The injury bug is acting like a virus as it spreads through the Eskimos locker room this season.
Four more players were added to the CFL team’s injured list on Thursday, including offensive lineman Simeon Rottier, kick-returner Kendial Lawrence, linebacker Blair Smith and defensive lineman Da’Quan Bowers.
That makes it 14 players on the Eskimos’ injured list, including middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt, running back John White, slotback Adarius Bowman and defensive end Phillip Hunt.
“We’ve had the injury bug since the beginning,” Eskimos head coach Jason Maas said. “You look at the second day of training camp. One of our projected starters (linebacker Corey Greenwood) goes down and it hasn’t stopped.
“We’re a deep team. We’re also a confident group that the next guy up can get the job done. That’s what you’re going to see this game.”
The Eskimos, 4-0, will have three new starters in the lineup when they attempt to open a season with five straight wins for the first time since 2011. They host the B.C. Lions at 7:30 p.m. Friday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
Third-year backup Danny Groulx replaces the veteran Rottier at left guard, 2017 draft pick Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga becomes the third starter in four weeks at weakside linebacker (replacing Blair Smith who replaced Adam Konar who replaced Greenwood), and rookie defensive back Mercy Maston draws into the lineup for a second time with Garry Peters suspended for one game for contacting an official during last week’s game in Hamilton against the Tiger-Cats. Running back Travon Van and backup defensive back Chris Edwards will share the kick-return duties.
“The expectation and the standard here has been set,” said Maas. “Every guy has a job and a responsibility … to be ready” on a daily and week-to-week basis.
“We said it when we broke (the huddle at the end of Thursday’s walk-through practice). We’re not one individual, we’re a team, we’re an empire and that’s the way we approach everything, particularly when we play at home.”
The Eskimos upset the Lions (4-1) in a season-opener at Vancouver on June 24, so an Edmonton win will clinch the season series, although they will still play once more in October. Both teams are riding four-game win streaks.
“To me, it’s less about the numbers in the standings, but more about it’s a great challenge against a very good football team that we played and beat to open the season,” said Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly. “But that was over a month ago and a lot has changed for both teams since then. They have a different guy playing quarterback now; we’ve had some injuries and different guys in that they haven’t seen, so that first game is going to be much different than this game, but hopefully the same result.”
Former CFL Most Outstanding Player Travis Lulay, a good friend of Reilly’s from their time together with B.C., has passed for 840 yards and five touchdowns in two games since replacing injured No. 1 pivot Jonathon Jennings, who might dress as a backup for Friday’s game.
Edmonton has cobbled together four straight wins by overcoming slow starts offensively and rallying for three game-winning drives in the fourth quarter. Maas expects that opponents have figured out they “better bury” the Eskimos when they’re not playing well “because we’ve shown the ability in close, tight games to play through things, to not give up. That’s been a recipe of success for us for the past year and a half – we’ll fight you for 60 minutes. If it’s close at the end, we feel very confident we’re going to make plays to do that. So if we’re down, you better kill us.”
The Esks have won their four games by a total of only 12 points – a CFL record for clubs starting a season 4-0.
“I don’t care how we’re doing it,” said Maas. “I just know there’s things we can get better at and we will.”
Wide receiver Vital Hazelton said once all of the Eskimos start doing their jobs at the same time, “we won’t be able to be touched.”
“We need to start fast and just continue what we’ve been doing, which is protecting the ball and staying on the field, keeping that defence rested,” he added. “Those are the key things which are helping us win.”
Reilly, who was selected a CFL player of the week after passing for 350 yards and three TDs against the Ticats, has helped that cause by not throwing an interception through the first four games and 140 passes (he’s the only one of the CFL’s top 10 pivots who has yet to have a pass picked off).
Reilly pointed out that a loss right now will not make or break the Eskimos’ season because “it’s collectively how you play over the long haul,” but doing well early in the season can “set yourself up to do some great things at the end of the year.”
The Eskimos didn’t miss a beat last week when Bowman, the league’s top receiver last year, wasn’t in the lineup. Reilly doesn’t expect anything different with Groulx taking over from Rottier on the offensive line.
“Those five guys have been playing together up front for a long time and Simeon has been a big part of that,” Reilly said. “But it’s like the wide receivers. You’ve got five guys out there who have to work in tandem. One goes down, one steps up. That’s how it’s got to be on the offensive line as well.
“Danny is a guy who has been here for a long time now and he’s a good football player. So we expect the same thing we have from everybody else who has stepped in. You show up, do your job and do it well and we get a win.”
Mulumba-Tshimanga steps in at the jinxed weakside linebacker (WIL) position after being involved in about 20 plays when he replaced Smith last game.
“I’m very grateful and very excited for this opportunity,” he said about getting his feet wet in the CFL as a defensive player. “I don’t know if I was expecting it, but I stayed ready. I knew the game plan and I was ready to go in if anything happened. I kept it simple and did my job.
“I was out there having a fun time,” added the 24-year-old third-round draft pick, 22nd overall, out of the University of Maine. “I was just enjoying the moment.”