams took advantage of a shaky Elks special teams return, getting a touchdown off a fumbled Elk punt, get pinned down at their two yard line on another punt leading to a pick six for a touchdown by the Riders.

Kosi Onyeka and Antoine Brooks Jr. stood out on defense and special teams with a touchdown apiece. One thing that was a bit concerning was the Riders inability to get a pass rush with four players. It was only when the Riders sent a linebacker or defensive back in on a blitz did the Riders get pressure on the quarterback but that opened spots in the defensive backfield that Elks quarterbacks McLeod Bethel Thompson and Tre Ford could exploit.

Shea Patterson did not get a touchdown, but he rallied the Riders including a stellar job going after one of his fumbles the Elk should have recovered. One of the purposes of exhibition games is putting players in challenging situations.

Patterson showed some presence in not being overwhelmed by the situation and a few days of watching practices seems to point to the possibility of the Riders alternating back up quarterbacks and if one quarterback manages to get a handle on how to drive on third and short, then the Riders don’t need Antonio Pipkin who did not complete a single pass in the pre season.

After seeing the two games, the Riders do have the talent and more importantly, the attitude to contend this year. The question is whether the Riders have the depth to carry them through when injuries do affect the line-up.

The Riders standouts in training camp include receiver Jerreth Sterns, Joe Robustelli, and full back Clint Ratkovich. The Riders spent the first half against Edmonton running Frankie Hickson who is supposed to the speed alternate to AJ Oullette but his offensive line did not do him any favors and when Ratkovich started to see the ball in the second half, Edmonton was putting in their back ups.

Ratkovich can run, has soft hands so he can catch, and has speed. The Riders may look at having nine Canadian starters to get their weapons on the field.

Watching the practices this week, the Riders were practicing rushing the quarterback with the goal of knocking the ball out of their hands. The Riders are going to be driving hard to the ball with the purpose of knocking it out and creating turnovers.

The deeper in the enemy zone they are when they get the turnovers, the shorter the field for the Rider offence. The Riders are pointing towards being a team that wants to run the ball and two power backs are better than one.

The Riders are looking at lining up an alternative center for their offensive line and are still trying to figure out their left tackle situation. The lack of power in short yardage and the odd Edmonton sack shows the Rider offensive line might want to invest their next two weeks before the season opener in the weight room.

The Riders also were practicing their line ups on short yardage on defence to ensure they were maintaining a yard’s difference from the ball and were not lining up off-side.

The nature of the Rider penalties is shifting from the sloppy offsides to more aggressive penalties, but again, take this in the context of a team that rolled over and died after Labor Day last year for whatever team they were lining up for.

The Riders may have an injury to kicker Brent Lauther who did miss a field goal and spent time working with the other kickers to either address his form or figure out how to approach the ball. Lauther is pulling the ball, either as a result of an injury or perhaps being not in optimal shape and leaving points of the board.

The Riders continue their training camp with a full cast, which allows players who have a shot to continue to get reps. The Riders are looking for hard choices to make between players and the Jenga style building of a football team makes this a fascinating time to watch a team being built.

Around the league, Malik Henry is out for the season for Calgary with a patellar tendon tear during practice. After a month of fumbling the Chad Kelly situation while an investigation continues into harassment allegations by a former female staff member, the Argos are covering their backs at quarterback with the signing of Nick Arbuckle and a guy from the Colorado School of Mines, the alma mater of former Rider back up Isaac Harker.

Arbuckle at least knows Toronto quarterback Ryan Dinwiddie’s offence and bringing in other young quarterbacks may allow Toronto to freshen up their offence and find new offensive consistency.

The Riders have the luxury of a two-week break before they open against Edmonton while the rest of the league winds up their exhibition slate. The final cuts will be made Saturday, not announced till Sunday, and then the Riders head back up to Edmonton.

The Riders will be improved, but this team is still one that is in progress. But at least they do not like a bunch of lifeless zombies wondering when their next meal will show up.