CFL/The Canadian Press
What did we learn from the first round of the playoffs? No, seriously, could someone please give me an answer, because I don’t feel I have a better handle on who the Eskimos or the Alouettes are.
I would be concerned if I was in Edmonton. If I told you that your favourite team had five interceptions, your running back gained 134 yards and your team executed a crazy fun 88-yard punt return touchdown, I imagine you would think “hooray, my team laid a beat down on the opponent,” right?
Wrong. Instead Edmonton held on to beat Saskatchewan as an entire city is wondering about the state of Mike Reilly’s foot injury. For Montreal, I was again reminded just how good its defence is and that Jonathan Crompton just keeps winning. We are not covering any new territory here. I found both games unsatisfying in terms of finding out just what is the post-season ceiling is for either squad.
So I’ll leave the heavy lifting of breaking down the Eastern and Western Finals to our talented roster of writers at CFL.ca (plus don’t forget to read Chris Schultz and the rest of the gang at TSN.ca).
Instead, I would like to chat with our neighbours to the south. Hi America. How you guys doing getting ready for Thanksgiving? With ESPN and ESPN3 airing this weekend’s playoff action, I wanted to give you all some friendly tips about things to watch for and players to focus on. Hey, you’re busy basting turkeys and lining up outside Best Buy for Black Friday sales. This is the least I can do.
So here are my Top 20 (in no particular order) things for Americans to keep an eye on:
Mike Reilly’s foot:
The entire playoffs could rest on the health of Reilly’s supposed broken foot. Now for you U.S. citizens, you saw Reilly back on Nov. 1 on ESPN in a 37-3 win over the BC Lions when he threw for 289 yards while adding 54 yards and two touchdowns on the ground. Edmonton will be served a crushing blow if Reilly is unable to run the ball due to his injury.
No quarterback had more rushing yards and his mobility helps open up the entire Eskimo offence. His injury has fired up former Eskimo Shawn Lemon. The Calgary defensive end is rooting for Reilly to play and his hilarious quote on what it will be like playing against Reilly — “It’ll be like hitting a piñata” — will no doubt be used as bulletin board material for the Eskimos.
By the way, do we have any idea which foot it is that is apparently broken? Every report just talks about his “foot.” I’ve been snooping around for days and I’ve come up empty. I think I need better sources.
Josh Bourke, Kristian Matte, Luc Brodeur-Jourdain, Ryan Bomben and Jeff Perrett:
They are all Canadian and they paved the way for over 200 yards rushing against some pretty fearsome linebackers on the Lions. They made a player most of the league had never heard of before, Brandon Rutley, look like a star last Sunday. They will have there hands full this weekend going up against a Hamilton defence that two weeks ago held the Alouettes rushing attack to 17 yards.
Kendial Lawrence:
He’s the entertaining do-everything player for Edmonton. Talk about consistency. Edmonton’s first-year slot back had between 400-500 yards in all four offensive categories: punt returns, kickoff returns, rushing and receiving. With the offence limited by Reilly’s foot injury, the team will need a handful of explosive plays out of him. Oh, and if you haven’t seen it, here is his punt return touchdown against the Roughriders:
