The Eskimos defensive line put up impressive numbers last week – 18 defensive tackles and six quarterback sacks – but, apparently, they could have been even better.
“Shoot, about halfway through the game, we were saying we should have had about 10 (sacks),” said defensive tackle Almondo Sewell (four defensive tackles, two sacks).
“We probably missed, what, five extra ones out there that we left on the board?” he asked fellow defensive lineman Alex Bazzie (three defensive tackles). “We’ve got to clean those up.
“We had a couple of missed tackles in the backfield, too. We’ve got to clean those up too.”
Sewell, the eight-year veteran in the middle of the Eskimos D-line, said the defensive linemen were “more dialed in than ever” for last week’s CFL game against the Ottawa RedBlacks.
“We were coming off the bye week, so everyone was pretty well rested,” he said. “We went back home, refocused and came back in there with a simple game plan. Coach Benny (Mike Benevides) dummied it down all the way. We were in the same coverage the whole entire game so it helped us play a little bit faster.”
The Esks still lost that game 28-15 despite limiting the RedBlacks to only one touchdown and 19 points on six drives into the red zone (inside the Edmonton 20-yard line), so the defensive line will need to be just as focussed – and productive – when the Eskimos, 7-6, take on the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, 6-7, at 5 p.m. Saturday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
“We’re getting better results at home (5-1),” Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly said. “We play better at home for whatever reason. Thankfully, we play at home this week and we’ll figure out the road issue the next time we’re on the road.
“Right now, we’re in Commonwealth and we take a lot of pride in playing well in front of our fans. Hopefully, this weekend will be no different.”
The Eskimos are well aware of the huge playoff implications in Saturday’s game.
A sixth straight win at home would mean Edmonton can – at least temporarily – climb back into a tie for second place in the West Division with the 8-5 Saskatchewan Roughriders, clinch the season series with the Bombers (having already won the season-opener 33-30) and open up a four-point advantage over fifth-place Winnipeg.
But a loss would drop Edmonton into a potential three-way tie for last place in the West with Winnipeg and the 6-6 B.C. Lions (who play the Hamilton Tiger-Cats earlier Saturday). The series with Winnipeg would also be deadlocked 1-1 after two games, leaving the final game of the regular season on Nov. 3 at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium as the tiebreaker if the teams were to finish with identical records.
“I don’t want to crossover,” Sewell said about the fourth-place team in the West playing in the East Division playoffs if it has a better record than the third-place team in the East. “There’s nobody here who wants to crossover. We want to have at least a home playoff game coming in here and then we’ll maybe have to take a short little travel down the road to Calgary and that’s about all we have to do.
“Home playoff games are always better for us,” he added. “We’ve got a momentum swing here. We’ll figure it out this week, try to get the ‘W,’ start off fast and then let things handle themselves.”
Last week’s performance at Ottawa proves that the ceiling is high for what the Esks D-line is capable of doing, Bazzie said. The defensive line’s previous season highs this year were 12 tackles (twice) and four sacks (twice). It was averaging only eight tackles a game.
Bazzie said he would have been shocked to see last week’s big numbers (18 of 55 defensive tackles by the team) if he wasn’t actually playing in the game.
“We were being disruptive,” he said. “That’s what we like to do. But because I was playing, I’m like, ‘Wow, we missed a whole lot more.’ ”
“There were still plays – draws and some explosion plays – where we could have been in better positions to make those plays or to help our linebackers make the plays so that they wouldn’t have gone for long runs or big passes,” said defensive tackle Jake Ceresna, who had a career-high six defensive tackles and his fourth sack of the season against his former team.
A couple of those big plays came from Ottawa running back William Powell, who had a 28-yard scamper on the first drive of the game and a 33-yard run on a delayed draw from the RedBlacks’ 32-yard line with 34 seconds left in the first half that led to an extra three points on the scoreboard.
Bazzie was shocked when he discovered Powell had run for 147 yards on 23 carries. But take away the 61 yards on those two plays and the Eskimos held the league’s leading rusher to an average carry of 4.1 yards.
“Winnipeg is very familiar with draws, too, so we’re just going to have to watch out for that and play that very closely,” said Bazzie. “This week, we’re definitely going to have to buckle up a little bit more and stop the run a little better just to hold them in a manageable situation for us on defence where we’re able to get off the field after second down.
