The Canadian Press
It shouldn’t be a big surprise to anyone, but almost halfway through the 2018 season, the Edmonton Eskimos lead the league in passing yards. The Esks boast the CFL’s most prolific quarterback and a pair of pass catchers occupy the league’s top two spots in receiving yards. This has become an annual trend in Edmonton, and there are a few different reasons for that.
It starts with Mike Reilly, of course, as he tries to make it three straight years leading the league in passing yards. We’re talking about the most dangerous quarterback, and potentially most dangerous player, in the league. This isn’t new information at all; instead, this season has only served to reinforce what we’ve known about Reilly for some time.
What’s really scary, though, is seeing Reilly continually bring things to a new level, and 2018 is no different. Through half of Edmonton’s season, Reilly has racked 3,046 passing yards and 19 touchdowns while running in eight more. What’s he currently on pace for is pretty astonishing.
With nine games to for the Eskimos, it’s not out of the question to see Reilly eclipse 6,000 passing yards, something he almost did last season. The last time that happened was 2004 when Anthony Calvillo finished with 6,041 yards, good for fourth all-time. Reilly is currently on pace for 6,092, which would tie Doug Flutie for third on the all-time list.
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It’s not just crazy yardage totals we’re talking about, though. With 19 touchdown passes already, Reilly is in line to finish with 38 at the end of the season, which would be the highest total since 2012 ( Henry Burris). If Reilly were to finish with 40 or more, which isn’t out of the question, it would happen for just the sixth time in league history.
The final piece of this puzzle is Reilly’s work running the football. Through Week 10, he leads the CFL with eight rushing touchdowns, which means now we’re talking about total touchdown numbers starting to project in the mid-50’s. That’s Doug Flutie territory and it isn’t out of the question whatsoever.
But the Eskimos are more than just their quarterback. For an aerial attack to be as dangerous as theirs is, the receiving corps needs to hold its own. Led by Duke Williams and Derel Walker, Edmonton has that in spades and looks to be in line for a third straight year with someone atop the receiving yards table at the end of the season.
The Esks are just really good at identifying receiving talent. When you pair good scouting with, well, Reilly, the numbers are hard to argue with. Edmonton signed Walker to its practice roster ahead of the 2015 season after inviting him to a mini-camp in Florida. The new departed Brandon Zylstra was signed after four years playing NCAA Division III ball with Concordia-Moorhead. And Duke Williams found his way to the Eskimos after being cut by the LA Rams
Let’s also not forget who coaches this team. Jason Maas took over as head coach for the 2016 season, which just happens to be the year Edmonton turned into the league’s most feared passing attack.
Maas is a former quarterback and, in his dual role as offensive coordinator, has designed the perfect scheme for his personnel. He recognized the strengths of Reilly and his receivers immediately and has played to those strengths in his two plus seasons at the helm.
So, for a third straight year, the Eskimos are the CFL’s most dangerous passing team. As long as key individuals like Maas and Reilly remain in the fold, we should probably get used to that being the case for the foreseeable future.
Encouraging signs
I know everyone is buzzing about the big defensive and special teams plays made by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday night, and for good reason. The Riders forced fumbles, returned an interception for a major, and blocked a punt as part of their 40-27 win over Calgary. But for as well as Sask played defensively and on special teams (Brett Lauther went 6-for-6 kicking field goals), the most encouraging sign for me was what they did with the ball in their hands.
It’s no secret the Riders have struggled offensively for good chunk of this season, especially when it comes to establishing a consistent passing attack. Saskatchewan entered Week 10 averaging just over 200 passing yards per game, which was the lowest total in the league. On Sunday, though, their offence came to play as a really cohesive unit.
As we talked about in last week’s edition of Berg vs. Ferg, the Riders have seen their defence on the field too much this season, which hasn’t allowed them to fully optimize the talent on that side of the ball. The biggest thing I wanted to see from Saskatchewan was an ability to sustain drives, which we saw against the Stamps, especially early.
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» Thursday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Edmonton at Hamilton
» Friday, 7:30 p.m. ET: Toronto at Montreal
» Saturday, 3:30 p.m. ET: Winnipeg at Calgary
» Saturday, 10:00 p.m. ET: Saskatchewan at BC
I won’t lie; I was a little surprised to see the Riders look as effective as they did against Calgary’s top-ranked defence right off the hop. But the first two drives of Sunday’s game really set the tone, even if they ended with Lauther field goals as opposed to majors.
Saskatchewan’s first drive took 3:30 off the clock over seven plays and was followed by a three minute, six-play drive to make it 6-0. Also encouraging: 11 of those 13 plays were Zach Collaros passes, with eight of them going for completions. At the same time, the Riders were able to limit Calgary to just six offensive plays in their first two drives, which was a really nice way to get a ridiculously fired up crowd into the game.
As the game went on, and as Saskatchewan’s big plays opened up a sizeable 24-6 halftime lead, the complexion of the football game changed and it was harder to judge what the team was doing offensively. But what I saw from Collaros and his receivers in the early stages, against an elite defence, was exactly what we need to see more of from the Roughriders.
Make no mistake: Saskatchewan also has an elite defensive group. Charleston Hughes was menacing against his former team on Sunday, while Nick Marshall and Ed Gainey are legit playmakers in the backfield.
When their talent is maximized on D, this Riders team can hang with and beat anyone in this league. The issue has been putting that defence in a consistent position to succeed. Well, if what we saw at Mosaic against the no longer unbeaten Stamps is a sign of things to come, Sask might have come around on offence in enough time to compete for a home playoff date.
Quick hits
While he might not have been as prolific as his debut two weeks ago, you can’t deny McLeod Bethel-Thompson and his 2-0 record. Toronto’s new starting quarterback did the job again in a 24-23 win over BC Saturday afternoon. Bethel-Thompson was accurate, he limited mistakes, and came to play in the fourth quarter once again. I like James Franklin, but right now, there’s no reason to go away from their 30-year-old journeyman pivot.
From a game standpoint, I was a little disappointed to see Ottawa cruise to a 44-21 win over Winnipeg to open up Week 10. I was hoping this would be a showdown between a pair of teams vying for the “best of the rest” title, but instead was quite lopsided.
In saying that, I think it’s safe to say Ottawa’s offence is back. Trevor Harris is lighting the league up, William Powell continues to pound the ball, and on given night, any one of Diontae Spencer, Greg Ellingson, or Brad Sinopoli could go off on offence. At 6-3, the REDBLACKS more than deserve their spot atop the East Division.
