The feud may not compare to the Eskimos’ provincial rivalry with the Calgary Stampeders, but the Ottawa Redblacks are quickly catching up.
Despite playing out of the CFL’s East Division, the Redblacks have played the Eskimos six times during the past two seasons, with the reigning Grey Cup champions from Ottawa winning all three games in 2016 after losing the 2015 championship game to Edmonton in Winnipeg.
“That’s a lot of football,” admitted Esks quarterback Mike Reilly, who pointed out that both teams know each other so well that there won’t be any “secrets” between them.
Reilly suggested that previous results won’t have any bearing on the outcome of Friday’s 8 p.m. contest against the Redblacks on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium, but Edmonton head coach Jason Maas thinks his team will have plenty of incentive.
“No question, this game means something,” Maas said earlier this week. “For the guys who were here last year, they have a bad taste in their mouth how the season ended and it was a direct result of playing Ottawa.”
The Eskimos lost 35-23 to the Redblacks in the 2016 East Division final, but Trevor Harris has since replaced the retired Henry Burris as the starting QB.
“We know we didn’t have success the last three times that we played them,” Reilly said. But he simply wants to keep the 0-2-1 Redblacks winless after four games because “they’re a good football team coming into our house and we want to defend our turf.”
The 2-0 Eskimos are coming off an early bye week, so there’s a chance the team could be a little rusty off the opening kickoff.
“I expect more often than not we’re going to come out firing on all cylinders for the entire game, but that hasn’t been the case for our first two (games),” Reilly said. “But we fought through it. That’s what you’ve got to be able to do.
“It just depends upon what the defence is doing, taking certain things away. But you’ve got to be able to execute. That’s what I have liked (about the offence this season). We came in (to the dressing room) and figured out what we were doing wrong, what our mistakes were and cleaned it up and did enough to win the football game.
“It’s always going to be an effort from all three phases of the game,” he continued. “The defence has had our backs and played really well. When we needed points, we’ve gone down there and done it. And special teams have done a great job, too.”
The Eskimos have made several lineup changes for the game, with the biggest move being backup running back Travon Van taking over for the injured John White (torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee).
Maas said Van is a different type of running back than White because of his speed, but will be expected to play the same role.
“John, to me, was exactly what you want in a back,” said Maas. “He was smart, he understood the protections (for the quarterback), but he was extremely physical. There wasn’t one linebacker or somebody he was supposed to block in this league that I didn’t feel he could match up with.
“It remains to be seen, but we have all the confidence in the world that Van knows where he’s going.”
Van rushed 17 times for 50 yards in the Eskimos’ home opener on June 30 without the benefit of having many opportunities in practice with the starting unit, in part because of a short week of practice. His main focus for the game was supposed to be returning kicks, but once White was injured, Van did a good job of blocking for Reilly and protecting the football when he touched it.
Former Eskimos handyman Kendial Lawrence, who was released at the end of training camp but never left town, comes back on the roster to return kicks.
Rookie cornerback Mercy Maston will make his CFL debut at cornerback in place of the injured Johnny Adams while veteran Eskimos defensive end Marcus Howard makes his first appearance of the season with Phillip Hunt going on the six-game injured list.
The other roster move sees Alex Hoffman-Ellis being added as the backup middle linebacker behind Korey Jones.