September 4, 2018

Eskimos Still Seeking ‘True Identity’ As A Team

The Labour Day Classic was everything Eskimos defensive end Alex Bazzie expected … except for the outcome.

“It was a great atmosphere,” said Bazzie, a fifth-year CFL veteran, but first-year Eskimo. “It was a great game. It was a competitive game.”

Bazzie previously played with the BC Lions, a team that doesn’t have an annual rivalry home-and-home series in the first week of September. But when he heard the urgency of 32,013 fans screaming and yelling at McMahon Stadium – especially during the last five minutes of Monday’s fourth quarter “when they were at their loudest, finding a way to help their defence or help their offence,” he realized how “meaningful” the game was between the two Alberta cities; he started to understand how badly the Calgary fans wanted their Stampeders to defeat the visiting Eskimos.

“Even though it was all red in the crowd, we could also hear our Edmonton fans cheering us on,” he said. “As far as the two teams going toe-to-toe from beginning to end, I know the people at home had a great time watching the game. It was very intense.

“But for the people who play in a game like that, it’s very emotional knowing that it could be a season-turnaround for a team. We still have some room. We still have time to grow and find our true identity as a team. But there was a lot that we can learn from.”

While Bazzie (two defensive tackles, two quarterback sacks) was disappointed after Monday’s game, the 23-20 loss on Rene Paredes’ fifth field goal of the game as time expired was crushing for veteran Eskimos who have never won on Labour Day.

Some of the recent games have not even been close. So when the Eskimos opened the scoring with an 11-yard Sean Whyte field goal 6-1/2 minutes into the game, there was hope. The Eskimos, who hadn’t held the lead on Labour Day since 2012, were in front on the scoreboard for 18 minutes and 14 seconds during the game compared to Calgary having the lead for only 14:12. The rest of the game was tied on five different occasions – 0-0, 3-3, 10-10, 17-17 and 20-20.

“I’m sick of losing games when we could win if we get out of our own way,” said quarterback Mike Reilly (19 of 28 passing for 250 yards), whose frustration was obvious during the post-game interview. “I think everybody in that room is.

“No moral victories on Labour Day. We get another crack at them on Saturday. Hopefully, we’ll play better then.”

“You can’t be the best if you can’t beat the best and we’re not there yet,” defensive halfback Aaron Grymes said. “All that close game crap, all that B.S., man, it doesn’t matter. We lost today, and that’s what matters.

“They made more plays than we did. They found a way to win the game, and we didn’t. We play again in a few days, and we’ll try to get our payback.”

“What can you say?” asked middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt (six defensive tackles), who is actually one of two players – fullback Calvin McCarty is the other – who were on the team when the Eskimos last won on Labour Day in 2011. “We lost. They made the plays, and we didn’t at the end, and it’s frustrating, and we’ve got to learn from it and get better. It’s not like that ended our season and, luckily for us, we get another shot at them Saturday.”

The reason why the Labour Day Rematch at 5 p.m. Saturday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium is so important is the Eskimos are starting to think about playoff berths. Calgary is sitting pretty with a league-leading 9-1 record, but the Eskimos, 6-5, have fallen into a dogfight with the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-4) and Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-6) after suffering their third consecutive loss on the road and second in a row on the last play of the game.

“It’s technically playoffs at this point,” Bazzie said. “The standings are close. Teams are fighting for spots, so when you’ve got a top dog like Calgary, which week-in and week-out handles business and finds ways to get that ‘W,’ you cannot come in and slouch, you cannot come in and have a lazy attitude. Against these guys, your antenna has to be up all the time and just try to find the best way to get a ‘W.’ ”

Eskimos head coach Jason Maas acknowledged that the Eskimos played “a very good football game” on Monday.

“It’s never going to be easy here (in Calgary), and it came down to a last-minute kick to beat us,” he said. “We were a good disciplined football team. We were focused, we played a very good football game against a great football team in its own building, and it came down to our inability to hold on to the ball when it mattered the most.

“That last drive, we have a minute to go, if we go down and drive like they did, we score a field goal to end it, too.”

Unfortunately, the Eskimos final drive stalled after one first down and Hugh O’Neill (two coffin corner kicks to the Calgary three- and one-yard lines earlier in the game) had to punt the ball back to the Stampeders, who started at their 32 with 64 seconds left in the game.

“We have three turnovers in a nine-play span,” Maas added. “We have two second-and-shorts that we don’t come up with the plays for first downs. We took a sack when the worst-case scenario if we don’t do that, is maybe kick a field goal. We hurt ourselves. Second-and-three, you should get that as an offence, but when you’re going against a great defence, they’re going to make some stops, too.

