It’s hard to imagine Eskimos slotback Brandon Zylstra having any more weight on his shoulders than he did in last week’s CFL game against the Ottawa Redblacks.
But with all-star slotback Adarius Bowman (hamstring) on the one-game injured list, Zylstra becomes even more important to the Edmonton offence in Thursday’s 5:30 p.m. MDT contest against the winless Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-3) at Tim Hortons Field.
Zylstra, 24, is the international receiver with the most Eskimos experience in the lineup after playing only nine CFL games, including six last season, and catching all of 55 passes for 804 yards.
Former Toronto Argonauts receiver Vidal Hazelton has actually played more CFL games and had more catches and yards than Zylstra, but he’s only played three games with the Eskimos this year after joining the team late last season.
The Esks’ other international receivers on Thursday will be rookies Duke Williams and Bryant Mitchell, who will play his second CFL game and first of the season after patiently waiting on the practice roster since last year.
Rounding out Edmonton’s receiving corps for the Hamilton game are national receivers Chris Getzlaf, Cory Watson (who played his 100th CFL game last week), Natey Adjei and 2017 first-round draft pick Nate Behar.
“We haven’t put together a full game (on offence) yet and that’s been our focus point going into every game – to come out fast and finish strong,” said Zylstra. “We’ve been coming out slow. A win is a win and it’s hard to get in this league, so we’re pumped about that, but we’re still not happy where we’re at yet.
“We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing,” he continued. “Stay focused. Basically, just do your job and eventually things are going to happen. We’re all waiting for that to happen. We’re all excited for that because once we can put together a full game, it’s going to open up a lot of people’s eyes.”
Zylstra helped the Eskimos improve their record to 3-0 last week by catching all 10 of his targets for 108 yards, including 45 yards acquired after the catch (YAC), often while hauling several Ottawa players on his back.
“I’m glad Zylstra was giving us that spark tonight, especially with his yards after the catch,” Hazelton said after last week’s game. “I was just out there trying to block for him because he’s great with the ball in his hands after the catch and you never know when he’s going to break that tackle.”
“That was probably the most physical he’s played in a game this year, for sure,” said Eskimos’ Mike Reilly, who is the only CFL starting quarterback who has yet to surrender an interception this season. “It’s one of the reasons that gets me excited about him. He can do all the great things. He can go high-point the ball, make the big catch like he did at the end of the B.C. game.
“But watching him catch a ball five yards past the line of scrimmage and carry six or seven guys and get a 15-yard gain, obviously, it’s great because it moves the chains, but it’s also great because it builds momentum. It gets the crowd excited. It gets the guys on the field excited. And just playing with that tenacity and that ferociousness is something that sets him apart for sure.”
Zylstra, who is six-foot-three, 220 pounds, downplayed his contribution against the Redblacks.
“A lot of (my catches) were just like little check-downs that just happened to go my way,” he said. “Mike just made good reads. I didn’t have to do anything. I just had to catch it.”
What about carrying several opponents on his back while churning his legs to get a few extra yards?
“I’m not trying to go down easy,” he said. “I try to get every yard I can.
“I’ve always kind of had that mentality. You make the catch and then anything after that is yours. So I make the catches for the coaches and the team and then anything after that is kind of like pride points-type deal.”
Reilly compared Zylstra’s physical play to that of former Eskimos receiver Derel Walker, who is currently trying out for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
“As a wide receiver, Derel was more like a running back when he got the ball in his hands. He would punish guys. Brandon maybe has a little more finesse in the sense that he can shoot the little gaps and get between defenders probably a little bit better, but it was very similar, very reminiscent of how Derel used to carry the ball and punish the other team.”
Just like Walker a year before him, Zylstra sat on the sidelines for most of last season before getting a chance to play the last six games.
“I just knew that if I just kept doing what I was doing, preparing as if I was a starter, good things were going to come so I was just being patient,” he said. “I’ve learned a great deal of patience through the last couple of years.”
Now Mitchell is getting a chance after doing the same thing last year, although he’s playing when the Eskimos are on a short week with only five days and two practices between games.
The Green-and-Gold’s other lineup changes this week include special teams captain Blair Smith replacing the injured Adam Konar at weakside linebacker (WIL), with 2017 draft pick Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga and 2016 draft pick Doug Parrish serving as backups, and Johnny Adams returning to his cornerback position after sitting out the last game.
The Eskimos have been winning close games so far, scoring only nine more points than they’ve allowed.
“I don’t care if you win by three points,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas. “They don’t give you any extra points in the standings for winning by 30 or 40.
“We’ve done our jobs well enough to win those ball games,” he added. “When the games have got tight – all of our games – somehow, some way, we’ve got out with making plays in those critical moments. That speaks volumes for the confidence the guys have in one another, the schemes that they’re running, the type of players we have here.”
Maas said his players are competitive not only in games but at practice every day.
“That’s what leads you to be successful in tight games,” he stated.
Reilly remembers being in a lot of tight games during his first season in Edmonton and not winning any of them.
“It was like every time you would get in that situation again, you just kind of knew that feeling like, ‘Oh, here we go again.’ That’s a tough situation to be in,” he said. “On the flip side of it, when you’re able to make those plays, you have that confidence, you have that belief that regardless of the scenario, somebody is going to step up and make that play for your team. We’ve been in that situation a fair amount so far this year and guys have stepped up and made the plays. That’s contagious.
“If you get that belief going, you have that confidence … you don’t want to be in that situation very often, but when you are, it’s not a panic situation.”