Dave Campbell
CFL.ca
At the start of the 2010 Canadian Football League season, if someone told you that the Eskimos on September 20th would have a record of 2-9, many people would have laughed in your face. If someone told you on September 20th that the Eskimos would be playing the Saskatchewan Roughriders on November 6th for a chance to clinch a playoff spot then you would likely have thought about having that person seek professional help.
Well here we are and the Eskimos are just a win away or a favour from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats from locking up third place in the Western Division and a meeting with the Roughriders on November 14th at Mosaic Stadium. The Eskimos have won five of their last six games; a stretch which started back on September 26th in Moncton, New Brunswick with a 24-6 victory over the Toronto Argonauts.
The Moncton trip was one of several turning points in the season for the Eskimos. The team spent 10 days together on the road, a week in Moncton alone being forced to spend a great amount of time together.
There was also the hiring of Eric Tillman as General Manager in September along with the hiring of Mark Nelson as linebackers coach and Tim Prinsen as the offensive line coach.
The emergence of Prinsen has led to a powerful running attack with rookie Daniel Porter now in the backfield. Porter was named the Eskimos nominee for Most Outstanding Rookie even though he’s only played five games. He’s racked up 450 yards in that stretch though with two game-winning overtime touchdowns.
The attitude of the team is night and day. Before the bye week in August, the Eskimos were for lack of a better phrase, an easy team to play against. Their push back or punch back was very weak. It showed itself in the first drive of the first game of the season at home to the B.C. Lions. The offence drove the ball down on their opening drive to the Lions one-yard line. Two penalties and a lost fumble later, the Eskimos confidence went down the tubes and proceeded to do so for the next seven games.
The mindset changed after the bye week, it just took about six weeks for it to really set in. The Eskimos still got hammered 52-5 in Calgary on Labour Day. They were then hammered in Montreal two weeks later. The team however seemed to have more desire, more fire, more passion. Other than Labour Day, they didn’t quit. They may have started some games slowly and clearly were outmatched at times; they didn’t make life easy on the opposition though.
Players were shown the door like Joe McGrath and Calvin Armstrong. Jeremy Parquet, Greg Wojt, and Patrick Kabongo stepped up. Defensively, Greg Peach and Elliot Richardson returned after missing the first half of the season. Kelly Bates, Etienne Legare, and Derick Armstrong have arrived to provide both depth and experience. Young Derek Schiavone has also maintained a strong kicking game even with the departure of veteran Noel Prefontaine.
When quarterback Ricky Ray went down with injury, they Eskimos still won two football games with their backup Jared Zabranksy. Now granted, the Eskimos didn’t win because of Zabransky, but he did enough to help the team win. He protected the football against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. When he had a habit of giving the football to Winnipeg Blue Bomber defenders last week, he found a way to stay in the football game by using his feet.
Time for the reality check now for those who have their green and gold coloured glasses firmly on though. This is still a 7-10 football team who despite winning five of their last six games could still be on the outside looking in after Saturday. General manager Eric Tillman will be a busy man in the off-season and in Tillman fashion, he’ll make moves that will surprise many in the CFL world. He won’t let wining get in the way of the bigger picture; this football team needs to get better for 2011.
But, here we are. The Eskimos may get some help before their game on Saturday if the Hamilton Tiger-Cats beat the B.C. Lions. The team however would really like to make the playoffs on their own merits.
Why not, they created this mess right. They can darn well dig themselves out of it.
Ricky Ray will return at quarterback after missing the last two games with a muscle strain in his right shoulder blade … Slotback Kelly Campbell injured his left knee at the tail end of practice on Thursday. He has been declared out for Saturday and Jamaica Rector will take his place … Running back Arkee Whitlock took some first team reps this week but will likely be held out for Saturday giving way to Daniel Porter. Whitlock has one game left before he’s off the nine-game injured list, activating him early would mean the entire nine-game period would count against the salary cap … Fullback Matheiu Bertrand will return after missing the last two games … Defensive end Kai Ellis will come into the lineup after missing the last three games with a leg injury. Ellis will likely play primarily on special teams.
