October 13, 2017

Game Day Preview: Eskimos vs. Argonauts

Photo Credit: Marc Bourget

The Eskimos defence is still working on math problems, but now it’s more about addition than the subtraction equations they’ve struggled with all season.

Middle linebacker Korey Jones and defensive halfback Brandyn Thompson return to the lineup for Saturday’s 5 p.m. contest against the Toronto Argonauts at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium, presented by Fisherman’s Friend.

To make room for Thompson, Forrest Hightower shifts outside to cornerback, bumping Chris Edwards to a backup role, while veteran Marcel Young goes on the six-game injured list.

“I think we’re getting closer,” said Eskimos assistant head coach/defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides. “Arjen (Colquhoun) is on the field this week practising. I’m hoping by next week we’re finally exactly where we want to be.”

When Colquhoun, a native of Windsor, Ont., comes back to play cornerback, Benevides will have an embarrassment of riches in the defensive backfield (which also includes veterans Johnny Adams at cornerback and Aaron Grymes, who has played the last two games since returning from the NFL, at halfback).

Benevides will also have more flexibility on a defence that has to play three Canadian players because of the team’s required ratio of national and international players. Right now, the Eskimos Canadian content on defence is weak-side linebacker Adam Konar, who has stepped up his game with 17 defensive tackles in the last two weeks, the safety (Cauchy Muamba starts Saturday in place of the injured Neil King) and either middle linebacker Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga or defensive end Kwaku Boateng.

When Mulumba is on the field, Boateng is on the sidelines and the Eskimos can roll with Odell Willis, Phillip Hunt or John Chick at defensive end. If Boateng is on the field, then Mulumba is replaced by Jones – who takes over from Alex Hoffman-Ellis – at middle linebacker.

But once Colquhoun returns, Jones will be able to play full-time at middle linebacker and Mulumba and/or Boateng can play when needed.

“With the way we have to play ratio-wise, there’s players next to each other from the linebacker perspective that aren’t playing every snap together,” Benevides said. “A lot of that (affects the) continuity, seeing the same thing together, communicating, the unspoken word, things like that.”

“We definitely are glad to have KJ back this week,” strong-side linebacker Kenny Ladler said about the player who replaced injured middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt in the season-opener. “He’s done a great job for us playing that position. We expect different results with him in there and expect a different outcome with the run game and the rushing yards at the end of the game.”

Benevides also expects Jones, who still ranks fifth on the team with 37 defensive tackles, to make a difference on the field, but pointed out that Hoffman-Ellis also did “an excellent job” despite his part-time role because of the ratio.

Meanwhile, Konar, 24, has been “a big part of our defence,” according to Ladler, since becoming a full-time player last month. He had a great game in the season-opener, even though he was part of the ratio-juggling manoeuvres at that time, but later was knocked out of the lineup for six weeks with an injury.

“He made his presence felt as soon as he got back (from the injured list),” said Ladler, who leads the Eskimos with 70 defensive tackles. “He’s made big plays in the pass game and the run game.”

“He plays every snap,” said Benevides. “That bodes confidence. That bodes visual keys and understanding what to do and, at the end of it, he just has more opportunities because he’s out there more often.

“Now that’s he’s been on the roster for a few weeks, he’s playing really good ball.”

Besides his high number of recent tackles, Konar had an interception in back-to-back games – including a rare pick against Calgary’s Bo Levi Mitchell (only eight all season) – and created a fumble and recovered the ball during the fourth quarter of last week’s game in Montreal.

“The forced fumble was a wonderful play for us, a huge play,” Benevides said. “He ripped the ball out (of Alouettes running back Tyrell Sutton’s hands), which is exactly what we preach.”

“I’ve just been given the opportunities to make a bunch of tackles in the past couple of games,” said Konar, who ranks third on the team with 37 tackles in eight games. “I’ve missed a couple here and there, too.”

Because of all the injuries this year, the Eskimos have had 81 different players dress for at least one game – breaking the club record of 76 players in 2012 – and 54 different starters. The league records are 100 players used and 62 starters by the Saskatchewan Roughriders last year.

“The amount of players who have been put on defence – right now, someone said it’s up to 33 players in different combinations – that’s kind of been a blessing because you have great opportunities to teach some new guys some things,” Benevides said. “That means your roster is deep, meaning that everybody has game experience.

