The Eskimos head east for the last of four consecutive road trips.
Quarterback Mike Reilly is looking for a more consistent outing than the offence showed last week at BC Place, while the defence will be facing Zach Collaros, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats starting quarterback who’s coming off injury.
It’s obvious that the message head coach Jason Maas has given this week about playing a complete game has filtered down to the players.
“They’re a tough football team to play wherever you’re playing them at,” said Reilly. “They play well in their spot (Tim Hortons Field). They’re a team that’s fighting for top spot in their division and came out and whupped us in the second half on our home field. We’ve got to be ready to play for all 60 minutes plus whatever extra it may take.
“It’s certainly a team that’s proven this year they never give up and there’s a number of times where they’ve come back from some pretty big deficits. We’d like to start out as well as we did last time. We came out and played as well as we had all season in the first half. We even came out in the third quarter, marched down the field and put a touchdown up.”
How it ended still sticks in Reilly’s craw.
“They finished strong and we didn’t finish at all,” said Reilly. “It’s kind of an opportunity to make amends for that. Again, it’s also a team we could potentially see down the road in the playoffs. We’d like to atone with them and I’m sure they’d like to do the same for us. It’s an important game for us to get back to playing good football and it’s an important game for them in the division race.”
Defensive back Marcell Young says “We have to prepare well no matter who’s in there … I believe we have guys who can step in and do what has to be done … All we can do on the back end is play as a unit and play hard.
“You want to win every game, but with the scenario the way it is, you have to show what they’re in for just in case you see them down the road,” said Young. “We have to be ready to play 60 minutes because that team has come back to win a lot of football games in the fourth quarter. They did it to us earlier this year. It’s going to be fun.”
Maas figures the team is ready to get back to its winning ways down the stretch.
“We’re just getting back to work, that’s the only way we know how to get victories,” said Maas. “Bottom-line is we know we’re a good football team and we’re capable of beating any other team in this league on any given day.”