When the Edmonton Eskimos visit the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Sunday, it will be the last time the teams clash at Mosaic Stadium before the venue is retired.
Nostalgia aside, though, there’s plenty at stake for both teams.
Edmonton has already won the season series with a pair of wins at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium, but coming off a double-overtime loss to the league-leading Calgary Stampeders they are looking for ways to improve their red zone production.
“More than anything, it’s about continuing the process and looking after details. It seems like when we give up leads, the details of finishing a game are lacking,” says Head Coach Jason Maas.
With seven games left and much of the player base back from its Grey Cup win, Maas insists the fate of his team is in its own hands.
“The sun came up today and we get another chance,” said quarterback Mike Reilly. “We have a lot left in the season where we have an opportunity to make awesome things happen. We have a good football team. We made some bad mistakes at inopportune times, but it’s nothing that can’t be cleaned up. It’s details in areas that may not seem much at the time, but by the end of the game, it adds up.
A good push in the final seven games, starting in Saskatchewan on Sunday, is ideal.
“We want to do everything we can to win,” said Reilly. “We haven’t even reached the two-thirds point of the season yet and we’re two game behind a team (Winnipeg) we play once more. The next one’s the tiebreaker. There’s no panic in that. We’re in a tough situation where we need to win and we need to win a lot. We need to win every time we step on the field and you can’t do that unless you win the first one and that’s why we’re focused on Saskatchewan.”
Even though the Eskimos pass rush has been boosted with the addition of Phillip Hunt, Saskatchewan has plenty of offensive weapons on a team that’s capable of playing a spoiler role down the stretch.
“We’re coming off two straight losses, so we’re eager to get back in the win column,” said defensive back Marcell Young. “We want to go into that hostile environment and grind out a win.
“We have to be alert, do our jobs and execute the game plan. It’s not the easiest thing in the world, but that’s what they pay us to do.”
