ESKIMOS 4-0, BUT IT HASN’T BEEN EASY
The Edmonton Eskimos are 4-0 for the first time since the 2014 season, maintaining their spot atop the Canadian Football League, which they’ve held since opening week. Thursday’s game, played before a full house at Tim Hortons Field, was another hard-foug
1. There isn’t a bad team in the CFL
Sure, the Ticats are 0-4 and there have been some bad moments over the season — real bad. But when you’ve got the team at the bottom of the standings playing against an opponent on top of the standings and the end result is a separation of just three points, it shows just how close things are in a league where anyone can win any given game. The Vegas oddsmakers consider three points a tie, and for good reason. League parity was on display Thursday, but there is certainly more to it than that when one team continues to find a way to win like the Eskimos have.
2. It’s not how you start
The Eskimos finally scored their first opening-quarter touchdown of the season. With only six combined first-quarter points to show across their first three games, the offence matched that season total on Thursday with Bryant Mitchell’s first career CFL touchdown with 69 seconds to spare. Playing in place of veteran slotback Adarius Bowman, who is on the six-game injured list with a hamstring injury, Mitchell caught all five passes thrown his way for 75 yards, capping things off with a reception on a two-point convert following Vidal Hazelton’s winning touchdown. Sean Whyte had his convert kick blocked following Mitchell’s score, so the Eskimos are still looking for a first-quarter seven.
3. Mike Reilly still hasn’t thrown an interception
It’s been 215 pass attempts since the Eskimos quarterback has thrown an interception in the regular season, though it took Vidal Hazelton fighting for a ball that was heading into the hands of Ticats defensive back Justin Rogers on the game-winning touchdown to keep the streak alive. Reilly is the lone quarterback to not throw an interception this season. At the same time, Reilly passed both his head coach, Jason Maas, and Marcus Crandell to sit 37th in the CFL’s all-time passing yards.
“Really? Nice. Well, I haven’t had a chance to surpass him in our dart total yet,” Reilly said of their ongoing side game during weekly meetings. “So it’s nice to actually win in something against him, so I have no complaints with that.”
4. The body count is troubling
The Eskimos will be sorting through the bodies in triage this week to determine who is hurt and who is injured. If they’re injured, they’ll be joining a growing list of walking wounded that began on Day 2 of training camp, when Cory Greenwood was done for the season with a torn ACL. Since then, replacements Adam Konar and Blair Smith have been sidelined by injury, forcing the Eskimos to finish out Thursday’s game with fourth-stringer and draft rookie Christophe Mulumba-Tshimanga. If they’re just hurt, they’re going to have to get themselves ready to play, because all that depth the Eskimos have prided themselves on since the beginning is being depleted.
5. The rest of the West?
The Eskimos have rolled through three straight East Division opponents as they now turn their attention back west as they put their perfect 4-0 record up against the same B.C. Lions they kicked off the season against. That makes for a whole lot of West opponents waiting in the wings that Edmonton has yet to face. They won’t see them all until a Week 9 visit to Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers after finishing off the season series against the Ticats and Ottawa Redblacks.