Eskimos look to Bell for ground attack
Strong effort against B.C. earns him starting role
There is a new No. 1 in the Edmonton Eskimos backfield.
Shakir Bell has taken over the role of starting running back following Friday’s 27-23 win over the visiting B.C. Lions. The five-foot-six, 185-pound Indiana State product carried the ball 23 times for 108 yards and the first rushing touchdown of his CFL career. Playing just his third game this season, in place of the injured John White, who was out this time with a shoulder on the mend, Bell — a healthy game-day scratch in the other 10 games this year — recorded his second triple-digit rushing performance of the season.
And that’s saying something on an Eskimos roster where no other player has hit the 100-yard mark on the ground this season.
In his bounce-back season from an Achilles injury that saw him miss the entire 2015 season, White has played 10 games with 100 carries for 429 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 44 catches for 350 yards and a touchdown.
While that puts White sixth among league-leading rushers, Bell is the next running back behind him with 55 rushes for 334 yards and a touchdown, along with seven receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown in three games.
“We’ve said it all along we know what kind of backs we have here and Shak is not really a No. 2,” said Eskimos head coach Jason Maas, whose club improved to 6-7.
“He was just our guy that was waiting in the wings and he’s definitely taken that job over and done exactly what we thought he could do.
“Our O-line did a great job, too, opening holes for him but Shak bounces off people and he makes the second effort and does a lot of great things with the ball.
“On top of that, he’s a good (pass) protector and he protected the ball well, too, which is huge in a game like this.”
Friday’s win marked the most balanced attack of Edmonton’s season, with 31 pass attempts and 30 rushes, as Bell had the most carries by an Eskimos player since exrunning back Hugh Charles rushed 20 times for 118 yards against the same opponent in 2012.
And Friday’s success had nothing to do with the one carrying the ball and everything to do with the entire offence coming together, according to Bell.
“It’s just the offensive linemen, man, those guys block their butts off,” he said. “They go in there, they get to the second level. They work for days on end and coach Gibby (Mike Gibson) gets those guys ready to go out there and put on those types of performances.”