Edmonton may be hosting the 2018 Grey Cup, but the road to the CFL championship game goes through Calgary, according to Eskimos defensive tackle Almondo Sewell.
The Eskimos, 6-4, are once again chasing the Stampeders, 8-1, in the West Division standings as the provincial rivals get ready to knock heads for the first time this season in the Labour Day Classic at 1 p.m. Monday at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.
“It seems like they’ve always been in first place the entire time I’ve been here except for the one year that we hosted the Western final (in 2015),” said Sewell. “That’s the only time I’ve not seen Calgary in first place (at the end of the regular season since 2013).
“If you want a first-round bye (in the playoffs), you have to beat them,” he added. “That’s about as simple as it gets.”
That may be easier said than done. The Eskimos haven’t beat the Stampeders in the Labour Day Classic the last six years, although they did win the last time the teams met at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Oct. 28, 2017, and Edmonton scored a 15-11 decision in Calgary on Oct. 10, 2015.
“When you’re playing Calgary, you can’t have an average game,” said Eskimos long-snapper Ryan King. “You’ve got to play your best football and play physical and play fast. At the end of the day, you’ve got to expect it to come down to a close one and, hopefully, we pull those off.”
Quarterback Mike Reilly said despite the Eskimos having lost a couple of recent games that they should have won, the team is still in a good place. For starters, the Esks are well-rested because they’re coming off a 10-game break. They also had an extra practice during the past week.
“If we’ve learned our lessons from the last 10 weeks, we’ll be a better team in Week 11 and that’s the goal every single week,” Reilly said.
“We’re still in a situation where we get to play against the team that’s in front of us and we get two cracks at them,” he continued. “They’re important games – of course, we take them one at a time – but we’re going to be playing against the best team in the league. They’ve got the best record for a reason and that seems to be the theme every time we play the Labour Day games because Calgary has been pretty dominant.
“But it’s a great opportunity for us. If we can get the first game, then we’ll worry about the second one, but there’s still a lot of football left to be played this season. Even the teams that are behind us in the West, everybody still has a shot to position themselves well. Around the league, the next couple of weeks are going to be important for everybody.”
The teams also play a rematch in Edmonton at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8. That night is the Eskimos’ Family Day/Kids Get in Free promotion presented by Nissan.
“You want to set the tone right now,” said defensive back Aaron Grymes. “If we do have to face them later in the season (playoffs), we want to let them know that we’re nothing to play with. They’re going to try to do the same thing against us so we’ve got to make sure we’re on our game.
“We’re doing a little bit better starting the games (recently). Now we’ve got to finish them.”
While the Eskimos have had some slow starts this season and couldn’t finish off a couple of recent contests, Reilly said the key to Monday’s game is to play well for 60 minutes.
“There’s a lot of pride on the line,” he said, “but it’s also at the point in the season where the playoff seeding is starting to develop a little bit and you can set yourself up well or you can put yourself behind the eight ball depending upon what happens in those two games.
“Our team is confident regardless of what happens in a game,” he said. “We know it comes down to five or six plays that are going to win or lose a football game. You don’t know when those are going to happen. They may be in the first quarter, they may be in the second, third or fourth or may come down in overtime.
“But especially when you’re playing against a team like Calgary, if you come out and play great early in the game, that’s nice to get the momentum and all that, but you better be playing that way for four quarters because if you let off the gas, you’re not going to win the game.
“Likewise, if things don’t work out early in our favour, the game’s not over. It’s a long game.
“Ideally, you’d like to have a couple of things happen early to get some momentum, to get guys maybe settled down a little bit because it’s always an emotional game, it’s always high intensity,” said Reilly. “But whether you play good or bad early on, there’s still a lot of football left to be played.”
Kicker Sean Whyte remembers what happened after he joined the Eskimos for the Labour Day Classic in 2015.
“When I got here in 2015, we had a similar record (6-3) to this year’s,” he pointed out. “We lost my first game in Calgary and then won 10 straight after that.
