CFL.ca
There are many different ways you can play the game of football. You can be a big-play offence or a ball-control offence. You can play an aggressive man defence or play more conservative and flood the field with zone coverage.
No matter what style of football teams play if they can’t be physical, if they can’t play with any sort of physical or mental toughness that team will be on the short end of the stick.
The Eskimos won 12 football games in the regular season and most recently the Western Semi-Final over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Most of those wins were not of the smooth or pretty variety but what the Eskimos have consistently done is be the more aggressive team in all three phases of the game.
That was on display on Sunday afternoon at Commonwealth Stadium in an 18-10 win over the Riders. The Eskimos built up a 17-0 lead in the first half and even though they were threatened in the second half they didn’t waver from their identity of being a tough football team.
Now don’t get me wrong, it would have been nice to have seen more points put up on the board especially when the Eskimos feasted on Riders quarterback Kerry Joseph for five interceptions. Matt Nichols, Mike Reilly and the rest of the offence could have had a better day. As has been the case all season long it was the Eskimos defence that set the emotional and physical tone for the rest of the team.
General manager Ed Hervey didn’t seemed surprised by that following the game. 
“They did what they’ve done all season,” he said. “They know when you have your top dog out, your top quarterback and Matt struggled a little bit. You know we are a defence first team and they came out and showed it, hats off to them.”
What the defence does on the field filters through the rest of the team according to head coach Chris Jones.
“They are an emotional bunch but certainly our offensive line has done a great job and John White plays with a lot of energy,” Jones said. “Our receiving corps, they also do it so and even our quarterbacks. It’s a team thing.”
What the offence did so well is again, be physical especially at the line of scrimmage. Running back John White rushed 19 times for 134 rushing against a talented and aggressive Riders defensive line. The offensive line which has been reworked several times over the last few weeks because of injury looked no worse for wear. The Riders won their share of plays too but the Eskimos overall won the battle up front more often than not.
And then there is the forgotten phase in football, special teams. Running back Kendial Lawrence provided the key moment in the game for the Eskimos with his 84 yard punt return touchdown in the second quarter giving the both the offence and defence plenty to work with. In the regular season the Eskimos punt and kick-off cover units were number one in the CFL. Last Sunday the Eskimos held the Riders to 64 combined return yards.
Linebacker J.C. Sherritt says at this time of year winning ugly is often what you have to do to win a championship.
“Absolutely,” he said. “Our special teams played great and that’s as big of a factor as anything. You got to be tough and physical because the weather is going to get worse coming up. It’s those teams who can bang in the cold and grind out games that find a way to get it done.”
Physical toughness is an element the Eskimos were lacking in previous seasons. Mental toughness was also lacking with this too often in the past. What was good to see on offence was even when Matt Nichols and the offence was struggling they didn’t get down on themselves, they kept battling.
When the defence was challenged by a revitalized Riders offence in the second half they didn’t fold.
Tough is the best the description of the 2014 edition of the Edmonton Eskimos who now are one win away from their first Grey Cup appearance in nine years.
They will need to be tough because their greatest challenge awaits in the Calgary Stampeders on Sunday in the Western Division Final.
