Eskimos motivated, eager for rematch with Redblacks
Edmonton would like a little revenge on team that ended their season last year
Beating the Ottawa Redblacks won’t change what happened in last year’s Eastern Final.
It won’t erase Edmonton’s upset loss.
It won’t give the Eskimos a second chance to play in the Grey Cup game.
There are no mulligans in football. Beating the Redblacks wouldn’t have an impact on what happened last season, but it would feel great.
Even Esks head coach Jason Maas admitted as much when asked about added motivation heading into Friday’s date with Ottawa at Brick Field.
“Sometimes games do mean more,” Maas said after addressing his players following practice Tuesday. “We’re just humans. There are emotions that are attached to things. No question this game means something. We want it as much as we want any game this year.”
So that 35-23 rout, in which they trailed 25-3, in an Ottawa snowstorm, is already on their mental bulletin boards, being used as fuel for Edmonton’s inner fire? “Absolutely you use it,” said Maas. “It is a new year, but we face them for the first time. The guys who were here last year, they have a bad taste in their mouth about how the season ended. For the guys who weren’t here, you try to get them up to speed as quickly as possible and let them know that you play this game for something.
“There’s going to be no pre-game speech, I can assure you, this week. It’s all been done. Our guys are ready to play them.”
Receiver Adarius Bowman knows Edmonton can’t change the past, but said that in the first face-toface meeting with the team that ended their season, the Eskimos would like to do a little damage in the present.
“No grudges, it just so happens they’re up next and we have a little history with them,” he said. “Like coach Maas said, you always want an opportunity to hit back. They did a good job last year, and I know this game has nothing to do with last year, but it does carry over sometimes. We’re going to be at our best.”
On the other side of the coin, the Redblacks have some added motivation of their own.
They are 0-2-1 on the season and in desperate need of a win to keep from falling too far behind in the East. Maas doesn’t think the incentive thing works both ways, though. He doesn’t believe Ottawa’s situation makes them any hungrier than 2-0 Edmonton.
“We desperately need this win,” said Maas. “If you go into a game not desperately thinking you need it, then you’re not doing it the right way. When you’re 0-2-1 and haven’t won a game yet, I get that, but if they were 2-0-1 would they be coming in here any less (motivated)? They’re coming in here to beat us, and we’re looking to do the same thing. I don’t think their record plays anything into it.
“You can’t tell me you’re going to play that much harder just because you don’t have a win yet and everything’s been close. Maybe you’re a little more pissed off, but at the end of the day, they’re coming here to beat us, and we’re going on our own field to beat them.”
And to dismiss the Redblacks as a weak, struggling victim would be a major mistake. They played the first-place and undefeated Stampeders to a tie in Week 1, lost to the Stamps by just four points Week 2 and lost to first-place Toronto by one point in Week 3. They’re nobody’s pushover.
“They’re great,” said Maas. “Their whole team is good, and their offence in particular can throw it anywhere in the field. They’re very efficient in what they do.”
The Redblacks can definitely move the football, having put up the second-highest point total in the CFL (95), but they’ve given up 100 points in three games — 31 more than anyone in the East and 20 more than anyone in the West. Numbers like that make offences start licking their chops.
“I lick my chops every week,” said Bowman. “But that doesn’t mean I look down on any team because that’s when you get into trouble. They did a good job with us last year, which has definitely heightened our awareness. We know the things we have to go out there and do. And we know that’s a team that’s going to fight till the end.”
They did a good job last year, and I know this game has nothing to do with last year, but it does carry over sometimes.