I'm sure everyone has had this discussion about the punt the Saskatchewan Roughriders attempted and obviously since it didn't work very few are in favour of Ken Miller's choice.
The decision to punt instead of attempt a field goal has overshadowed the Roughriders latest game even when they did win. After the week that was, in the CFL I realized that the Saskatchewan Roughriders are under the CFL microscope like the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens are in the NHL.
I find it hard to believe any other Canadian football market would still be having to deal with this issue, but in Saskatchewan we really have no excuse not to talk about it - it's either the punt or the weather and both are worn out.
The Riders went from needing to reconsider some of their personnel to beating the best team in the CFL in overtime and finally passing for a touchdown, using Andy Fantuz and beating Smiling Hank. Still, all that is on fans minds is the brain fart by Miller.
It is the CFL and everyone knows anything can happen. When watching the Riders any and everything seems to happen, but let's not bring it upon ourselves. Miller preached at the beginning of the season that Darian Durant needs to focus and make better decisions to cut down on the interception total he accumulated last season. Miller should possibly listen to his own advice. Go for the field goal, especially after you can a play that sends Durant back three yards and diving to the middle of the field to set up the field goal. At that point he made his decision and should have stuck with it. If that wasn't the plan Miller should have handed the ball off to Wes Cates to pound it up the middle for three more yards towards the endzone because the left hash mark was no difference to a punter than the centre of the field.
How many teams around have fans, who, when a coaching blunder is made in the final seconds of the game, cell phones go off instantly with texts coming in expressing utter frustration before the game is over. Those texts don't come in from just the hardcore sport jocks. Nearly everyone in Saskatchewan knows about the play. I was mad when he attempted that punt, but in the end the Riders held on thanks to a defence that bent but didn't break in overtime.
I understand that in the past three weeks leading up to the game between the Roughriders and Stamps punter Eddie Johnson was one of the team's best players. Newsflash - if your punter is your best player you aren't going to win a lot of football games and Miller truly tested that theory on the weekend.
Now Saskatchewan needs to put that behind them and move on because in a week talks went from being caught by the B.C. Lions to catching the Calgary Stampeders.
You got to love the Saskatchewan bandwagon Ken Miller is driving.