“As much of a challenge as it’s been, it’s certainly been a blessing because it’s helped us all grow,” he continued. “So we’ve gone through a lot of flux and a lot of faces and names and jersey numbers, but if we can get to a point now where we’re consistent with the people playing with each other, that bodes well for the playoff stretch.”

The Eskimos, 8-6, can clinch a playoff spot with a win this weekend and a B.C. Lions loss. The Argos, 7-8, can also secure a playoff position and a home playoff game with a win or a Hamilton Tiger-Cats loss.

The Eskimos practised only once this week – the same schedule they used between back-to-back Monday-Saturday games with the Calgary Stampeders in early September – since defeating the Montreal Alouettes 42-24 on Monday to stop a losing streak at six games.

“Oh yeah, it definitely feels good to get that win under our belt,” Ladler said. “The six-game losing streak felt like a very long time. We don’t want to feel that losing feeling anymore for the rest of the year. We want to head into playoff football with Ws (wins), not with losses.

“We just want to make sure that we are in position so we can make playoffs and be able to have a Grey Cup run because that’s the ultimate goal.”

Eskimos head coach Jason Maas said the key this week is to make sure that the players have enough rest to be “100-per-cent effective physically, or as close to 100 per cent as they can be” against Toronto.

“We’re playing against a team that had three extra days of rest than we did and we’ve travelled across country,” he said. “I know they’re travelling to us, but still, they played Saturday, we played Monday.”

The game will feature the CFL’s top two quarterbacks in terms of pass yardage this season in the Eskimos Mike Reilly (4,546) and Toronto’s Ricky Ray (4,420), but as dangerous as the Argos’ passing game is, the Esks know they have to do a better job of stopping the run than they did when the teams met in Toronto on Sept. 16.

The Argos rushed for 231 yards that day as rookie running back James Wilder Jr., ran for a CFL season-high 190 yards on only 11 carries and put up 257 yards of offence in a 34-26 victory. An injured Wilder won’t play in this game, but Brandon Whitaker has rushed for more than 5,300 yards during his nine-year CFL career.

“We want to make sure that they do not run the ball on us like they did before,” said Ladler, who explained that the Eskimos left Wilder some big gaps to run through. “They rushed over 200 yards the last time we played them and the defence has to take that personally. We’ve got to keep that to a minimum.”

The Eskimos also allowed more than 200 rushing yards to Montreal last week, but Benevides said that was more a case of a philosophical approach. For example, the Edmonton defence took away the passing game on a rainy day to force the Alouettes to become one-dimensional with the run game.

“It’s a passing league,” he said. “You make sure you take care of the pass and we’ve done a good job of that to the level that we want. But, obviously, we need to play better against a running football team. We can’t be surprised by it.

“As the weather gets colder, everybody always says it, you’ve got to be able to establish the physicality at the line of scrimmage. Now that means attacking the quarterback and affecting him in different ways, but you’ve got to take away the running backs.”

SHORT YARDAGE:

Reilly was sporting his pink cleats at Thursday’s practice in advance of Saturday’s Pink Night game. “I got these last year, but I didn’t get to wear them,” he said. “We didn’t have a Pink game last year. I’m excited. It’s a tremendous opportunity that our league takes advantage of … just to bring awareness not to just breast cancer but to women’s cancers. I lost my grandmother last year right before we played in Winnipeg. She battled multiple form of cancers throughout her life and she was a fighter. That’s probably where I get some of my mentality from.” … Reilly, who sat out the fourth quarter of last week’s game in Montreal, said he just has “normal stiffness from a post-game, but nothing extra” and is ready to play … Eskimos receiver Brandon Zylstra was named a CFL player of the Week for a second time this season after catching seven passes for 201 yards and a touchdown in the rain against the Alouettes … Zylstra is second in the league with 1,335 receiving yards, giving him 1,843 yards in 18 career CFL games (the equivalent of a full season) since last fall. He is averaging 111.3 yards per game, the sixth-best single-season average in CFL history, but has been on fire during the last five games – averaging 146.6 yards … Running back C.J. Gable became just the second player to have consecutive 100-yard rushing games for two different teams in the same season. The other player known to have accomplished that feat is Troy Davis, who also did it with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Eskimos in 2005 … Jerome Messam with Saskatchewan and Calgary in 2015, Charles Roberts with Winnipeg and B.C. in 2007 and Ronald Williams with Hamilton and Edmonton in 2001 also had 100-yard rushing games with two different clubs in the same year.