Who is Steven Jyles?

The answer’s been eluding us for quite some time, and with the Esks sitting at 3-2 with a share of top spot in the West heading into their bye week, it’s becoming harder to find with every passing week.

Supporting Jyles
"We win as a team, we lose as a team. It's not a one-man game. Nobody can put anything on Steven, anything like that because it's a team effort." - Fred Stamps

Through five starts, Jyles has 993 yards passing yards on 56.3 per cent efficiency while throwing three touchdowns and three interceptions.

The 29-year-old remains firmly rooted as the team’s starting quarterback going into the break, with Edmonton in full contention at the top of the highly-competitive West Division.

He also has full support from his teammates, and most importantly his coach, after fumbling away what appeared to be his best start of the season in last week’s 23-22 loss when Winnipeg linemen Jake Thomas made a play on the ball.

"He did everything possible in a difficult environment to give his team a chance to win," Head Coach Kavis Reed said of his starting pivot in an interview with the Edmonton Journal. "Unfortunately, he made a mistake at the end, or they made a play at the end, probably better stated and they won the football game."

"We win as a team, we lose as a team," slotback Fred Stamps added. "It's not a one-man game. Nobody can put anything on Steven, anything like that because it's a team effort.”

It’s also true that up until the late-game turnover, Jyles had a pretty fine game going for him.

Which begs the question, with 101 games under his belt and only intermittent flashes of brilliance to show for it, what exactly do people see in Jyles?

At the risk of playing good cop, bad cop, I’m going to take a shot at answering that question, as we try to solve one of the league’s mysteries – the man under centre this year in Edmonton.

Tempering expectations
Here’s another thing we should straighten out: Jyles wasn’t brought here to be a superstar, gun-slinging cowboy of a quarterback who can throw for 350 yards and a million touchdowns on a nightly basis.

The Esks’ defence has proven to be one of the top in the league through Week 5, which actually complements the style of Jyles’ play pretty well.

He’s a quarterback who takes what the defence gives him, avoids making big mistakes, and can move the ball with efficiency down the field. That hasn’t come to fruition just yet, but it’s improving on a weekly basis.

Last week against one of the better secondaries in the league, Jyles completed 16 of 30 passes for 244 yards and a season-high two touchdown passes, without throwing any interceptions. He also effectively spread the ball to all of his receivers, with five pass-catchers making multiple catches.

The Esks are trying to run a ball control offence that augments its elite defence by running the ball often, and completing short passes efficiently. The idea is to get yards on first down, setting up a more manageable second down and thus extending drives and sustaining time of possession.

That’s the team’s identity this season, and Jyles’ numbers aside, it appears to be having some success. The team is one late fumble away from being 4-1 and in sole possession of first place in the West, and it’s unfair for anyone to say Jyles hasn’t been part of that.

For fans expecting him to be the big-play quarterback that will carry the game on his shoulders, they’ll continue to be disappointed. With the Esks’ defensive capabilities, a big risk-taker at quarterback may not be the best way to go, and that’s not the kind of quarterback the coaching staff is looking for him to be.

One thing worth pointing out is that, although his touchdown to interception ratio ranks him seventh among starters, he has thrown fewer interceptions than five CFL starting quarterbacks. Surely that’s played a positive role in helping the Esks to a 3-2 record.

All angles considered, what I’m trying to say here is that Esks fans are best to play the waiting game when it comes to Jyles. He’s still got plenty of time left in his career by CFL standards, and as we’ve seen with other veteran quarterbacks joining new teams this season, it takes time to learn a new offence.

The Edmonton coaching staff is taking a different approach to Jyles than other teams have in the past, and in the end it should give him the best chance to succeed.

While every other team has attempted more than 170 passes this season, the Esks have attempted only 148. They also have the second highest number of rushing attempts in the league, despite having the fourth fewest rushing yards.

What that should tell us is that Reed is taking a very patient approach to Jyles and the offence, leaning on a sturdy ground attack and the defence, while letting Jyles’ role grow at a slow and comfortable pace.

We’ve all seen the big-play potential from Jyles, and the fireworks that can ensue when the leash is taken off. That was well on display in 2010, when he threw 19 touchdown passes to just seven interceptions and 2,804 yards in 11 starts.

But that’s not what the Eskimos are asking for from their new pivot. Instead, they’re preaching caution, where punting on third down is considered an offensive play. And with a defence like the Eskimos’, why should it be any other way?

Positive yardage

The Esks have been in every game they’ve played in so far this season, and they’re still nowhere near happy with where their offence is yet. Their average time of possession this season is 18:46, putting them dead last in that category as well as in plays from scrimmage with 374.

But there’s marked improvement, and with the total facelift the offence underwent in the off-season, that’s the most we could ask for right now. Last week in Winnipeg, the Esks controlled possession for 27:49 of the game.

The week before, in an impressive 27-14 road win over the BC Lions, the Esks flat out won the time of possession battle with 30:10. The first-year Eskimos pivot didn’t get much credit in what went down as an outstanding defensive performance by his team, but Jyles played the part exceedingly well, opening that game with seven straight completions and finishing the night without any turnovers.

It’s an unpopular formula in a league that’s dominated by passing, but so far, the Esks are getting better every week at executing a game plan that allows them to control the flow of the game, and put themselves in a good position to beat any opponent they face.

So it looks like we could be waiting a while to solve the mystery of Jyles, but in the big picture, fans may not mind so much being patient if it means staying in the top half of the West Division standings.