The Eskimos snapped their longest losing streak since 2013 by overcoming a nightmarish start on Monday that would normally bring even the stoutest of teams to their knees.
There were four fumbles in the first quarter alone and half-a-dozen dropped passes in the opening 30 minutes. A deflected punt led to Montreal’s first offensive touchdown since Aug. 11 and a fumble by new Eskimos running back C.J. Gable was returned 56 yards for another major as the Alouettes jumped out to a 12-0 lead after only four minutes and 14 seconds.
The Als went up 15-0 less than 10 minutes into the CFL game when Boris Bede booted a 20-yard field goal after the Eskimos barely managed to tackle Stefan Logan after a 40-yard punt return.
And most of the game was played in a downpour at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium in Montreal.
But the Eskimos persevered and eventually started turning things around to cruise to a 42-24 decision over the struggling Alouettes, who are now riding an eight-game losing streak. The game marked only the third time in CFL history that two teams with six or more consecutive losses played each other.
“It’s a sigh of relief to get that win finally and end that losing streak,” linebacker Adam Konar said about Edmonton’s first victory in 8-1/2 eight weeks.
Second-year receiver Brandon Zylstra is used to dragging opponents with him as he fights for extra yards, but this time he carried the Eskimos on his back by catching seven passes for 201 yards and a touchdown – with all but one reception for 19 yards coming in the opening half – as the Esks took a 23-21 lead into the break.
Then the defence stepped up to make big plays in the second half and the Eskimos scored 16 unanswered points in the fourth quarter.
“On the road, in definitely difficult weather conditions and on a six-game losing streak, for sure you see what your team is made of when you have that adversity early in the game,” said Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly, who completed only 13 of 29 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns with one interception.
“To have the start that we had and still go into the locker room at halftime with a lead was great to see. And to finish out the game, to have some big plays – our defence puts a touchdown on the board and stuffs them on a third-and-four. We were getting some plays on offence, defence and special teams and that was good to see.”
With the win, the Eskimos move back into a tie for third place in the West Division with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Both teams are 8-6 and four points ahead of the fifth-place B.C. Lions, 6-8.
The Eskimos play the East Division-leading Toronto Argonauts, 7-8, at 5 p.m. Saturday at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium in their Pink Game, presented by Fisherman’s Friend.
“There’s still a lot of football left to play,” Reilly said during the 630 CHED post-game show. “The ultimate goal always is to just get into the playoffs someway, somehow. Once that’s accomplished, you want to get as high of a seed as you can.”
Reilly didn’t play during the fourth quarter for precautionary reasons after suffering a minor lower-body injury as Eskimos head coach Jason Maas opted to bring in seldom-used backup QB James Franklin.
“We decided to just make the change for a couple of series and, by that time, the game was over,” said Maas. “I think (Reilly) could have probably finished the game, but we weren’t hitting on all cylinders to finish that (third) quarter and we decided just to make the change to see if (Franklin) could spark us.”
Franklin completed only two of five passes, but one of them was a 25-yard TD to rookie wide receiver Duke Williams to complete a six-play, 49-yard drive. He mostly relied upon Gable’s rushing ability to move the ball, use up the clock and set up Swayze Waters’ third field goal in four attempts (Waters missed a 54-yarder and two converts).
“It’s important to not have to force Mike (to play), if he’s not 100 per cent, to go ahead and finish a game with James,” said Maas.
“That’s not going to happen every week,” he added. “I prefer our starter to play through every game and that’s what I’m hoping will happen.”
Reilly had been intercepted by defensive back Brandon Stewart at the Edmonton 43 about 5-1/2 minutes into third quarter, which led to a Montreal field goal and a 24-23 Alouettes lead, and he also fumbled and recovered a short-yardage snap later in the quarter.
A 39-yard pass to Walker set up Waters’ 26-yard field goal about four minutes later as the Eskimos took the lead for good, 26-24.
Cornerback Chris Edwards delivered the decisive blow to the Alouettes when he grabbed the ball as it popped up off Montreal receiver Earnest Jackson and ran 73 yards with his first CFL interception to score his first professional touchdown near the midway mark of the fourth quarter.