“At the end of the day, you take positives from it, but we’ve got to rebound,” Maas said. “We have to get it together and beat these guys come Saturday.”

The Eskimos scored two touchdowns in the second quarter – their most productive quarter this season (outscoring opponents 133-49) – to take a 17-13 halftime lead. Aided by blocks from slotback D’haquille (Duke) Williams on back-to-back plays, running back C.J. Gable needed only two carries to get the ball into the end zone after defensive lineman Nick Usher (one defensive tackle, one quarterback sack) ran 40 yards with a fumble recovery to the Calgary 10.

Gable, who scored his third touchdown of the season from two yards out, finished the game with 68 yards rushing and 25 yards receiving while wearing one neon yellow shoe and a bright green one. He also returned the favour to Williams, hurdling Calgary defensive back Ciante Evans to get a first down at the Calgary 45.

On the next play, Williams (six catches for 116 yards) caught a 45-yard bomb from Reilly in full stride to beat double coverage at the Calgary two-yard line with eight seconds left in the half and tie teammate Derel Walker for the CFL lead with his eighth receiving touchdown of the season.

“They say we can’t play with Calgary, but we proved that today we can play,” said the burly second-year receiver, who leads all CFL receivers with 1,063 yards.

Edmonton managed to score only Whyte’s 43-yard field goal with 2:22 to play in the second half, marking the third time in the last four games that the Green and Gold has scored three or fewer points in the last 30 minutes of a game.

Whyte also missed a 46-yard field goal attempt in the third quarter to snap his streak of 15 consecutive successful kicks since his last miss on July 24 while the Eskimos turned over the ball on the first play of three different drives within a span of four series during the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters.

First, Reilly’s pass at midfield was intercepted by Evans after it bounced off receiver Nate Behar’s hands, then Williams and Gable lost fumbles at the Stamps’ 46- and 40-yard lines, respectively, sandwiched around an Eskimos drive from their 19 to the Calgary 35, where Reilly was sacked to push the team out of field goal range.

“If we don’t hurt ourselves, I’m not worried about them kicking a field goal with no time left to win the game,” Reilly said. “But we did, and they took advantage of it. We gave them plenty of opportunities offensively, giving them the ball right back. I threw a pick, and we had two fumbles. You’re not going to win football games like that.”

Calgary was assisted on its game-winning drive by an illegal contact penalty against Esks nickel linebacker Chris Edwards (one defensive tackle, one forced fumble) while Stampeders quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell was getting sacked by Edmonton’s Kwaku Boateng. Instead of being forced to punt, the Stamps got back-to-back completions for a total of 28 yards, and then two running plays before kicking the game-winning field goal.

“It’s a shame that we had them off the field – we got a sack – but it comes back out,” Reilly said. “You give them a second chance, they’re going to go down and score, and they did.”

“That’s what winning teams do,” said Bazzie. “They found ways to make things happen. They don’t care how they win. They just know they won.”

Edwards’ penalty was just the Eskimos’ third of the game and the only one in the second half. The other two penalties came on the same play in the second quarter – Boateng was called for being offside, but the infraction was waved because cornerback Mercy Maston was also flagged for pass interference. Despite the 40-yard gain to the Edmonton 50 on the penalty, Calgary was forced to punt to end the drive.

The Stampeders also benefitted from two plays that probably shouldn’t have happened in the first half:

  1. a) Receiver Kamar Jorden caught a second-down pass that appeared to bounce off the turf at the Edmonton 23 but was ruled a catch. Calgary scored its first touchdown two plays later, and
  2. b) Running back Don Jackson was allowed to run all the way to the Edmonton 12 after he rolled over Esks safety Josh Woodman (four defensive tackles, three knockdowns), even though he appeared to have dragged his leg on the ground at the Edmonton 48. The Stamps kicked a field goal three plays later to take a 13-10 lead.

“They got up and snapped the one in the middle of the field too quickly, so we couldn’t get a good review of it,” Maas said. “I know how the referees see it. When it’s close, they give it a catch, and you’ve just got to live with it.

“The game didn’t come down to (officials’) calls,” Maas pointed out. “It came down to our inability, really, to hold on to the football when it mattered the most and to make plays and we failed to do that.”

SHORT YARDAGE: Walker was injured early in the second quarter after making a catch near the sideline and didn’t return to the game … Gable has now rushed for more than 1,000 yards during 14 games with the Eskimos since joining the team last October … Defensive back Nick Taylor led the Esks with 10 defensive tackles … Whyte scored seven points to move past Canadian Football Hall of Fame star Johnny Bright into ninth place on the Eskimos all-time points list at 415.