Taking a run at the CFL’s best

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This article was published 16/08/2017 (2444 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There will be more than just pride on the line when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Edmonton Eskimos hit the turf for tonight’s tilt at Investors Group Field.

In the thick of a heated West Division race, the Bombers have a chance to make some serious ground with a victory. At 5-2, Winnipeg has won their last three games, but with each coming against teams in the East their success has equated to simply treading water.

Winnipeg currently sits tied for third place with the 5-3 B.C. Lions, behind the Calgary Stampeders (5-1-1) and Eskimos, who will again do battle to remain perfect on the year. The Eskimos are just the 10th team in league history to open a season 7-0, with their best start coming in 1955 when they began the season with 10 wins.

“It’s going to be an outright battle and we’re expecting that,” said Bombers running back Andrew Harris following Wednesday’s walk-through. “At this juncture of the season and where the standings are, this is a huge game. I know the guys are fired up for this.”

With that, here are five storylines to keep in mind for tonight’s game…

CONTINUITY VS. ADAPTABILITY

If the Bombers have been good at anything this season, it’s blocking out outside noise that inevitably comes with each game.

Last week, talk surrounded a Hamilton Tiger-Cats team that was 0-6 and whether the Bombers were susceptible to underestimating their opponent. Against Edmonton, it’s been what kind of message a victory would send to the rest of the league.

In every case, the message out of the Bombers locker room has remained consistent: with the team focused on the game film, not the standings.

But there’s a certain elephant in the room that is just too impossible to ignore this time around: the Eskimos’ injury list. A total of 20 players are currently out of the lineup for Edmonton, with 16 players on the six-game, and four more occupying the one-game injured lists.

“Never like this for an entire football team,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas, when asked about the number of injuries. “To see multiple starters, in multiple positions go down and yet I’ve never seen it the other way, where guys have come in and do the job. That’s the great part.”

As for the Bombers, they’ll dress the same lineup as last week, with the usual suspects — most notably receiver Weston Dressler, defensive end Tristan Okpalaugo and linebackers Ian Wild and Brandon Alexander — all out for another game.

THE REILLY EFFECT

Edmonton will be without their two top receivers in Adarius Bowman and Brandon Zylstra — a duo that despite missing five games between the two has still accounted for 53 receptions, 690 yards and three touchdowns. LaDarius Perkins, Edmonton’s third-string running back, will earn another start this week while John White and Travon Van continue to recover from injuries.

For most teams in the CFL, the absence of such key pieces in key places would have a catastrophic effect. But most teams don’t have a quarterback like Mike Reilly.

At 32 years old, Reilly is playing arguably his best football of his seven-year professional career and is considered to be the early candidate for the league’s MVP. Despite a rotating cast of characters around him, Reilly maintains the league’s best quarterback rating at 112.3, completing 72 per cent (1st-CFL) of his passes for 2,329 yards (third) and 13 touchdowns (T-3rd). His four interceptions are tied for second fewest among QBs with at least five starts.

“We’re seven weeks into this thing so there’s a long way to go,” said Reilly. “You don’t look ahead and say ‘we’ve done a great job of this so far, we’re going to make it through all 18’… my focus hasn’t been on any of that, it’s been on trying to prepare on Winnipeg’s defence.”

Reilly has thrown for at least 300 yards in each of his last four games — his career-best is eight — and has recorded a passing touchdown in the last 17, eclipsing the franchise record set by Warren Moon in the early 1980s.

“I’ve always said quarterbacks get way too much credit and way too much blame but he deserves a lot of the credit,” said Maas. “He’s done an extremely good job.”

STAYING GROUNDED

Of all that has ailed the Eskimos this season, perhaps the most damage has come on the defensive side of the ball.

Edmonton has already had to make due without Canadian linebacker Cory Greenwood, who was ruled out for the entire 2017 season after tearing his ACL in training camp, and import all-star linebacker J.C. Sherritt, who has been out since pulling up lame in the season opener.