“Winnipeg is a very elusive team,” he continued. “I like to say they’re the team that is full surprises in the CFL. They’re known for their trick plays and things like that. They find ways to get drives going.
“Definitely, on defence, we have to be in that backfield a lot and just being as disruptive as much as we can.”
Boateng, Esks among CFL’s sack leaders
Second-year defensive end Kwaku Boateng ended a six-game drought with his second three-sack performance of the season last week to move into a tie for third place in the CFL with B.C.’s Davon Coleman and Shawn Lemon at eight sacks.
As a team, the Eskimos also moved into second place in the league with 33 quarterback sacks, just two back of the Lions.
“Once I get a taste of one sack, it just kind of multiples from there,” said Boateng, who has already doubled the four sacks he collected as a rookie last year. “It’s almost like once I sense blood in the water, my confidence just escalates.
“But more importantly,” he continued, “getting sacks is more than just the statistical number. It’s more like the whole (defensive) unit working together because getting sacks is a component of the (defensive backs’) coverage being great, your fellow D-lineman also being in the right position so they contain the quarterback so he doesn’t leak out and, lastly, having the quarterback hold on to the ball.
“I’ve just been lucky where all three of those things happened on those three sacks. It just pays dividends to the hard work that we do in practice.”
Boateng, 23, has already noticed that good preparation during practice translates into good results on the field this year. But he also wondered if the bye might have had something to do with last week’s results.
“Both of (his three-sack games) came off of a bye, so I think when I’m fully energized, I’m ready to go,” he said.
While Boateng may have been frustrated at times when he wasn’t getting to the quarterback recently, he was still getting pressure on the passer and helping his teammates find success.
“It’s the whole D-line working together in order for one person to get that sack,” Boateng said. “Whenever I wasn’t getting a sack, I know other members of the team were getting sacks (for example, Bazzie had three sacks in four games during Boateng’s dry spell). So as a collective, if we’re getting sacks, I’m happy about that.”
The Eskimos overhauled their defensive line last winter, trading defensive end Odell Willis for Ceresna and releasing three veterans while John Chick and Da’Quan Bowers retired.
“Our D-line is young,” Boateng said. “Obviously, that’s going to lack some experience, but more importantly, we’re going to be energized and we’re going to be explosive. As the year has gone by, we’ve gained that experience.
“I feel like our defence, especially with all the additions we’ve had – whether it’s the linebacker corps or the secondary – we’re starting to mesh super, super well. As we get closer to November, our games are getting better defensively.”
Sewell, 31, tries to provide the right incentives to keep his younger teammates motivated.
“Get upfield, get after the quarterback, stop the run, TFL (tackles for losses),” he said. “That’s all we’re concerned about.”
With defensive tackle Mike Moore going on the six-game injured list, Ceresna steps into a starting role while international defensive end Nick Usher and national defensive lineman Mark Mackie return to the roster as backups.
Can Esks heat up for stretch run again?
The Eskimos have the same record – 7-6 – that they did at this point of the season last year.
“Record-wise we’re the same,” Reilly said. “It was a different journey to get to that point, for sure. Seven weeks into the year last year we were undefeated and six weeks later we were sitting at 7-6.
“We were a streaky team last year in terms of playing really good for a long time and then playing really bad for a long time and playing really good again. The streaks seem to be much shorter with us this year.
“It’s been a challenge to find that consistency,” he added. “Sometimes we play really well and then turn around the next week and play poorly and then the following week play great. We’re trying to get on track and get that consistency so we can get back to being a streaky team in the win column.”
The Eskimos, who won their last 10 games in 2015 to become Grey Cup champions, finished off the 2017 regular season with five straight victories to finish in third place and stay in the West Division for the playoffs.
“If we can take it one game at a time and win the rest (of our games), we feel we can probably finish better than that,” said head coach Jason Maas. “The teams that we need to beat are right in front of us. We play them all. … It’s going to be a great finish to the season – five meaningful games. That’s the way you’d prefer a season to end.”