“We never looked back from there,” Maas said.
Defensive lineman Da’Quan Bowers also intercepted a Drew Willy pass that was deflected by rookie defensive end Kwaku Boateng after Montreal marched 59 yards on seven straight running plays earlier in the final quarter while Konar ripped the ball away from Als running back Tyrell Sutton (139 rushing yards, one TD) and then recovered it at the Montreal 49 to set up the last major score, giving the Eskimos 16 points off of turnovers.
The star of Edmonton’s eighth consecutive regular-season victory over the Alouettes since 2014 was Zylstra, who caught three passes on the drive that led to Gable’s first of two TDs – a five-yard run on an option toss from Reilly – near the end of the first quarter.
Zylstra, who is second in the league with 1,335 receiving yards, also got open behind the Montreal secondary for a 56-yard pass-and-run play that set up Gable’s second touchdown on a shovel pass from nine yards out early in the second quarter and had a 42-yard pass-and-run play and a 29-yard catch for his fourth touchdown of the season during another series late in the first half to give the Esks their first lead in the game, 23-18.
Maas called it “one of the most impressive displays I’ve seen out of a receiver, particularly when everyone else seemed to have a harder time of doing it (in the rain storm) … he made it look pretty easy.”
“I’ve only played one game like that where it’s rained that hard and that was back in high school,” said Zylstra, who decided to not wear gloves for the first time in a game while catching punts in the pre-game warm-up.
“I think I had gloves on for two catches and took them off,” he recalled. “I was like there’s no way I’m wearing gloves today. It was way too slick.”
The result was the first 200-yard receiving game of his life.
While his fellow receivers were debating about whether or not to wear gloves, Zylstra advised them to “just make sure you body-catch everything. If that ball’s coming hot, that’s going straight through your hands. Just use your body to stop it and then corral it with your hands.”
Gable said he ran “too physical” for the rainy conditions on his first carry since joining the Eskimos in a recent trade “and it popped right out” about his fumble at midfield that Stewart returned to the end zone for the fifth defensive TD scored against Edmonton during the last seven games.
But Gable, the Eskimos fifth starting running back this year, more than made up for that mistake the rest of the game, finishing with 111 rushing yards on 22 carries plus his two TDs.
Reilly also ran for 43 yards while wide receiver Derel Walker had four catches for 59 yards and Williams finished with three receptions for 51 yards.
The Alouettes rushed for 208 yards, but the Edmonton defence kept the Montreal offence out of the end zone after the initial touchdown and stopped the Als on two early two-point convert attempts.
Defensive back Aaron Grymes, who recently returned from the NFL, led the Eskimos with eight defensive tackles while Konar and fellow linebacker Kenny Ladler each had seven.
Defensive end Odell Willis had three defensive tackles and two quarterback sacks to end a six-game drought. Defensive tackle Almondo Sewell had a sack for the third game in a row and three tackles.
Another big play for the Eskimos was 2017 draft pick Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga forcing a fumble on a Montreal punt return late in the first quarter. Cory Watson recovered the ball at the Alouettes’ 32 and Waters eventually kicked a 25-yard field goal.
“We had a complete team effort after that bad start to finish out a game,” Maas said. “Our defence did what it needed to do to keep (the score) where it was in the first half and special teams was good.”
SHORT YARDAGE: The win was the Eskimos sixth in seven games against an East Division opponent this season … Reilly was on the receiving end of a hit to the helmet for the third game in a row, but this time the officials called a roughing the passer penalty, which extended the Eskimos drive for their first TD … Walker passed the 3,000-yard mark in receptions as an Eskimo … Reilly became the third quarterback to pass for 20,000 yards in his Eskimos career and also moved past ex-Esks QB David Archer for 32nd place on the CFL’s all-time passing list with 20,957 yards … Edmonton had five fumbles in Monday’s game, but lost only one … The Esks outscored the Als 42-9 after falling behind 15-0 in the first quarter.
The Eskimos can clinch a playoff spot with a win against Toronto and a BC loss to Winnipeg this week.