Charles may play on Sunday.
Eskimos starting RB awaits green light from team doctor
Hugh Charles, perhaps demonstrating his slippery side step, was adamant he could be back in the Edmonton Eskimos lineup on Sunday.
Or maybe his knee really is OK.
Maybe the Eskimos touchdown titan will give the Canadian Football League team that triple threat out of the backfield when they take on the Alouettes in Sunday’s pivotal game. Edmonton will qualify for a crossover playoff berth with a victory in Montreal.
What Charles did say on Tuesday was that he’s not ruling himself out until he meets with the team doctor. That was pretty much the same message from head coach Kavis Reed.
“We’ll see,” Reed said following Tuesday’s practice. “We’re optimistic he may be available.”
Charles was injured in the third quarter of Friday’s game against the B.C. Lions in Vancouver. The 26-year-old was blocking and had his foot planted in the turf when he was clipped by a B.C. defender, hyperextending a knee in the collision. He has undergone an MRI, but was still awaiting word from the club doctor.
In the meantime, the Eskimos were so concerned that he might not be available for the final two regular-season games that they promptly resigned Cory Boyd. He was back on the field on Tuesday, working with bruising back Jerome Messam.
Charles did not practice, but he did work out.
“It’s probably more of a strain, but it didn’t impact any tendons or anything,” said Charles, who has 1,409 all-purpose yards and eight touchdowns in the books this season. “This is a big important game, so I want to be on the field. I’m optimistic about it.
“I was able to walk it off, run it off. I thought I was going to be able to come back into the game, but it kept stiffening up. I didn’t have to get carted off. I wasn’t lying down on the ground.”
Boyd, meanwhile, said he didn’t even unpack. A salarycap casualty, Boyd was released on Oct. 11 after playing four games for Edmonton. When the Eskimos called to reel him back, he didn’t waste much time deliberating.
“I was working out, trying to figure out what the next step was as far as next year was concerned ... I wasn’t even thinking about this year,” said Boyd. “I only had two months and some change left until the end of this season, then once I got released, my hopes, dreams and expectations when down the drain. So I was just happy to get up, get dressed and pack my bag. Actually my bag wasn’t even unpacked. I just had to wash a couple of things before I jumped on the plane.”