Red-hot Eskimos ready to chill with Bombers at IGF, QB Reilly says

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This article was published 07/11/2017 (2867 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

For Mike Reilly and the Edmonton Eskimos, the CFL regular season was a painful endurance test.

After a seven-game winning streak to start the season, followed by a six-game losing skid triggered by the league’s lengthiest disabled list, the Eskimos emerged to finish with five straight wins to secure third place in the West with a 12-6 record.

Today, they are almost certainly the league’s hottest, most dangerous team as they prepare for Sunday’s West semifinal against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Investors Group Field (3:30 p.m., TSN TV, CJOB).

“For the first seven games of the regular season when we were on a winning streak, we were getting a number of injuries every single week and were still just kinda plowing through and making it work,” said Reilly, Edmonton’s No. 1 quarterback and spiritual leader, via telephone Tuesday afternoon.

“Eventually, all that stuff is going to catch up at some point in time. In professional football, everybody you’ve got out there playing is a very good player but your starters are starters for a reason. It’s because they’re your best players and you expect that your backups and third-string players are capable of playing — and they are — but the inexperience is going to catch up to you at some point in time.”

How bad were the injuries?

Well, for a Week 9 game in Winnipeg, the Eskimos had 17 players on their six-game disabled list and four more on the one-game DL. The Blue Bombers would hand them their first loss — a 33-26 decision.

During Week 15, when the Blue Bombers arrived in Edmonton for a return matchup, the hosts still had 19 on the six-man list and two on the one-game DL. Presto, a 28-19 defeat.

“There’s kind of a delayed response to seeing the production (improve) when it happens,” said Reilly. “Even through we were getting guys back three or four games into that losing streak, it still took some time to get on the same page and get everybody firing together.”

Reilly’s talent-laden receiving corps was one of the units hardest hit.

Proven performers such as Brandon Zylstra (two games), Vidal Hazelton (five games), Derel Walker (10 games) and Adarius Bowman (six games) have also missed significant playing time due to injury. But all four played in Edmonton’s final regular-season game, a 28-13 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

“I don’t think we’ve had a single guy outside of Cory Watson, in the receiving crew, that’s been there consistently week in, week out,” said Reilly, referring to the former Winnipeg slotback who suited up for 15 games with the Esks this season.

A full complement of receivers in addition to running back C.J. Gable, a late-season acquisition from the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, should give the Blue Bombers defence plenty to worry about. Could cold weather affect Edmonton’s game plan?

“It does and it doesn’t,” said Reilly, considered a favourite for the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player prize. “Weather’s always going to impact how a game is played in October and November when it gets really cold out. At the same time, we know what our identity is as a football team. We try not to let anything change that. We’ve been practising the last couple of weeks in Edmonton in extremely cold conditions. The game in Regina was really cold with the wind chill factor.

“And our guys, the young guys who have practised in it for a number of weeks, so they’re getting used to dealing with that cold. Our veterans have done it a lot. I’ve played a lot of cold-weather games so I don’t worry too much about how the cold weather’s going to affect my ability to throw the football. So, we just stick to our game plan but at the same time, you’ve got to be prepared for anything.”

The Esks are more inclined to run the ball with Gable in the backfield and cold, windy conditions at IGF could force the issue.

“In those instances, you certainly have other parts of the game plan you can use to your advantage,” said Reilly. “That’s why it’s been great to have C.J. on our team at the running back position because he brings that whole other element to our offence.”

Winnipeg cornerback Chris Randle expects Reilly to push the ball downfield, regardless of the conditions.

“Yeah, that’s Reilly,” Randle said Monday. “He’s put up the numbers, man. I know he’s led the league in passing and he’s on a roll with his team, he’s leading those guys. He’s tough as nails. He gets hit, he gets right back up. He makes all the throws, he can run. I know he has supreme confidence in his receivers and his ability so I don’t see why he wouldn’t look at me and try me.”

Reilly also made a conscious effort to preserve his body (at the urging of head coach Jason Maas) during the regular season by limited the freelance runs he’s so well known for.

“My maturation as a quarterback is not doing it so much earlier in the year so you’re healthy enough to do it when it really counts at this time of year,” said Reilly. “Part of that is the weather. It’s cold out, you may not be able to throw it into the tight little windows as accurately as you want to or if teams are going to drop back and force you to make tough throws, they’re going to be susceptible to other things. And a quarterback running is definitely one of them.”

NOTEWORTHY: Receiver Clarence Denmark is the lone remaining player on the Winnipeg roster from the club’s last home playoff game, the East final in 2011. Edmonton’s Odell Willis and Cory Watson were also members of that Blue Bombers team.

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14