Playoff football at IGF: Blue Bombers have all eyes on Eskimos QB Mike Reilly

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This article was published 10/11/2017 (2917 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

They’ve heard the chatter and seen the game film. For the Winnipeg Blue Bombers defence, what Mike Reilly — the starting quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos — presents Sunday is a stiff challenge as the two teams meet for the West Division semifinal at Investors Group Field.

Reilly led the Canadian Football League in passing yards (5,830) and touchdowns (30), and finished with a league-best 12 rushing touchdowns. The Eskimos have won their last five games and are considered to be the hottest team entering the playoffs.

But what Reilly also offers the Bombers defence, a unit that has taken its share of lumps on the field and criticism off it, is an opportunity to right the ship at the best possible time. To do so, that will mean limiting the 32-year-old Reilly as best as possible — and then some.

So, how does one go about doing that? Achieving something so many have failed to do this year?

“With Mike Reilly, you have to corral him because he’s very good at escaping the pocket,” said Bombers all-star safety Taylor Loffler. “If you have just one guy in there he’ll probably escape it. You have to rally around and make sure you wrap up on him.”

Pressure on Reilly will fall mostly on the Bombers defensive line. Despite the loss of Jamaal Westerman to a season-ending triceps injury earlier this year, it’s a front-four that has managed to prevail without their biggest leader on the field.

The emergence of Jackson Jeffcoat in his rookie season and the presence of Tristan Okpalaugo on the opposite edge have more than made up for the loss of Westerman. On the inside, the combination of tackles Drake Nevis, Jake Thomas and Cory Johnson, when at the top of their games, have been able to push the line of scrimmage and create fear in opposing quarterbacks.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea doesn’t think anything can rattle Reilly, a veteran of the league playing the best football of his eight years in the CFL. He’s the West nominee for most outstanding player and is expected to win the award over Toronto Argonauts pivot Ricky Ray.

“I don’t know if you can (get to him) in terms of affecting his psyche around the game. I don’t know that you can get to him that way mentally,” said O’Shea. “This is a contact sport — by the time you make it to this level you’re pretty sure of yourself, in a good way, and you’re not intimidated by contact.

O’Shea added: “It’s more of the plan and how you cover down the receivers, when you should bring pressure. Those are the types of things that are important, that can be affected. The idea of your physicality intimidating someone at this level, it’s ridiculous.”

Bombers defensive back Brandon Alexander said in order to stop Reilly you have to take away his options. That means limiting a group of receivers considered the best in the league, including Brandon Zylstra, the CFL’s leading receiver, with 1,687 yards.

“Reilly is able to throw the ball anywhere on the field, but it’s all of his receivers that are big and strong, all guys who can make plays on the ball that make him even better,” said Alexander.

A quick look over the Eskimos roster and Alexander is right. Of the five main receivers on the roster – Adarius Bowman (six-foot-three, 217 pounds), Vidal Hazelton (6-3, 212), Derel Walker (6-2, 188), Cory Watson (6-3, 211) and Zylstra (6-3, 220) – all are big targets.

“Those guys, they can go anywhere — they’re interchangeable from the field side to boundary,” said Alexander. “What’s different about this team is their receivers are willing to make a play after the ball is being caught. As soon as the ball is caught, they don’t fall to the ground but are looking to run you over – something that will put you on a highlight reel.”

If that wasn’t enough to handle, the Eskimos have also established a dangerous run game. Edmonton has averaged a league-best 331 passing yards per game and are second in rushing, with an average of 96 yards. Over the last five games, however, the Eskimos have averaged nearly 120 yards on the ground.

The Bombers defence allowed the most passing yards against, averaging 321 yards per game, and the 26.6 points given up each week to opposing offences is third worst, behind only Hamilton and Montreal. Still, where the Bombers believe they have the edge is in experience. While Edmonton has been streaky – they opened the season with seven straight wins, followed that up with six consecutive losses, before ending the season 5-0 – the Bombers have learned to win in a variety of different ways, most of them in close affairs.

“We’ve won differently, on a lot of different games,” said O’Shea. “Those experiences are things that you can draw upon. The way the guys are on the bench, at any point in the game, there’s always a confidence there and always the mindset that says we’ve been there before or we’ve found others ways to win and this is just another opportunity to do that.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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