With memories still fresh about what transpired on Labour Day in Calgary, Edmonton Eskimos head coach Jason Maas expects his team to execute much better in Saturday’s rematch at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
“If we played the best we could and lost by 21 points, I’d be devastated,” said Maas about the loss in which the team was down just a touchdown at half time.
Labour Day was the sixth time in 10 games this season the Calgary Stampeders offensive line has not allowed a sack against quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell. Mitchell has been brought down just twice in the last five games.
Earlier this week, the team brought in rush end Phillip Hunt to bolster the defensive line weakened by the injury to Marcus Howard. Hunt is a former Winnipeg Blue Bombers teammate of Odell Willis who has spent the last five seasons in the NFL.
“It’s brought back memories of the Lambo (Lambourghini) and Ferrari days,” said Willis, the Lambo in the speedy duo. “It’s another piece of the puzzle to get us where we want to go.”
Then the topic turned to how the team expects to turn things around on home field by turning up the heat on Mitchell.
“I just feel the biggest disappointment from my game and our team game is that we let one or two mistakes cost us points,” said Willis.
“D line pressure can affect the whole game. If you watched him (Mitchell) closely, he paid attention to what the defensive line was doing. His first read, he’s looking at the D line to see where he can get away to extend the play. That’s one thing I’m disappointed with myself and the D line is that we let Bo Levi get out of the pocket and that put pressure on our D backs. We put them in a bind, asking them to cover for six seconds. That’s unacceptable.
“For us to get pressure this weekend is a big key. That’s what we have to do.”
Getting off to a stronger start on Saturday would be a huge key in earning a split in the two-game season series this week.
“We’re looking at it as another game we have to win,” said Maas. “It’s always great to play Calgary and beat Calgary and it always hurts to lose to them. Our team believes if we show up and play well for four quarters, we’ll beat anybody. When you’re playing a team that’s 8-1-1, you’d better play better than normal. That’s what we know it’s going to take.”