While the Esks seem to flounder in September – they’re currently 12-24 in that month over the past eight years (although most of those losses were to the Calgary Stampeders in the home-and-home Labour Day week series) – they know how to finish strong. They’re an impressive 14-1 during their last five regular-season games since ’15 and 17-3 going back four seasons.
“What you’re rather see is teams being better at the end of the year than they are at the beginning of the year because it means you’ve become a better team, a more close-knit team,” Maas said. “You’ve learned some lessons, maybe you’ve got healthier – that was the case for us last year. … We became a closer team because of it, a more experience team because of it and, ultimately, it ended up paying off for us through October.”
Reinforcements arrive
The Eskimos welcomed fifth-year CFL defensive back Brandyn Thompson back to the team when the practice roster was expanded league-wide earlier this week.
Thompson, 28, tore his Achilles tendon in the second-last game of the 2017 regular season while filling in for nickel back (strong-side linebacker) Kenny Ladler.
“Huge addition,” said defensive co-ordinator Mike Benevides. “The last three years … we’ve had so many injuries and changes on the back end. He’s always been a solid factor. He was one who was right next Kenny Ladler that helped him along. Name any wide-side corner from Arjen (Colquhoun) to anybody else, he’s been the steady factor being able to help everybody along.”
Also joining the Eskimos were national wide receiver Peter Berryman, international wide receiver Torrance Gibson, international defensive back Justin Gibbons and international linebacker Taylor Reed, a four-year CFL veteran who played 69 games with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Calgary Stampeders and Ottawa.
“It’s coming down to the stretch run,” Maas said. “We need to have guys step up and it’s always nice to have veterans in the building, knowing that they’ve done it and been there and all that stuff. We’re welcoming (them) with open arms, obviously.”
Thompson was in Edmonton for training camp, but wasn’t cleared to practice at that point because of his injury. Whether he’ll play for the Esks during the last few games will be “a day-by-day evaluation,” according to Maas.
“He’s a top-calibre player,” Maas said. “He has the ability to make the players around him better. … I know he’ll probably make an impact for us at some point this year.”
For his part, Thompson, who recently got engaged, said he’s just happy to be back with the Eskimos after a lengthy healing process.
“I’ve never had an injury this long,” he said.
But he wasn’t about to let the injury end his playing career.
“As soon as I tore it, I knew that wasn’t how I wanted the story to end,” he said. “That was definitely motivation to get back as soon as possible and get healthy.”
Thompson is the third Eskimos player to return this season from an Achilles injury, joining middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt and defensive cornerback Mercy Maston, who were also hurt last year.
Short yardage
- Veteran safety Neil King returns to the starting lineup after spending the previous six games on the injured list … Receiver Sam Giguère makes his first start with the Eskimos while fellow national receivers Nate Behar and Natey Adjei are in backup roles … Fullbacks/special teams players Tanner Green (practice roster) and Pascal Lochard (one-game injured list) come off the active roster … Offensive tackle Tommie Draheim, who was hurt in the season-opener at Winnipeg, has been moved to the one-game injured list after spending two six-week sessions on the injured list.
- Second-year receiver D’haquille (Duke) Williams is averaging 19.1 yards on 68 catches to reach 1,300 yards for the season. Only former Eskimos wide receiver Jason Tucker has finished with a higher average (24.4 yards) for any player with a minimum of 60 receptions since 2001. Tucker had 1,632 yards on 67 catches in 2004.
- Williams has also caught a touchdown pass in five consecutive games while Reilly has thrown a TD pass in every game this year.
- Reilly has 40 300-plus yards passing games to rank 10th all-time in CFL history despite ranking 28th in total games started (91). Only three quarterbacks – Doug Flutie (59%), Ottawa’s Trevor Harris (49%) and Anthony Calvillo (45%) – have compiled a higher percentage of 300-yard games than Reilly’s 44-per-cent.
- The West Division has clinched the season series versus the East Division for the 15th time in the last 17 years with 22 interlocking wins in 33 games. However, the Eskimos have won only three of their seven games against East teams this year with one home game against the RedBlacks on Oct. 13 remaining. Between that and a 2-5 road record, it’s probably not a good idea for Edmonton to end up in a crossover playoff game against an East Division team on its home turf this year.