Grey Cup countdown begins early
The pressure that comes with being host city? Bring it on, Sewell says
This year, it starts early. WINNIPEG This year, because of Mark’s CFL Week, it starts now.
Normally in this situation, the core players of the team from the Grey Cup host city don’t get the questions until the start of training camp.
Now they get to deal with the pressure of playing for the host city of the Grey Cup in March instead of June.
The 106th Grey Cup will be played in Edmonton this year, and expectations are going to be high for the only team in the league that has made it to a division final four straight seasons but only made it to and won one Grey Cup in that span.
So as the Eskimos involved in the 53-player CFL Week “car wash” made their way from each one-on-one interview to the next, they found themselves dealing with it before Easter.
“To me, it’s all built-in,” said allstar defensive lineman Almondo Sewell. “For me, I know I would hate to have somebody sit in my locker for the Grey Cup game in my own city. I’ve already thought about that. I mean, I live across the street from the stadium. Having the Grey Cup there is going to be amazing. So the pressure is on. Bring it on.
“Getting excited for this season is easy to do. It’s not just because of the Grey Cup being in Edmonton. It’s all those injuries we had last year,” Sewell said of having 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.
“When we lost J.C. Sherritt at the start of the season and then got down to something like our seventh linebacker, that was tough to deal with.”
There was a span from 1952 to 1973 and another one from 1978 to 1994 when no host city won a Grey Cup.
Since then, only three host teams have captured the league title: Wally Buono’s B.C. Lions in 2011, Ricky Ray with Toronto in the 100th Grey Cup in 2012, and Saskatchewan in 2013.
“This year has to be the year,” said receiver Derel Walker, who won a Grey Cup ring in his rookie season.
“I really feel like this year is going to be a special year in Edmonton.”
With rookie Ray at quarterback, the Eskimos made it into the 2002 Grey Cup in Commonwealth Stadium but an ill-advised gamble by head coach Tom Higgins went a long way toward the Montreal Alouettes winning the day in that one.
As it’s worked out, the Eskimos have won more Grey Cups in Toronto (5), Vancouver (3), Montreal (2), Calgary (2), Regina (1) and Winnipeg (1) than in Edmonton (0).
The home team has never won a Grey Cup game played in Edmonton, Calgary or Winnipeg.
Quarterback Mike Reilly, the Grey Cup MVP in 2015 and last year’s CFL Award winner as Most Outstanding Player, tackled the subject with enthusiasm.
“I’ve had some experience with it. When I came into the league with the B.C. Lions, we hosted it and won in 2011,” he said. “We’ve never played host to it and won in Edmonton. So the way I look at it is that there aren’t a lot of times when you are playing for Edmonton that you can be the first to do something because of all the successes they have had historically.
“We have the chance to do something no other Eskimos team has done. That, to me that’s added motivation. I know what it could be like if we did it in Edmonton and I’m excited about having that opportunity.”
Not that Reilly is in denial about the pressure involved.
“There’s going to be extra pressure. No doubt about it,” he said. “If you say there’s not extra pressure when you are hosting it, you are lying. There is. And there should be because your city takes a lot of pride in that and it’s a huge event. It’s a huge showcase for your city, and you want your team to be involved in playing in that game.”
Reilly said the veterans who won Grey Cup rings in 2015 know how important it is to finish first, get the bye week and play host to the West Final. The Eskimos did that in 2015 and won the Grey Cup.
“There is a massive difference between having a bye week and not having a bye week. And there’s a massive difference between playing at home and playing on the road,” Reilly said.
“It’s proven historically. Nobody has crossed over and made it to the Grey Cup. And the last four teams that finished first in the West went on to play in the Grey Cup.
“That’s the most important thing, to try to win the West.”