Let’s not mince words, shall we?
Football head coaches are a picky bunch, they are never happy. You could shut out the opposition and score 93 points and the head coach and his assistants would complain about not getting another touchdown to hit 100 points.
Okay, that is probably an over-exaggeration but football coaches are a very demanding bunch.
The Edmonton Eskimos have made things difficult for head coach Kavis Reed, who was extremely emotional following the team’s 17-3 loss to the BC Lions last Saturday night at Commonwealth Stadium.
A lack of execution mixed in with some missed assignments and a whole lot of orange cloth flying in the air seemed to be the reasons why.
The Eskimos also scored just three points, produced just 145 yards of net offence, allowed 197 rushing yards, and took 11 penalties for 103 yards.
Kavis Reed talked about “consequences.” Stating his team is not good enough to donate yards to the opposition and get away with it.
Consequences appeared to have happened behind closed doors this week and Reed hopes that will translate on to the field on Saturday when the Eskimos play the same Lions in Vancouver.
Current Lions GM and former head coach Wally Buono saw his team limp out to a 0-5 start during the 2011 season. One of those early losses came against the Eskimos. His team that season dealt with the same sort of issues the Eskimos are facing now. His quote before the game was (paraphrase) “on game-day, you are at the mercy of the players.”
Reed says that’s why his coaching staff works tirelessly during the week to make sure as few mistakes are made on game-day as possible.
“We have to do everything we possibly can as a coaching staff to make certain that our guys are prepared so that on game-day our guys are not nervous and are just focusing on execution,” Reed explained.
“We also have to make adjustments and as a coach you would like to see that execution at the 90-95 percentile but you never have that so you hope that you better execute than your opponent and give yourself a chance to win.”
What coaches lose on game-day is control. Coaches hate mistakes and when mistakes happen in practice, you can easily stop the rep and run the play again. In a game, you of course can’t do that and mistakes drive coaches crazy.
From a penalty standpoint, the Eskimos have been flagged 41 times for 330 yards in three games. That’s three full football field lengths of yards the Eskimos have basically donated to the opposition.
Too many have been of the 15 yard variety, on special teams and by veterans. They are simply drive killers. The offence gains a first down only to have a holding penalty. The defence makes a stop on second and 10 only to have a roughing the passer call. A good return to mid-field is taken away by an illegal block penalty which forces the offence to start deeper in their own end.
Drops have been a problem too. Sophomore receiver Shamawd Chambers made a critical drop in the first half last Saturday vs. the Lions which put an end to a drive. Now Chambers is moving back to the wide receiver spot from slotback where the action happens a lot slower. Chambers, like the Eskimos, is still in the developing stage.
The ugly truth is no matter how much you teach or harp on the players about not dropping passes or taking needless penalties is they are still going to happen. If they happen infrequently, a coach can deal with that.
When mistakes start becoming a habit, that’s when it becomes unacceptable. Accountability needs to exist in a locker room amongst its players as well. As Reed puts it “this locker room is owned by the players.”
Coaches coach and players play.
Reed’s post-game news conference last week might have been hard to watch but it comes from a man who truly cares about his team, the fans, and the City of Edmonton.
It’s time for this team to return the favour.
NOTES: After missing last week’s game after a lower-body injury, slotback Fred Stamps will return Saturday. Defensive end Marcus Howard will also make his return after missing last week’s with a lower-body injury. Linebacker Corbin Sharun will see his first action since September 28th, 2012 when he hurt his knee in Calgary causing him to miss the last eight games. Rookie linebacker Kyle Norris will also return on special teams after a one-game absence. WR Isaiah Sweeney moves from the active roster to the practice roster. LB Nathan Kanya has been placed on the nine-game injured list. The Eskimos are in the middle of a stretch of playing three games in 12 days.
