CFL.ca
CFL.ca Staff
TORONTO — With the 2014 calendar year coming to a close and the focus shifting to the off-season, CFL.ca takes a league-wide look at what went down in 2014 — one team at a time. Next up are the Edmonton Eskimos.
Eskimos fans entered the season with cautious optimism, as a talented young team with a new-look coaching staff looked to erase a four-win season in 2013. Under rookie head coach Chris Jones, the Green and Gold delivered in a big way.
Mike Reilly continued his progression as one of the league’s fast-emerging new quarterbacks, while a plethora of talented playmakers powered a very efficient and overall impressive Edmonton offence.
The big story however was on the Edmonton defence, the league’s best in 2014 during a season highlighted by marked improvement all around.
| CFL.ca Season Rewind |
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 The Stampeders are champions after a season full of peaks and valleys for every team in the CFL. Follow along as CFL.ca takes a look at the season that was and looks ahead to 2015 where every team hopes to stand at the top of the heap in Winnipeg. CFL.ca Season Rewind |
Overview:
With a trip to BC to start the season, a place where opponents had gone 16-2 over the last two regular seasons, the Eskimos were given the opportunity to make a statement out of the gate. Their 27-20 win over the Lions did exactly that, as the Edmonton defence picked off Keven Glenn four times to secure a season-opening win to start 1-0.
The Eskimos won their next three games after that to move to 4-0, allowing only 38 points (12.7 points per game over the three-game stretch) in the process. A tight loss to Calgary that could have gone either way put the Esks back at 4-1, but three more wins after that had Edmonton at 7-1 and lookin’ good heading into Labour Day with the Stamps.
Entering a heated home-and-home with the Stampeders, both teams had just one loss to their names and had a chance to set the tone for the rest of the season. Forced to play backup Matt Nichols, the Esks dropped both games, hitting a mid-season lull that saw them lost four of their next six games.
A lopsided win over Winnipeg got the Eskimos back on track after that however, as they won three straight to wrap up second in the West and head into a home playoff game with the Riders on a high.
The Eskimos won their home playoff date with Saskatchewan, 18-10, in a defensive duel, as Mike Reilly saw only limited action as a result of a foot injury. The next week, Edmonton’s season came crashing down with a 43-18 loss to Calgary.
The Good:
In a season that saw the Esks jump from four wins to 12, there was a lot of good for Edmonton and not a whole lot of bad.
Rookie head coach Chris Jones took over the controls after departing Toronto, and without any significant roster overhaul he was able to provide the Eskimos organization a facelift. Jones preached speed and aggressive football to his team, and suddenly in 2014 the Eskimos were a brand new team.
Mike Reilly took many steps forward, both literally and figuratively, leading all quarterbacks in rushing with 616 yards and eight touchdowns while compiling a quarterback rating of 88.7 – better than his 2013 rating of 86.9.
Yet Reilly wasn’t the biggest difference-maker on the Esks’ offence this year. Leaning on sophomore 23-year-old John White (the CFL’s fourth-ranked running back despite missing half the season), the Eskimos owned the CFL’s number two rushing attack.
Adarius Bowman was the CFL’s leading receiver in both yards and receptions, setting an Eskimo record for catches in a season. Meanwhile, Kendial Lawrence provided game-changing spark from multiple positions on the offence, and on special teams.
Together they formed the league’s most efficient offence, consistently moving the sticks on short gains to rack up time of possession and keep opposing defences tired – and of course their own well-rested.
The Eskimo defence was equally impressive, allowing the fewest yards per game by far (the Eskimos allowed 279.4 yards per game, while the second to sixth-ranked teams ranged from 314.2 to 331.8 yards per game).
That was particularly the case in the secondary, where Edmonton allowed opponents to complete only 54.7 per cent of their passes – again, far ahead of the rest of the pack.
The Bad:
The Eskimos had their way with seven of the eight opponents they faced in 2014, winning at least once against every CFL team – other than the Calgary Stampeders. There’s no way around it: the Edmonton Eskimos just can’t figure out how to beat their provincial rival.
Calgary swept the season series 3-0 and then dominated the Western Final matchup, extending a lasting regular season win streak over the Eskimos to 11 games. In 2014, the Esks were 0-4 overall against Calgary versus 13-3 against the remainder of the league.
This team is in the midst of building something quite special, but the Stampeders are and have been the dominant team in the CFL for almost a decade now. With the emergence of young Bo Levi Mitchell, the Stamps won’t be going away any time soon, meaning the Eskimos better figure out how to beat ‘em.
These teams could form a powerful rivalry over the next several seasons, but early on it’s been pretty one-sided.
Highlight of the season:
The Eskimos enjoyed a dominant regular season, winning 12 games overall including seven in front of their home fans at Commonwealth Stadium. The biggest one was in the playoffs though, in an 18-10 victory that saw the Esks advance to the Western Final.
It wasn’t pretty, as the Eskimos needed five interceptions against Kerry Joseph and a timely late-game drive to wind down the clock in order to end up winning by a single score – but the Eskimos had won a playoff game.
That experience alone was much-needed for a young core that plans to compete for Grey Cups for many more years, as the Eskimos now have something bigger to build on and improve upon heading into 2015. The loss to Calgary provided a sour end, but also gives the Eskimos something to learn from.
Potential departures:
The Eskimos have already gotten busy locking up their core past 2014, taking potential free agents Marcell Young and Paris Jackson off the list while extending other potential future free agents like Simeon Rottier, Tony Washington, Marcus Howard and Shamawd Chambers.
Odell Willis, Kendial Lawrence and Rennie Curran are among free agents the Eskimos would surely love to re-sign heading into 2015, although for the latter two they may not have much of a choice if they opt to pursue NFL opportunities.
Here’s the list of Eskimos due to hit free agency on Feb. 10, 2015:
| CFL.ca Esks Columnist |
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Dave Campbell » Dave Campbell’s Esks coverage |
Bo Adebayo, DE, National
Luca Congi, P/K, National
Rennie Curran, LB, International
Noel Devine, RB/KR, International
Joash Gesse, LB, National
Justin Goltz, QB, International
Kendial Lawrence, SB, International
Matthew O’Donnell, OL, National
Don Oramasionwu, DT, National
Chris Rwabukamba, S, National
Odell Willis, LB, International
Why they’ll win the Grey Cup in 2015:
No team is rising faster than the Edmonton Eskimos, who set the bar extremely high in Chris Jones’ first year as a head coach by joining the elite ranks. The Eskimos are a team that on paper doesn’t have any major weaknesses, last year dominating on both sides of the ball and on special teams.
Mike Reilly is still fairly new to the CFL as a starting quarterback, and while his last two seasons were strong, his best days could be in front of him. The O-line is set to return mostly intact and entering its prime, while Adarius Bowman provides the league’s number one receiving threat heading towards 2015.
On defence, meanwhile, the numbers speak for themselves – the Eskimos were in a class of their own defensively in 2014, and in a year dominated by strong defence all around? That’s quite an accomplishment.
In short, the Esks have everything required of a CFL contender: an elite quarterback with tremendous leadership qualities and the ability to come up big with the game on the line; a stout defence that is aggressive and creates big plays; and a rushing attack that can control the pace of the game.
The Calgary Stampeders will be the favourite to win the Cup in 2015, but the Eskimos aren’t a bad early pick either.
