The Eskimos are back to living the good life.
After slumbering through the second and third quarters and most of the fourth, the Eskimos offence awoke just in time to fashion a sixth come-from-behind victory this season and second in as many games.
The Eskimos scored 22 unanswered points during the final four minutes and 12 seconds of regulation time – plus the overtime period – to rally for a 35-29 decision over the slumping B.C. Lions on Saturday at BC Place in Vancouver.
“At the end of the game, when we needed it most, our offence came alive, defence shut them down,” Edmonton head coach Jason Maas told Morley Scott and Dave Campbell on the 630 CHED post-game show. “Any time in the CFL it’s a two-score game with around three minutes to go, you know you’re never out of it.
“But to get a win like that at the end of a tough grinding year like we’ve gone through, it’s just one of those spectacular wins that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.”
It seemed like the Eskimos could do no wrong when they opened the season with seven straight wins despite suffering a boatload of injuries to almost every area of the team, then they struggled through a six-game losing streak where they couldn’t do enough things right.
Now they’re back on a three-game winning streak and kept alive their faint hopes of finishing in second place in the West Division with Saturday’s incredible comeback combined with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ 29-28 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.
The Eskimos, 10-6, are only two points back of Winnipeg, 11-5, but have to win both of their remaining regular-season games – 5 p.m. Saturday against the Calgary Stampeders at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium plus a road game against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Nov. 4 – and have Winnipeg lose twice in order to host the West semi final.
Edmonton is currently in third place, two points ahead of Saskatchewan, 9-7.
“Crazy game tonight,” Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly said. “Our defence played great for four quarters and our offence played four quarters worth of football in two quarters and zero quarters worth of football in the other two quarters.
“It was a great team win,” he continued. “It was amazing the feeling on the sidelines in the fourth quarter being down by 16 with half-a-quarter to play and nobody panicking and everybody just saying, ‘All right, man, we’ve been screwing around long enough, let’s go out there and do our jobs.’ I won’t be forgetting this game any time soon.”
The Eskimos had an impressive start in the game, with Reilly completing a 22-yard pass on the first play to receiver Adarius Bowman and three more in the first quarter to try to get last year’s league-leading receiver productive again.
Edmonton appeared to be in control with a 12-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, but the Lions bounced back with 12 points of their own in the second quarter and outscored the Esks 29-1 after the opening 15 minutes to take a 16-point lead with five minutes and 38 seconds remaining.
During that span of 39:22, the Eskimos offence managed only 109 yards of offence (74 yards on nine catches, 20 yards on seven runs and a 15-yard scramble by Reilly).
“We don’t want to continue to put ourselves in this position,” Reilly said. “There were two quarters in the second and third and, honestly, part of the fourth where we weren’t playing football offensively. They were getting after us, they were getting aggressive, they were getting pressure. When they weren’t getting pressure, the right reads weren’t being made, the right throws weren’t being made, the right catches weren’t being made. We were all just kind of out of sync.
“If we play the second and third (quarters) like we did in the first and fourth, we’re the most dangerous team in the league,” he added. “But if we play like we did in the second and third, we’re the least dangerous team in the league.”
Cue the comeback. Reilly completed 14 of 16 passes for 195 yards, two touchdowns and two two-point converts the rest of the way. He moved the Eskimos 74 yards during a lightning-quick four-play series (23-yard reception by Bowman and a 47-yard over-the-shoulder catch by Derel Walker) capped by Reilly’s second touchdown plunge of the game and a two-point convert by Bowman.
After the Esks stopped B.C. at the Lions’ 50-yard line, Reilly hit Bowman for a 20-yard major to finish off a nine-play, 89-yard march, with a two-point convert by slotback Brandon Zylstra knotting the score with 36 seconds left in the game.
“We’ve just done it so much, it seems that you just have that belief and that confidence and feeling that the job’s going to get done,” Reilly said. “The older guys, the veteran guys have seen that happen over the last couple of years, but for the newer and younger guys, this is our first time in just understanding that in the CFL, it doesn’t really matter what the score differential is in the fourth quarter, you’ve always got a chance the way our clock works, two-down football, that kind of stuff.
“But you need the (defence) to get a stop, you need the offence to kick it into gear and the special teams to get you field position. We got all three of those late in the game.”
In the overtime period, the Eskimos had the ball first and needed only four plays (three passes and a quarterback sneak) to get into the end zone. Veteran Canadian receiver Cory Watson scored his second touchdown of the season on a 10-yard pass-and-run play for the game-winning points, but the two-point convert attempt was unsuccessful.
“We know they’re capable of scoring a lot of points and they’re capable of scoring a lot of points fast,” said weak-side linebacker Adam Konar, who made his ninth tackle of the game as the Eskimos defence prevented the Lions from getting a first down in OT. “We just try our best to hold teams to as low a score as possible until that offence starts clicking and we know it’s only a matter of time.
“At the end of the day, it’s a good game to learn from going into the playoffs, getting some overtime experience,” added Konar, who also knocked down a pass.
The third-year veteran, who is in his first season as a starter, has 34 defensive tackles, two fumble recoveries and a forced fumble during the past four games.
The Eskimos also received a strong game from their defensive line, with Euclid Cummings (two), John Chick, Da’Quan Bowers and Almondo Sewell (for a career-high fifth straight game) all getting quarterback sacks and Sewell (three), Odell Willis (two), Cummings, Kwaku Boateng and strong-side linebacker Kenny Ladler registering QB pressures.
Ladler had six tackles, including a tackle for a loss.
B.C. kick returner Chris Rainey was dangerous all night, returning six kickoffs for 184 yards and six punts for 70 yards plus handing the ball to Marco Iannuzzi for another 48 yards on a reverse.
The Lions also benefited from Zylstra’s fumbled punt return in the third quarter, with long-snapper Mike Benson picking up the ball at the Edmonton six-yard line and carrying it into the end zone for the first touchdown of his five-year career.
SHORT YARDAGE: With his 12th 300-yard passing game of the season (he threw for 397 yards Saturday), Reilly becomes only the sixth CFL quarterback to compile back-to-back 5,000-yard seasons. He currently leads the league with 5,252 passing yards … Reilly, who moved past former Eskimos great Warren Moon (21,228) into 31st place on the CFL’s all-time passing charts on Saturday, is only 411 yards shy of Ricky Ray’s club record, set in 2008, but he was also on pace to break it last year until sitting out the final game of the regular season … The Eskimos have a league-leading 18 come-from-behind victories since 2014 … They’ve rallied to win four times this year after trailing by 10 or more points … Running back LaDarius Perkins (14 carries for 46 yards, three catches for 26 yards) was injured during the fourth quarter … the Eskimos swept all three games from the Lions this season.