Take this to the bank: If the Eskimos have the ball at the opponent’s one-yard line, Mike Reilly is going to score on a quarterback sneak.
It’s a safe bet. It’s as certain as death and taxes. And the Eskimos receivers and running backs are well aware of the situation.
“If you want to get a touchdown, you better score (when you have a chance),” said wide receiver Kenny Stafford, who was stopped just short of the end zone after a 19-yard pass-and-run play early in the second half of last Saturday’s wild, high-scoring Labour Day Rematch with the Calgary Stampeders at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
“I tell them you better get tackled at the two or get into the end zone because, if you go down at the one, I’m not letting it go,” Reilly said after scoring three rushing touchdowns in a game for the second time in his CFL career. “Our guys know if we get down to the one-yard line, we’ve got big boys up front and they’re road graders, and they make it easy to get into the end zone.
“But that doesn’t happen unless our guys play great to get down there,” Reilly continued. “Cal (fullback Calvin McCarty) made a great catch to get us into the end zone, but then it got called back on the review. Kenny (Stafford) made a great catch and ducked back inside about the five-yard line and just about got in, but that got us to the one. And Duke (D’haquille Williams) had a catch on a sideline ball to get the first touchdown.
“Three great plays by guys to get down there. I’m just the one who punches it in from the one.”
Reilly leads the CFL with 11 rushing TDs and 26 passing touchdowns this season. His career high of 12 rushing majors, which is also a club record for QBs, was set last year.
He gave credit to his mammoth offensive line for saying they did “a fantastic job” and had a “good push” in last Saturday’s 48-42 victory, which marked the highest-scoring game between the two Alberta rivals (90 points). But Reilly, who leads the league with 3,943 passing yards two-thirds of the way through the regular season, also plays a big part in that success.
“He’s a warrior, man,” said defensive halfback Aaron Grymes. “We lean on him. We rely on him so much. I love playing with him.”
Touching gesture
It’s a good thing that Reilly scored multiple times in last Saturday’s game. He needed more than one opportunity to find the right time to deliver a touchdown football to an Eskimos fan whose father had recently passed away.
“She’s been an awesome fan for a long time,” Reilly said about (Chantelle Miller). “I talked to her before we went to Calgary. Her father wasn’t doing well, and then I saw over the course of the week before this game that he had passed away. He was a season-ticket holder who brought her to her first game, and she’s one of the biggest fans I know.
“We definitely owe him a lot as an organization. … I got into the end zone on the other side of the field early, but it was kind of a long run, and I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it all the way over there, so I’m glad I got in on the other side. I just wanted to make sure she had something to remember the game by.”
Whyte’s lucky spot works again
Kicker Sean Whyte’s longest field goal of the season is 52 yards. Three times now.
“My lucky spot,” Whyte said. “In Winnipeg my first year, I hit the 53-yard game-winner. It’s that nice little pocket area on the left-centre. I love that spot. Every time I’ve hit that 52, it’s always been in that spot.
“I came out there and started laughing to myself, ‘Oh, that’s my favourite spot. Perfect.’ ”
Whyte also kicked a 23-yard field goal in the game.
‘Celebrated like it was a touchdown.’
Calvin McCarty was inches away from scoring his first touchdown of the 2018 season. He caught a five-yard pass from Reilly and fell into the end zone, but the CFL Command Centre in Toronto over-ruled the call on the field, saying McCarty was down by contact before breaking the plane of the goal line.
Of course, Reilly plunged into the end zone on the very next play.
“I should have scored, but we celebrated like it was a touchdown, so I’ll take it,” McCarty said. “I’m sure (Reilly) might lend me the ball if I want to borrow the touchdown ball, but he might ask for it back.”
McCarty has scored at least one TD in every season of his 12-year CFL career except ‘15 and ‘18. He has scored 28 touchdowns, overall, since he joined the Eskimos in 2007 – 16 rushing and 12 as a receiver.
McCarty had another interesting play three plays prior to his almost-TD. He caught another five-yard pass from Reilly and ran 11 more yards to the Calgary 11 before fumbling the football.
“I got it back, and then somebody started pulling fingers, and they ended up getting (the ball) back out, but I was definitely down with it at that time,” McCarty said. “I’m just glad I got the ball back.”
‘Let It Go’
Reilly has been exposed to a whole new world since his daughter, Brooklyn, was born almost two years ago. Just how much showed when the CFL recently asked what he wanted for a design on cleats they were making for the QB to wear in last Saturday’s game.
“I just gave them a list of all the stuff that (the almost two-year-old) Brooklyn is watching now,” he said. “I didn’t know about any of the characters who are going to be on those shoes until I had a kid and now I can’t get the songs out of my head. I think all the parents out there can probably relate to that.”
This n’ that
- How impressive was it for the Eskimos to score a season-high 48 points in the Labour Day Rematch? The Stampeders had allowed an average of only 17.2 points during their first 10 contests this year.
- The Stampeders had committed a league-low 16 turnovers before coughing up the ball seven times last Saturday on three interceptions ( Forrest Hightower, Mercy Maston and Aaron Grymes), two fumbles (recovered by Adjei and Kwaku Boateng) and twice on downs.
- The Eskimos took only seven penalties for 72 yards during the home-and-home series with the Stampeders. They averaged a league-high 10.1 penalties and 106.5 penalty yards during their first 10 games this year.
He Said It:
- “Calgary’s going to feel the same after this game as we did last week because it’s such a tight game and they had mistakes they’ll look at and say, ‘If we wouldn’t have done that, we would have won the game’, and they’re probably right. But we forced some of those mistakes just like they forced them on us last week.” – Mike Reilly
- “I don’t care that it came down to that last play. I’m just glad it didn’t get completed, and that’s a finish. We’ve needed that a few times this year and we got it in a big spot.” – Eskimos head coach Jason Maas
- “We closed one out, we didn’t beat ourselves, penalties were limited, turnovers were limited, and we made plays when we were supposed to. It was definitely a big turn-around from Monday.” – Kenny Stafford.