THE BRIGHT SIDE TO ESKS’ LOSS
Bad decision adds to motivation
Some good can come out of this.
When it comes to playing host to the 106th Grey Cup in Edmonton next year, what happened Sunday in Calgary might end up being of benefit to the Eskimos.
Yes, if Jason Maas hadn’t managed to out-think himself with his decidedly dumb decision in the West final, the Eskimos coulda, woulda (but I wouldn’t go so far as to say shoulda) been in this week’s Grey Cup in Ottawa.
The fickle fan, of course, is going to want Maas strung-up by the thumbs, publicly tarred, feathered, flogged and fired. And that would be dumber than his own decision to go for a field goal from the 13-yard line on third and four when he was down by seven with 1:53 to play.
Send Maas to anger management classes in the off-season, certainly. Get a two-for-one deal with Winnipeg on sending Mike O’Shea and Maas to Logic & Common Sense School, sure.
But Maas is an excellent coach and, I believe, will have a long and successful career coaching the green and gold.
The benefit of what happened Sunday is that, while he didn’t furnish the same, “I feel like I let the guys down” quote as O’Shea, I’ll bet he’ll never, ever do anything that boneheaded in a loseand-you-go-home game again.
If you remember, Tom Higgins saved his all-time brain freeze for the only time the Eskimos have played in a Grey Cup game on their home field. His fake field goal in the 2002 Grey Cup was the turning point in a 25-16 loss to the Montreal Alouettes.
Today, I think Eskimos fans need to look back and consider what happened this year.
To overcome 346 man games lost due to injury with 88 different Eskimos wearing the jersey and 54 different players starting at least one game, to end up one dense coaching decision from the Grey Cup can only be considered a total triumph.
It was, in some ways, an 18-game training camp for next year. The Eskimos learned a great deal about a lot of players going forward.
And new general manager Brock Sunderland was handed a pretty good road map about where to go with the team next year. He has to fix the defence.
As was the case against the Ottawa Redblacks in last year’s crossover East final, Edmonton couldn’t stop the run. On Sunday, they gave up 182 yards rushing to the Calgary Stampeders.
Last year the number was 179 against the Redblacks.
Sunderland is going to have to find replacements for Odell Willis, 32, and John Chick, 35, at defensive end. They’re reaching their expiration dates.
And they need major moves in the defensive secondary.
One thing the Eskimos haven’t found since Henry (Gizmo) Williams is a game-changing return man. If you have to beat Calgary to get to the Grey Cup, you need an answer for Roy Finch. There’s none in sight.
You have to wonder, especially after his dropped passes in key situations, about the future of receiver Adarius Bowman, 32, too. But considering he was hurt this year, Bowman deserves a training camp to prove he can still catch the football and is still capable of a big year or two.
The Eskimos are going to lose backup quarterback James Franklin, who should end up as the starting quarterback with the Saskatchewan Roughriders or the Montreal Alouettes next year. There could be other free agent losses as well. But by the sounds of it, there will be a smorgasbord of free agents to choose from around the league as well.
With the core players who are back, because of what happened this year and because they’ve been a Grey-Cup calibre team the last three years and have only managed to get there once, you are going to have one very hungry football team in Edmonton next year. Having the 105th Grey Cup game in Commonwealth Stadium will only add to it.
Finishing strong and just getting to the playoffs will not be good enough. Finishing first and playing host to the West final will be everything. In the last four years, the first-place teams, both East and West, have ended up in the Grey Cup.
“The reality is that if we had done better in the middle half of the season, we’d have been hosting this game,” said quarterback Mike Reilly of the win-seven, lose-six, win-six season.
“We have to figure out how to be better next year. It’s a long offseason. I felt like we had a Grey Cup championship team here. I know we do. But Calgary obviously has one as well.”
Maas said he believes the timing is terrific for a home Grey Cup game.
“To go through all the adversity we faced during the year, to come up a play or two short of getting to the Grey Cup against a team that’s been the standard in our league for seven or eight years, I’ll never say it was a bad year,” said Maas.
“We’re in a good spot as an organization. I think our future is bright. It’ll take another six months to get over this, but we will. It’s a big deal to have the Grey Cup in Edmonton next year. I think it gives you extra motivation and we’ll do our part to be in it next year.”