CFL
CFL.ca Staff
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Eskimos viewed Saturday’s matchup with the BC Lions as an opportunity to build momentum and work on playing a more complete game. They responded with their best and most complete game of their season, in a 37-3 drubbing of the league’s top defence on home turf.
In a potential playoff preview, the Esks showed exactly why they’re as good a bet as any to represent the West in the Grey Cup this season, earning their third straight victory and clinching second place in the West along with a home playoff game.
“I think so,” responded Mike Reilly, asked whether it was Edmonton’s best all-around game of the season, in an interview with Esks.com following the game. “That’s a very good opponent, and I’m not going to kid myself and say they’re a bad team, because they’re not.”
“We came out and were just ready to play from the first snap, and we played on all three phases for all four quarters and we’ve wanted to do that for a long time.”
For a team that entered the season hoping to achieve balance across the offence, defence, and special teams, it appears as though rookie head coach Chris Jones’ vision is coming to fruition. Special teams have played a pivotal role in recent wins, first sparking a second-half comeback win against the Riders two weeks ago after returning the opening third-quarter kickoff.
Return and coverage teams set the tone again against the Lions on Saturday, as Kendial Lawrence returned eight punts for 86 yards, including a 54-yard return that set up a score.
Defensively, the Esks surrendered only 55 yards and a single first down in the first half, led by JC Sherritt’s eight total tackles and three sacks. The Lions finished the game with only three points, failing to find the end zone.
Sherritt said he wasn’t surprised by his team’s defensive dominance, though.
“We were pretty confident in our game plan, and that’s a big tribute to those defensive backs who cover like they can,” said Sherritt of the Esks’ secondary. “They gave us a lot of room as linebackers to run around.”
“Those plays I made were because I can really run around make plays – I’m not worried about coverage because those guys take care of it. We just executed the game plan.”
The most talked about matchup heading into the game may have been the most one-sided, however. The Lions’ defence was stopping opponents at an historical rate entering the game, while also coming off a 10-sack performance in its previous game against the Bombers.
Reilly and the Eskimos beat that unit both through the air and on the ground, while the Lions amassed only two sacks in the contest. A big part of that was the offensive line, which came together despite the recent loss of Simeon Rottier, sidelined for the rest of 2014.
“I thought our offensive line up front did a phenomenal job,” said Reilly. “[The Lions] have done a great job of getting pressure on quarterbacks all year – they just game off a 10-sack game the week prior.” “Our guys held their ground and gave me plenty of time to throw, and opened some lanes for myself and [John White],” he continued. “It starts up front with them, and we had some guys playing new positions too and they did a great job.”
| 2014 CFL Playoffs: Always better live! |
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 With the win, the Edmonton Eskimos will play host to the West Semi-Final on Nov. 16 against either the BC Lions or the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Lock up your tickets today!
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Reilly continued his big for Most Outstanding Player honours, throwing for 289 yards on 14-of-24 passing, while even more impressively running for 54 yards and two touchdowns on seven attempts. Adarius Bowman also enjoyed another solid game, catching five passes for 104 yards.
But stealing the show was the Esks’ second-year running back White, who picked up 202 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown on 122 rushing yards and 80 receiving yards.
“I thought he played a great game,” Reilly told the team’s official website. “Every time he touched the ball it seemed like it was for a first down, no matter where the first down marker was.”
“He’s a fireball. He runs very hard and he’ll never run out of bounds, and if you’re in a position to tackle him, he’s going to pop you and make you pay for it,” he continued. “He’s a nice luxury to have as a quarterback for sure.”
With White healthy and powering his way through the heart of defences, and more recently also making a major contribution in the passing game, the Esks have an offence that can attack in a wide variety of ways.
The Eskimos’ average time of possession of 31:25 is the best in the CFL by far, and if they don’t have the most explosive offence, they’ve certainly got the most methodical.
“He caught a lot of balls out of the backfield, which maybe in the past wasn’t his strong suit but he’s worked tremendously hard on that,” Reilly said of White, an emerging star running back in the CFL. “The coach has done a great job of drawing up plays for us to execute, and he caught them.”
| Raising the bar |
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Solomon Elimimian added his name to the CFL record book on Saturday night, recording his sixth tackle of the game in the third quarter to break JC Sherritt’s single-season tackles record of 130. |
“That’s just going to make things more difficult on defences. He played well and we need him to keep doing that.”
Most of all, the Eskimos are showing they can win games in multiple ways. Whether it’s forcing a key turnover in the fourth quarter of a tight defensive battle, or scoring the game drive starting from deep within their own end, the Esks are equipped for any situation.
After Saturday’s win, they also won’t have to leave Alberta, at least in the first two rounds of the playoffs, as they’ve now secured a home playoff game on Nov. 16 with a chance to play in Calgary the following week.
“It’s huge,” said Sherritt of securing a home playoff game. “We love playing at home, but to get a playoff game at home – I’ve been in the league four years and it doesn’t happen very often.”
“To get that for our fans, they deserved it.”
