THE CANADIAN PRESS

WINNIPEG -- Steven Jyles doesn’t know how many more starts he’ll get for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but he’s happy with his first one.

In only his second CFL start, and first for the Bombers, the five-year backup threw for 267 yards, one touchdown and ran in a pair of TDs for a 47-21 win on Saturday over the struggling Edmonton Eskimos.

Jyles got the call in relief of Buck Pierce, who sprained a knee last week.

“If Buck is healthy to go, he was the starter and I was the backup. That was my role as a backup,” said Jyles, 27, whose first start was in 2008 for Saskatchewan.

“I’m just happy that the guys depended on me when Buck got hurt and I was able to get them a win.”

Winnipeg evened its record to 2-2 in front of a crowd of 26,041 at Canad Inns Stadium.

Edmonton has now lost four straight. The last time the team opened a season 0-4 was in 1965.

Jyles was disappointed with his two interceptions – one led to an Edmonton TD – and praised the defence for its stifling performance.

“They stepped up today. I’m very proud of them guys,” said Jyles, who ran eight times for 63 yards, including his TDs of one and two yards.

Winnipeg scored 21 points off Edmonton turnovers.

The Bombers had a 16-0 lead after the first quarter and a 23-0 lead until Edmonton scored its first TD with four seconds left in the half on a 15-yard pass from Ricky Ray to Jason Barnes.

Eskimo running back Calvin McCarty took a shovel pass seven yards for a TD and Arkee Whitlock scored on a five-yard run. Kicker Noel Prefontaine missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt that was run out of the end zone.

Winnipeg also scored off a 36-yard interception return by rookie defensive lineman Moton Hopkins, a four-yard run by Fred Reid, a 46-yard catch-and-run by Terence Jeffers-Harris and an 83-yard punt return by Jovon Johnson.

Bomber placekicker Alexis Serna made a 45-yard field goal and had a 36-yard attempt blocked. Prefontaine conceded a safety to add two more points to Winnipeg’s total.

Eskimos second-year head coach Richie Hall knows his job security will be questioned, but he wasn’t worrying about it.

“Why should I?” asked Hall. “Why worry about things that I have no control over?

“Like I said the other day, if something happens the sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll get on with life. If nothing doesn’t happen the sun will come up tomorrow and we’ll continue to go on with life.”

He still believes he has a good team and he told his players that if they don’t believe in themselves now, they never did.

“You’re always going to go through some struggles,” Hall said. “What it’s going to take out of us to rectify this situation is belief — belief in yourself, belief in each other and belief in what we have to do.”

Ray had that same get-back-to-work attitude, even though he had a miserable night.

He was sacked by linebacker Joe Lobendahn in his team’s first series. During the second possession, he tripped and was sacked by defensive end Odell Willis after he got up.

Then things got worse.

Later in the second series, Ray was being wrapped up by Willis when the ball came out of his hands. It flew into the hands of Hopkins, who ran into the end zone at 4:04.

Ray was also sacked by Hopkins in his third series deep in Edmonton territory, forcing Prefontaine to run back into the end zone and concede a safety for a 9-0 Bomber lead.

Phillip Hunt also sacked Ray in the second half. Ray was pulled in favour of Jason Maas with about 11 minutes left to go in the game.

Ray finished 18-of-25 for 202 yards, two TDs and two interceptions. Maas went 1-of-9 for 29 yards.

“Bad start, turnovers and then we battled our way back in and then we were putting together a good drive to make it a one-score game and I had the interception,” Ray said.

“We’re just making a lot of turnovers, a lot of key mistakes and it’s just been every game. We’ve just got to find a way to stop doing that because that’s what’s killing us.”

Willis was satisfied the Bomber defence made up for two previous tough losses, but it’s only the beginning.

“We’re happy with the win, don’t get me wrong, but we’ve got 14 more games to go,” Willis said.

“This is just a win to get us going, just get the ball rolling.”

Notes: Ray moved past Calgary QB Henry Burris (33,390 yards) into 11th place on the CFL career passing-yards list, but Burris and the Stampeders were hosting Saskatchewan later in the night . . . Winnipeg defensive tackle Doug Brown got the one tackle he needed to bump Paul Randolph out of third place on the team’s defensive tackle career list with 361.