Esks offence lives by the gun, dies by the gun
Two-and-outs didn’t give defence chance to rest against surging Ticats
It’s live by the gun, die by the gun in Jason Maas’s offence.
And when your no-huddle tactics end up firing blanks, it’s the defence that pays a price.
The Edmonton Eskimos used up all their offensive ammunition blasting to a 25-point lead over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats coming out of the half of Saturday’s colossal collapse at Commonwealth Stadium.
But that 31-6 lead ended in defeat after the offence shot themselves in the foot with a series of two-and-outs. It’s a problem that continued to compound itself as the Ticats took full advantage of a struggling Eskimos defence that never got a chance to rest, with four straight touchdown drives on the way to a 37-31 win.
By the time the Eskimos offence began backfiring, not even a gunslinger like Clint Eastwood, himself, could stop a good game that was turning bad, from ending ugly.
“It was as good as I thought early and as bad as I thought late,” Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly said. “Speaking offensively, we couldn’t get a first down to save our lives after (our last) touchdown. Any time you do that, you’re going to put your team in a bad position.
“Obviously, you’re not going to put points on the board but you’re also not going to give your defence much rest and you’re not going to do much for field position.”
Despite still being in its infancy, Edmonton’s new offensive system has already shown incredible potential — if not always leading to the intended results just yet.
Reilly hasn’t thrown for less than 350 yards in a game this season and sits atop the CFL with a total of 1,580, despite playing one game less than the other quarterbacks filling out the top-five. Adarius Bowman’s recorded 100-yard-receiving performances in all four games to bolster the Eskimos league-leading 31.8 points per game. Their 455 yards of net offence per game leads the West Division.
But the hurry-up offence is a highrisk, high-reward proposition, one that isn’t exactly equal in responsibility either. When the defence has a letdown in back-to-back series, the offence at least gets a chance to catch its breath on the sideline. But when the offence spins out and the two-and-outs start piling up, the defence has to go back onto the field.
And while last year’s Eskimos defence was second to none, what had been the team’s biggest strength lost five starters to free agency over the off-season. Combine that with learning a different system of their own under new defensive coordinator Mike Benevides, and it’s led to obvious growing pains
While the Eskimos won the time of possession 26:53-18:07 through three quarters, Hamilton dominated the final frame 9:23-5:37.
“Our offence was two-and-out uncharacteristically three or four times in the fourth quarter, which couldn’t stop the bleeding completely,” Maas said. “If we would have been able to drive down and kick a field goal as they were scoring touchdowns, everybody could take a breath.
“But all of a sudden, you go twoand-out, two-and-out after your defence has given up some points, everyone tries to press harder.”
It’s not like they tried slowing things down on offence. You’re either hurry-up or you’re not. And if the Eskimos succeeded in one area of that game, it was showing a commitment to stay on target with a system they have faith will pay big dividends down the road. Even if its evolution can be painful.