Canadian football is a game built on stars. Those guys you see on all the flashy television game promos and on billboards around your town, they’re how teams hope to get you to games. We connect with stars because we want something to cheer for or against. With so much player movement in the CFL off-season we want someone consistent and known to us.
The Edmonton Eskimos built a core of those stars over the last couple of seasons that any fan would be right to welcome onto their teams roster tomorrow. The smooth talking, big play receiver in Adarius Bowman. The elusive and explosive Derel Walker who played a perfect Robin to Bowman’s batman in 2016 and the 9-5 lunch pail linebacker who you could set your watch to in J.C. Sherritt.
On Saturday night on the road in Vancouver the Eskimos displayed the ever important ability to evolve. A capability which just might make them a contender in the West Division.
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Duke Williams was one of Mike Reilly’s favourite targets last week (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
Derel Walker left for the NFL this off-season. Duke Williams had four catches for 110 yards and a touchdown.
J.C. Sherrit went down early with a season ending achilles injury. Korey Jones stepped in and played admirably with six tackles.
Adarius Bowman was held to two catches for 13 yards. Brandon Zylstra exploded into 2017 by leading the CFL in receiving yardage with 152 in Week 1.
Hell, even Cory Greenwood the prized free agent linebacker who went down early in camp wasn’t in uniform which apparently just opened the door for Adam Konar to make seven tackles on defence, two on special teams and pick up a quarterback sack for good measure.
If you would have told me a month ago the Eskimos would have two backup linebackers playing, Derel Walker nowhere to be seen and Adarius Bowman had as many catches as John White and only two more receiving yards than Calvin McCarty I would have predicted Edmonton took a beating. Especially with the knowledge they were playing a revamped BC Lions squad with a talented young quarterback in Jonathon Jennings ready to take the next step in his development.
That didn’t happen.
The Eskimos evolved, they kept their cool which seems to be a Jason Maas team quality and found ways to be successful.
The Eskimos offence led the CFL during Week 1 in terms of run/pass play calling balance with 39 per cent of their play selection being of the ground and pound variety and most important of all, they didn’t ask Mike Reilly to be Superman.
Now let’s get one thing straight, Mike Reilly can be a super hero any day of the week, he’s that good, but nothing signals desperation more than a team seeing what they used to rely on leave or be nullified by a defensive game plan and respond by putting it all on the quarterback.
The Eskimos avoided that cliche mistake Saturday and I think it got them a win.
Reilly would finish with just twenty completions. Yet another stat that would suggest the Eskimos probably lost the game and scored under ten points, but that wasn’t true. It was a managed game plan by a veteran quarterback and a savvy coaching staff who clearly had a plan to grind the clock, be balanced and find creative ways to get everyone, not just Bowman, the ball.
If Edmonton can harness Saturday night’s performance as their mentality moving forward they could be a difference maker in the West again this season. Lost in the excitement and shuffle of having football back is just how important winning on the road against a playoff team like the BC Lions could be down the road for seeding and home field.
We have a long way to go until we get into that discussion and throughout the season Edmonton will inevitably face periods of instability at a variety of positions.
For now, all that matters to the Eskimos is the quiet confidence of two men charged as leaders of the Green and Gold on game day, Mike Reilly and Jason Maas.