“After that second game against Calgary that we won at home (the Labour Day Rematch), you could see the team jell together,” he pointed out. “The confidence was through the roof because we just beat Calgary and we won the rest of our games out and we won the Grey Cup.
“That’s what it can come down to. If we can do what we did in 2015, which we’re very capable of, and be healthy at the end (of the regular season) and firing (on all cylinders), we’re going to win a Cup here.”
The Eskimos tied Calgary for first place in the West Division in 2015, but had won two of the three head-to-head games during the regular-season series to earn the right to host the West Division final. The West’s first-place team has used home-field advantage to advance to each of the last four Grey Cups.
“This team is capable of doing big things,” Whyte continued. “We’re a great team; we’re full of unreal athletes. We’ve got unreal receivers who can finish a game and put us in a great spot to win and defence has to stop them.
“It’s just putting a whole game together and being disciplined for once. We seem to just kill ourselves. It’s never the other team. Going against a team like Calgary that’s so disciplined, that’s what it’s going to come down to – the most disciplined team wins.”
Whyte said the Eskimos haven’t had a game yet where offence, defence and special teams all played well in the same game.
“Everything has to come together as one,” he said. “Coming down the stretch, we’ve got to start putting it together and be mentally tough.”
Both Sewell and offensive centre Justin Sorensen also want the Eskimos to limit mistakes against Calgary because the Stampeders are quick to take advantage of an opponent’s miscues.
“If we go in and make as few mistakes as possible and play our game in all three phases, we have a great shot of winning,” Sorensen said.
But if any player does make a mistake, they can’t let it bother them.
“If you do have a bad play, you flush it and move on to the next play,” Sorensen said. “You can’t let your confidence get down because if you dwell on the last play, then you’re going to mess up that next play, as well, because you’re not thinking about what you have to do on that play. So you have to flush it, move on to the next play and play better.”
Of course, you can’t talk about Eskimos-Stampeders games without mentioning the intensity of the provincial rivalry.
“It’s Calgary. It’s Labour Day. You’re always going to find a reason to get up and give your best effort,” said Eskimos middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt.
“Going on the bus three hours down the road to play a great opponent is just something that gets you going,” wide receiver Derel Walker said. “You’re inspired by the history of the Edmonton and Calgary rivalry. It’s just electrifying. It’s just a different vibe to the game, the way you feel. You just go the extra mile.
“We just want to get back to playing Eskimos football and just doing what we’ve been doing in the past in this rivalry and that’s winning.”
Walker’s favourite memory playing against the Stampeders was scoring a 104-yard pass-and-run touchdown on the first play of the Rematch game on Sept. 10, 2016.
“(Monday), I plan to make a lot more memories,” he said.
LINEUP CHANGES
- Rookie running back Jordan Robinson returns to the lineup for the first time since Aug. 2 with kick-returner/wide receiver Jamill Smith going on the six-game injured list. Robinson will be handling kick returns.
- Defensive lineman Darius Allan was also placed on the six-game injured list, with Nick Usher added as a backup on the D-line.
- The Eskimos’ other lineup change moves international receiver Bryant Mitchell to the one-game injured list while backup linebacker Brandon Pittman is added to the active roster.
SHORT YARDAGE: Because of their long break between games, the Eskimos were able to organize a team-building exercise throwing axes last week … The Stampeders (51-8) have the best home record in the CFL since the start of the 2012 season. The Eskimos are third at 36-23 … Several players are closing in on various milestones: CFL-leading receiver D’haquille (Duke) Williams needs 53 receiving yards to reach the 1,000-yard mark this season while Walker is 125 yards short of the same milestone, Vidal Hazelton needs 77 receiving yards to reach 2,000 yards for his CFL career, Gable needs 20 rushing yards to get to 1,000 yards in his career with the Eskimos, Reilly needs 337 passing yards to reach 25,000 with the Eskimos and Whyte needs two converts to reach 100 with the Eskimos and four points to tie Johnny Bright (412) for ninth place on the Eskimos all-time points list.