They’ll now have to contend without two key pieces on the defensive line — tackle Almondo Sewell, arguably the league’s most dominant interior lineman, and defensive end Marcus Howard, both of whom were ruled out for tonight after leaving last week’s game early.

That should bode well for a Bombers’ run attack that is coming off a breakout game against the Tiger-Cats a week ago, rushing for a season-high 141 yards. Harris totalled 107 on the ground, reaching the 100-yard mark for the first time in 14 games.

“For the team it matters more than for me personally,” said Harris. “The O-line loves it when we’re grinding those yards out and then they can attack instead of sitting back.”

No team has been run against more often this year than the Eskimos, whose 81 yards allowed per game are the third fewest in the CFL. But that number could take a major hit with the loss of Sewell and Howard, who will be replaced by Da’Quan Bowers and rookie Canadian Kwaku Boateng, respectively, both of whom are making their first start of the season.

TOUCHDOWNS VS. FIELD GOALS

Of the Bombers’ 13 series on offence against Hamilton, only twice were they forced to punt. But although they still put up 39 points, made up of nine scoring drives — Justin Medlock had a field-goal attempt miss and another blocked — only three finished with a trip to the end zone.

Led by quarterback Matt Nichols, the Bombers have been able to (mostly) silence the critics over what has, at times, appeared to be a stagnant offence. Winnipeg averages the most points as an offence, with nearly 32 per game, but far too often the Bombers are relying on Medlock to finish off drives.

That’s not to say it hasn’t worked — their record speaks for itself — but against an Eskimos’ unit that averages the most net offence per game (407 yards) and has dominated in time of possession (33:05), they won’t be able to rely on key turnovers from the defence or trick plays by special teams.

Nichols said the number of field goals his offence has settled for doesn’t bother him. And he doesn’t worry about how het gets the job done, just that the game ends with the Bombers up by a point.

“The main thing you learn as you get more and more reps is what you can and can’t get away with — situational football — and when to take shots and when to make sure you don’t turn the ball over,” said Nichols. “What matters to me is keeping pace in the West — this is a four-point game — and getting another win and celebrating with my teammates in the locker room after the game.”

STAFFORD FEELING AT HOME WITH ESKS

Kenny Stafford was highly sought after by the Bombers in free agency, with the 27-year-old receiver arriving in Winnipeg as the prime candidate to fill the hole left by the departure of Ryan Smith.

In little time, Stafford was able to endear himself to the media, shaking hands with reporters on his first day of practice, while often grabbing attention with his animated personality. He also appeared to get along with his teammates, which was just part of the many things he felt grateful for after signing a two-year deal — what he called “a long term commitment” — with the Bombers.

But that relationship didn’t last very long — Stafford was gone prior to the start of the season — ending with a release to make room for younger and cheaper options. Two hours after he was cut, he posted a picture of the Eskimos’ training facility, with the message attached that read, “I’m home.”

“You can be a good player one place and be a bad player somewhere else,” Stafford said Wednesday while standing in the north end zone at IGF. “You don’t get down on yourself because you know you can play this game and then the next opportunity you get you make them pay for it.”

After spending weeks on the practice roster, Stafford has started the last two games. He has seven receptions for 126 yards, including a 70-yard catch and run. He said he has no ill feelings towards the Bombers, nor does he regret the brief time he spent with the team.

But he’s happy where he is; back with the team he won a Grey Cup with in 2015, and back in the city where he hoisted it.

“It’s not a revenge game because if I have to have that type of motivation I shouldn’t be playing football,” he said. “I’m on a 7-0 football team, possibly going 8-0. The last time we went 7-0 with the Eskimos, Disney Land was just opening up. We’re creating history over here… right now we’re doing something great.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

After a slew of injuries playing hockey that included breaks to the wrist, arm, and collar bone; a tear of the medial collateral ligament in both knees; as well as a collapsed lung, Jeff figured it was a good idea to take his interest in sports off the ice and in to the classroom.

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