Steinberg’s MMQB: Reilly comes up big for Esks

So much of final four weekend in the CFL jumps off the page that it’s difficult to pinpoint one lead story. I’m leading this week’s Monday Morning Quarterback off with Edmonton’s Mike Reilly because he was excellent on Sunday afternoon. He’s also been the catalyst for this incredible run of nine straight wins that see the Eskimos back in the Grey Cup for the first time since 2005.

No coincidence

There are a lot of reasons why the Eskimos are where they are right now. This group has had the league’s most dominant defence all year long and boasts a pretty scary group of receivers, led by Adarius Bowman and Derel Walker. It’s quarterback Mike Reilly that stirs this team’s drink, though, and he did it again on Sunday.

Edmonton has finally slayed the dragon that is the Calgary Stampeders. Not only did the Esks get over the regular season hump against their provincial rivals, but they turned that into a punishing 45-31 victory in the Western Final. Edmonton’s turnaround this season started with a win over the Stamps in the Labour Day rematch. Funny enough, that also happened to coincide with Reilly’s return from injury.

Except, there is no coincidence here. The Eskimos have now won nine straight games and three consecutive against the Stamps. All of those games have been with Reilly at the helm. It’s not like the team was awful without him, as Edmonton sat 6-4 prior to Reilly’s return. But the way the Eskimos took off upon his return was something else.

Reilly was at his very best in his team’s most important game of the season. In the Western Final, Reilly was dynamite through the air as he threw for 371 yards and three touchdowns with just eight incomplete passes. And it was the timing of things that really set the tone.

Reilly started the second half with a statement drive. The Esks drove 78 yards on four plays, all Reilly passes, on a drive that ended with a perfect 33-yard pass to Kenny Stafford. It was the sequence that opened this game up and allowed Edmonton to breathe a little easier.

Then there was his first pass of the fourth quarter that sealed Edmonton’s most important victory in 10 years. While Eskimos fans were still livid that an apparent Deon Lacey touchdown on a fumble recovery was only going to result in a possession change, Reilly took matters into his own hands. Reilly hooked up with Walker on a 57-yard major that made the mountain just too high to climb for the Stamps.

No one ever really questioned whether Reilly was the real deal or not. We just hadn’t seen him get the job done in the playoffs prior to Sunday. Last year, Reilly was playing the Western Final with a broken bone in his foot. This year, he had three weeks to rest and prepare for a game where he showed everyone just how important the right quarterback can be.

Fitting finish

Greg Ellingson signed with the Ottawa REDBLACKS this summer so he could have a chance at playing a big role. I’m not sure he thought he’d play as pivotal a role as it turned out he did in Sunday’s East Division Final, though. Against his former team, Ellingson won’t soon forget the game that propelled Ottawa to the Grey Cup for the first time since returning to the league last season.

When looking at the small scope, seeing Ellingson reel in a game winning 93-yard touchdown pass against his former team was fitting. In the big picture, seeing the REDBLACKS win led by one of their huge offseason additions was extremely poetic.

Ellingson joined the REDBLACKS their inaugural year along with four other big time additions. The REDBLACKS went fishing for receivers and ended up with big catches in Ellingson, Maurice Price, Ernest Jackson, Brad Sinopoli, and Chris Williams. Adding those five players to the arsenal of Henry Burris was franchise altering. Now we know just how huge an impact it’s made.

It was Ellingson’s day in the Eastern Final as he led all receivers with 186 yards. On different days this season it’s been one of the other five getting the job done. Plain and simple, REDBLACKS are blessed with an embarrassment of riches at the position.

That’s why it came as no surprise when Sinopoli was named the East Division’s nominee for Most Outstanding Canadian. And it’s a massive reason why Burris is the heavy favorite to be the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player in 2015. The term franchise altering isn’t hyperbole here because it truly was the driving force behind Ottawa’s incredible turnaround this season.

I’ve been giving GM Marcel Desjardins credit all year long, but he deserves some more. He knew he had a veteran quarterback who could still play a high level. So, Desjardins went out, got him some weapons, and it all came together. Now the REDBLACKS are a win away from a title while Ellingson is already cemented in franchise lore.

The end of an era

It would have been a really nice story to see John Hufnagel finish his time on the sidelines with Calgary in victorious fashion. Alas, it was not meant to be, and now Hufnagel will make the transition upstairs while Dave Dickenson takes over as head coach of the Stampeders. Despite Calgary’s loss in the Western Final, Hufnagel’s legacy in this league is firmly in tact. That legacy is one of the best in CFL history.

We wrote at length in this column about a month ago about Hufnagel’s coaching career in this league and just how good it’s been. 2015 saw Hufnagel become the second fastest coach ever to 100 career wins in the CFL and he’ll step away from the sidelines with the third highest winning percentage in league history.

But the legacy he leaves in Calgary specifically is second to none. The Stampeders were spoiled for 13 years under Wally Buono before he left for BC in 2003. What followed Buono’s departure will forever be remembered as the “dark ages” in Calgary history. It was a period of time that no Stamps fan wants to think about ever again.

When ownership finally became stable again in 2005, Jim Barker and Tom Higgins got this team out of the muck and back to where the Red and White should be. But it was Hufnagel who got the Stampeders over the hump and turned them into the organization they are today.

Hufnagel led the Stamps to a Grey Cup title in his first year in 2008, won another title in 2014 and lost a third trip to the big game in 2012. On top of that, his team made the Western Final in seven of his eight years and never once finished with less than 10 wins in a regular season.

But Hufnagel’s legacy goes beyond just wins and losses. His track record for evaluating and procuring talent is second to none. It’s his draft record that really sets Hufnagel apart, though. No team has done a better job with Canadian talent since 2008 and that is the main reason why Calgary has been a Grey Cup threat each and every year since Hufnagel took over.

As he hands the reins to Dickenson, Hufnagel can hold his head high and be proud of the work he’s done on the sidelines. His coaching career in Calgary ended with a loss, that’s true. But his legacy is cemented and will forever be synonymous with one word: winning.

A legacy builds

Speaking of legacies, there’s one starting to build in Hamilton with Head Coach Kent Austin. I know the Tiger-Cats are heartbroken after their East Final loss to Ottawa, and I know it’s going to take a while for Austin to get over this one. But in three years with Hamilton, I’m pretty astounded what Austin has been able to accomplish.

The Ticats have played in the Eastern Final in each of Austin’s three years with the team. It took a 93-yard, for the ages catch to deny them a chance at a third straight Grey Cup appearance. Austin knows how to coach, and he knows how to get the most out of teams. The fact that this is the first year as a CFL coach he won’t be coaching in the final game of the year speaks to that rather loudly.