Dave Campbell
CFL.ca
The first five weeks of the 2011 CFL season were an absolute delight for fans of the Edmonton Eskimos.
The team raced out to their first 5-0 start since 1980, they occupied first place in the Western Division, and also had the best record in the Canadian Football League.
Offensively, the Esks had the top rated quarterback in Ricky Ray, the league’s best receiver in Fred Stamps, and the CFL’s top rushing attack.
The Eskimos captured their fifth and most recent win of season on July 29, a 26-25 win over the Toronto Argonauts at Commonwealth Stadium.
Despite the win, warning signs started to emerge.
The defence had problems in stopping the run, allowing 17 points in one half of football; highly unusual for a Rich Stubler defence.
Offensively, their once potent rushing attack started to stall and the offensive line couldn’t protect Ray with the same success compared to earlier in the season.
The Eskimos suffered their first loss two weeks ago losing 28-16 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
A week later, the team embarrassed themselves in a 27-4 loss to the Alouettes at Montreal’s McGill Stadium.
Heading into the 2011 season, expectations were low for the Eskimos, however, following their successful start, memories of 2010 are starting to emerge.
In the last six quarters, the Eskimos have been outscored 43-6.
After giving up just six sacks in their first five games, Edmonton’s offensive line has surrendered 10 sacks in their last two games.
The subpar performance caused general manager Eric Tillman to say in an interview on 630 CHED’s Inside Sports that the grou was “worse than abysmal, it was like water going through a screen door”
Ouch!
Tillman suggested there would be two to three changes on the offensive line for tonight’s game against the B.C. Lions.
This week the Eskimos released left tackle Cliff Washburn and brought in import’s Devin Tyler and Chris Patrick. Tyler is expected to start at left tackle while Patrick will be on the roster.
Injuries have reared their ugly head again and have affected the receiving corps.
With Fred Stamps and Adarius Bowman already out with injuries, the Esks received some more bad news as it was announced that Marcus Henry and Jason Barnes will also sit out tonight’s matchup.
Have you done the correct math? That’s Ray’s four top receivers out of the lineup for this week.
Ray will have to settle for the likes of Prechae Rodriguez, Dobson Collins and Jason Armstead.
All is not lost for Ray and the offence, as all receivers do come with a variety of CFL experience .
All of the sudden a once potent attack has been chopped down by poor execution and the injury bug.
“When you need to execute better, the last thing you want to do is have to bring in new guys to do that. But that’s the hand we’re dealt with right now and I think the new guys have done a really good job coming in. They’re CFL veterans, they’re up to speed and we just have to go out and play better,” said Ray.
The one bright for an otherwise dark couple of weeks for the Eskimos has been the play of their defence.
The unit held Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo to less than 300 yards passing and two touchdowns. They also forced the Alouettes to score the rest of their points off the foot of kicker Sean Whyte.
Head coach Kavis Reed is treating this week as a one-game season, a Grey Cup-type scenario.
Lose to the Lions and the Eskimos will have over two weeks to chew on a three-game losing streak before facing the Stampeders on Labour Day.
Win with a patchwork lineup and the Eskimos will once again be sitting all alone in first place in the West with a 6-2 record.
Even an ugly win will do just fine under the circumstances.
NOTES: CFL interceptions leader Rod Williams will miss Friday’s game with a hamstring injury, Wapomo Osaisai will make his CFL debut on the corner. The Eskimos are on a six game home winning streak and have beaten the Lions in four of their last five games. The Eskimos won 33-17 back on July 16th in their last meeting with the Lions
