HOME PLAYOFF DATE WITHIN ESKIMOS’ SIGHT
Reilly & Co. pull out of long tailspin to peak at just the right time
The Battle of Alberta swung in the favour of the Edmonton Eskimos with a 29-20 win over the Calgary Stampeders in front of 30,601 at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday.
It was the first time the Eskimos had defeated their provincial rivals since the 2015 West Division final, on the way to their last Grey Cup championship.
Whether or not the Eskimos will be able to draw any more comparisons the rest of the way remains to be seen. Until then, here are some things we learned in Saturday’s anything-can-happen affair:
1
A home playoff game is well within reach
A couple of weeks ago, it seemed a far stretch that Commonwealth Stadium would host a 2017 postseason game. The Eskimos needed to go on a 3-0 run to finish the season, hardly a given. And they also needed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers to lose their last three games on the schedule.
Heading into Week 20, that’s exactly the position they’ll find themselves if Edmonton can finish with a win in Regina and the Bombers fall to a first-place Stampeders squad that also somehow finds itself on the verge of going 0-3 to end the regular season. The Stampeders dropped their second in a row for the first time since 2012 on Saturday.
Did we mention Matt Nichols and Andrew Harris of the Blue Bombers both left injured in Saturday’s early game?
2
Edmonton is the hottest team in the league right now
And that’s exactly how they wanted to close out a streaky, roller-coaster season that’s seen wins and losses clustered into a 7-0 start, then an 0-6 slump before heading into the final week back on a 4-0 tear.
Of course, they already came into Saturday’s game with the league’s longest active win streak at 3-0, but after knocking off the top team in the standings, there is no denying the Eskimos are coming into their own again, and it couldn’t be happening at a better time.
Mike Reilly will be the league’s top passer
For the second year in a row, no less, as Reilly heads into the final week with a league-leading 5,536 passing yards. That’s just 18 shy of his career-high total from last season, when he also finished on top of the league. That makes backto-back seasons of 5,000 passing yards, as he now sits just 127 yards shy of the franchise record of 5,663 set in 2008 by Ricky Ray.
And with a league-high seven come-from-behind victories to his credit, after falling behind 3-0 when Calgary finally broke a scoreless stalemate 10 drives in on the game’s lone turnover (on downs), it’s difficult to point to another Eskimos player who is having a more outstanding season. Except maybe ...
4
Brandon Zylstra will be the league’s top receiver
He had only three catches on Saturday, but Zylstra made the most of them to finish with a teamhigh 101 yards. Of course, it helped having one go for a 77-yard catchand-run into the end zone to open second-quarter scoring.
And he’s now in the Eskimos history books after posting his 10th 100-yard receiving performance of the season, something no other player to wear green and gold in the CFL has done.
But Zylstra isn’t quite done. He’s still got one game left to add to his league-leading 1,615 receiving yards.
And considering the guy behind him at No. 2 is over 150 yards behind and on a bye week to end the regular season, Zylstra will finish his first full season as a CFL starter on top.
5
Three phases
They did it with offence, they did it with defence and they did it with special teams on Saturday. And the complete, three-phase effort was propelled by one of their most disciplined outings of the season.
The Eskimos were flagged for seven infractions for 50 yards, while the Stamps took nine penalties for 80 yards.