When the Edmonton Eskimos travel to Toronto, they’ll be greeted by a carnival-like atmosphere.
That’s because the game will be held during the annual Canadian National Exhibition where the home town Argos host the Eskimos for the first time at BMO Field, right on the CNE grounds.
Last time out, the Eskimos defeated the Montreal Alouettes, thanks in part to a heroic defensive effort.
Esks QB Mike Reilly is thankful for the extra rest time after the team has gone through a couple of tough physical battles. “It’s good to get the body rested up and I think the guys are refreshed and ready to go,” said Reilly. “A trip back east is always difficult. It’s apparently extremely hot there right now, so it’s good to get the guys rested up for the game.
“The long week, we’ve already spent so time watching film and getting mentally prepared that you get into the later part of the week and you start thinking you’ve done everything that needs to be done, so you really have to have really good focus and stayi fresh during the week. But, that’s a good problem to have.
“The one thing we didn’t do was protect the football and we have to do a much better job of that. You have to make sure you treat that thing as gold because you can’t score if you can’t hold onto the ball.”
The defence continues to gain confidence going into Saturday’s contest coming off their most impressive outing of the season.
“We’re gelling together, we’re comfortable with each other and we know where we are on the field,” said Deon Lacey, whose circus-catch pick-six earned him his first weekly CFL Player of the Week honour. “We’re playing faster, making more plays and it’s starting to show every week.”
Even though the 4-3 Argos also struggled in their last outing, there’s no reason to become complacent.
“They’ve got playmakers who can make plays, so we can’t take them lightly,” said Lacey. “This is professional ball. They have a young quarterback and Ricky Ray as well. We have to prepare for whoever plays and put on a show and show them the Eskimos way. There’s a lot of plays they could have made. They’re not a bad team.”
Eskimos head coach Jason Maas spent three seasons as Toronto’s quarterbacks coach and is familiar with the type of game Argos head coach Scott Milanovich can throw at an opponent.
“We’ve spent three days watching them and we’re very familiar with the system they run,” said Maas. “We have to do our best game-planning and see what we can do against it. The guys have to understand the game plan and execute it at a high level in order to win. If we can do that, we have a chance of winning on the road and that’s huge for us.”