August 18, 2017

Eskimos perfect start ends at 7 wins

An imperfect game at Winnipeg on Thursday night ended the Eskimos run at perfection.

The Eskimos, who were trying to become only the fifth CFL team to start a season with eight straight wins since 1961, fell behind 17-3 by halftime, rallied in the third quarter, but couldn’t do enough in the fourth and lost 33-26 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Former Edmonton quarterback Matt Nichols completed 32 of 40 passes for 390 yards and a touchdown while also scoring a one-yard TD as the Bombers improved to 6-2 with their fourth straight win and closed within two points of the Eskimos (7-1). The Calgary Stampeders are 5-1-1 in the tight West Division standings heading into their game against the B.C. Lions on Friday night.

The Bombers, who often used a hurry-up offence against an Eskimos defence missing six starters, dominated the time of possession at 36 minutes and 12 seconds, compared to Edmonton’s 23:48, running 64 offensive plays to 49 for the Esks. Winnipeg running back Andrew Harris was a force in the game, running 11 times for 105 yards and catching eight passes for another 120 yards.

But the Eskimos were their own worst enemy as they lost at Investors Group Field for the first time since the stadium opened in 2013. They missed tackles, dropped passes by both the offence and defence, missed kicks (one convert and one field goal) and gave up a turnover at the end of the first half that Winnipeg converted into a touchdown.

Edmonton also took nine penalties, one of which extended a Winnipeg drive that produced a field goal. One of four Eskimos too many men on the field infractions also negated an eight-yard quarterback sack by defensive lineman Mike Moore at the Edmonton 35, and the Bombers took advantage of the first down to score their third-quarter TD.

“We couldn’t get it going early,” said Edmonton head coach Jason Maas. “There were opportunities, though. We just didn’t capitalise on certain things. Even late in the game, there are a couple of plays there we could have made that probably make the outcome different and probably in our favour.

“The one thing I am proud of is we battled for 60 minutes and made it a one-score game at the end,” Maas continued. “You’ve got to tip your hat to our guys for doing that. I know there’s not many consolations in football, but at the end of the day, I was proud of our guys for battling.”

Maas also acknowledged that the Bombers “made more plays than we did tonight and they were a better team.”

“We just didn’t really do anything well in the first half, which is unfortunate because we’ve been playing pretty good football to start the games the last month or so,” said Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly, who completed 20 of 33 passes for 356 yards (his fifth consecutive 300-plus-yard passing performance) and two touchdowns.

The Eskimos had scored a major on their first drive in the three previous games and also scored points in the last three minutes of the first half in each of their first seven games. But they did neither Thursday.

“I don’t think that we came out flat,” Reilly said. “I just think we didn’t execute. We were just a little bit off. Our timing was a little bit off offensively, and throws were a little bit off, reads were a little bit off, routes were a little bit off. Just everything.

“We needed to play much better football in that first half. Ultimately, that’s what ended up costing us.”

Winnipeg also capitalised on an interception at the Edmonton 44-yard line with 37 seconds remaining in the first half to score another TD with a 25-yard Nichols pass to Darvin Adams to take a comfortable 14-point lead to the locker room.

“We came right back out and beat them in the third quarter, and the third quarter has been big for them all year, but then we couldn’t maintain it in the fourth and make enough plays,” Maas said.

The Eskimos scored on their first two drives in the third quarter as Kenny Stafford caught a 40-yard pass and Duke Williams hauled in a 33-yarder that deflected off his helmet, with both balls caught in the end zone, to twice close within seven points.

“Those were the drives that we needed in the first and second quarter, and we came up empty,” Reilly said.

But Edmonton’s defence, which was playing with two new starters on the defensive line and a new backup, lost middle linebacker Korey Jones to an injury in the first half and couldn’t stop the Bombers during the last two quarters. Winnipeg scored a touchdown and three field goals on five second-half possessions, only missing a 51-yard field goal attempt on their other march.

Still, the Esks kept coming back, with Reilly’s one-yard TD plunge after national slotback Cory Watson took a swing pass 72 yards to the Winnipeg three-yard line. Edmonton also marched deep into Bombers territory in the final minute, before settling for a 16-yard field goal from Hugh O’Neill with 16 seconds left to make it a one-score game.

The Eskimos attempted an onside kickoff on the next play but failed to recover the ball.

The injury-riddled Eskimos lost some more players Thursday. Besides Jones and wide receiver Vidal Hazelton getting injured in the first half, backup offensive lineman Jean-Simon Roy (a 2017 draft pick) and backup defensive back Andrew Lue were also hurt while defensive backs Brandyn Thompson and Johnny Adams came out of the game late in the fourth quarter.

The Eskimos weren’t the only ones who left Winnipeg unscathed, as the club’s plane was unable to return the team home. Eskimos Defensive End Odell Willis took to Twitter to let everyone know,

“Our plane got hurt tonight too!!! We gotta stay in Winnipeg tonight. #injuries happeningeverywhere” tweeted Willis after the game.

On Friday morning Willis had another funny tweet: “!!Breaking News!! Our starting plane just been out on the 6-game injured list! Our back-up plane gets its 1st start this day. #Nextmanup”

Edmonton returns to action with a home game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 25, at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.

SHORT YARDAGE:

… Linebacker Kenny Ladler had a game-high eight defensive tackles and also forced a fumble and recovered it to stop a Winnipeg drive deep in Edmonton’s end … Moore (two) and Euclid Cummings had the Eskimos quarterback sacks … Williams finished with four catches for 110 yards, Stafford had two catches for 55 yards and Bryant Mitchell four catches for 44 yards … O’Neill made two of his three field goal attempts, missing from 40 yards … The Eskimos gave up more than 300 yards passing for the first time in 18 regular-season games…Eskimos defensive end Odell Willis