CFL.ca
I lost a bet this week.
The wager was with Jock Wilson who is the Stampeders radio broadcast host for News Talk 770 in Calgary. If the Eskimos won the Labour Day Classic, Jock would have to fly an Eskimos flag in his office for the rest of the week.
Well the Eskimos lost on Labour Day which means in my office, I have a Stampeders flag staring me in the face for the rest of week. All week long it looks like that darn horse has been mocking me. Heck, the Stampeders have been a formidable bunch lately for the Eskimos.
The reactions of Eskimos fans following Monday’s 28-13 loss were quite interesting. Some of the phone calls, tweets, and texts I received on my open line show were somewhat alarming. You would think the Eskimos were 2-7 and not 7-2. Then it hit me, fans are not upset at the record, no panic buttons were being pushed. Eskimos fans are sick and tired of losing to their provincial rivals. 
The Eskimos have a 10 game regular season game losing streak against the Stampeders. Their last win over Calgary was on Labour Day three years ago. Go back further and the Eskimos have last 16 of their last 18 games against Calgary. They haven’t beat Calgary at Commonwealth Stadium since August of 2009.
What is going on here??
The simple explanation is during that span of time, the Eskimos haven’t been a very good football team and the Stampeders have been for many years a model of consistency. In 2014 it’s a different story; the Eskimos are a good football team sitting tied for second place in the West even after Monday’s loss.
It was still a loss, another loss to the Stampeders, a tenth straight loss.
Fullback Calvin McCarty has played through the losing streak and says it’s frustrating.
“It feels like we are not doing our job,” he said. “We are out here to win games and just run around and play football. But as far as it having meaning and anything to do with this week, it means nothing. No bearing on it (the streak) at all because really how many new guys have lost ten straight to Calgary.”
In fact only nine players on the Eskimos rosters have been around for all 10 losses (McCarty, Fred Stamps, Adarius Bowman, Matt Nichols, Mike Miller, Corbin Sharun, Nate Coehoorn, Marcus Howard, and J.C Sherritt). By comparison, the Stampeders have 21 players on their roster who have played in the 10 games.
Eskimos head coach Chris Jones says Calgary has a lot of veteran savvy.
“They’re very good; the core unit has been together since ’08-’09,” Jones said. “Certainly you got to give hats off to their coaching staff; they get their team prepared every single week in a three phases. They have a lot of experienced players who play at a high level.”
The Stampeders played at a high level on Monday and, by his own admission, Chris Jones said he was surprised by his own team’s lack of energy.
The day started with the Eskimos kicking the ball out of bounds on the opening kick-off resulting in a penalty. The defense allowed an opening drive touchdown. The offense went two and out on their first possession losing 15 yards in the process. Even when linebacker Otha Foster returned a blocked punt for a touchdown to trail 8-7 in the first quarter, the Eskimos couldn’t capitalize from a momentum standpoint.
The Eskimos were not horrible on Monday; they were not great as well. They were just okay and it made for a frustrating afternoon. It was simply an uphill battle from the opening kick-off. Offensively, Matt Nichols and the offense struggled to find consistency as they only crossed the 55 yard line three times in the game and scored just six points. On defense they were gashed for 163 yards by Stampeders running back Jon Cornish.
The great aspect of this Labour Day series, as linebacker J.C. Sherritt pointed out this week, is they get to play Calgary again in the Labour Day Rematch game on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.
Get a win and the club is 8-2 and tied with Calgary and Monday’s loss can just fade away.
The Eskimos are a 7-2 club and Calvin McCarty says they have shown they can hold their own.
“We have some veteran guys in certain positions and in addition to that we have a coaching staff that prepares us and puts us in position to make plays. There are guys on our team that are hungry and they love football and get after it. We are just trying to win ball games and part of the road is learning how to win ball games and winning these later month games that are really important.”
The real season begins now.
