Wilder Jr., Argos eye Esks’ leaky run defence
Five things to know ahead of Friday’s rematch at Commonwealth Stadium
The defending Grey Cup champions came up with their first win of 2018, while the Edmonton Eskimos have yet to best an East Division opponent in two tries this year, falling to 2-2 in the standings with Saturday’s 20-17 loss to the Toronto Argonauts.
It was a game of momentum, in which Toronto scored 12 straight, followed by 17 consecutive points by the Eskimos before the Argos put together the winning drive in the fourth quarter.
Here are some of the things we learned in Saturday’s game at BMO Field, before the two teams do it all over again Friday at Commonwealth Stadium (7 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED):
Wilder and free
A visit from the Eskimos must have been just what the doctor ordered for James Wilder Jr. After putting up just 76 yards on 15 carries over his first two games of the season, the Argonauts running back earned 120 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries against the same Eskimos club he broke out against last year with a 190-yard performance on his way to being named the CFL’s most outstanding rookie.
Saturday’s result has knocked what was an eighth-ranked Eskimos run defence into last place, which had previously been held by the Argos. At the same time, the Eskimos’ pass defence is tops in the league, which begs the question: Do teams not pass on them much because Edmonton’s secondary is so strong, or is it because they have had so much success running the ball against the Eskimos?
Slick surface
In a game separated by just three points, Eskimos receiver Derel Walker was left wondering what could have been had he not slipped on the notoriously sick artificial turf of BMO Field’s north end zone late in the half, watching helplessly as Ronnie Yell made an easy interception.
“I’ve never seen D -Walk slip and fall on a one-on-one jump ball, and I’ve been playing with him for three years,” Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly said. “And that is not the reason we lost that game, at all.
“But if you want to talk about all this player safety, I see it on film every week. I see defenders falling on it, I’ve seen Ricky (Ray) slip and fall on it, I’ve seen wide receivers slip and fall on it. It’s a dangerous surface, but there is no question that was not the reason we lost the game.”
Trick kick
Looking for some sort of spark to ignite them, the Eskimos reached into their bag of tricks and pulled an audible on what would have been a 47-yard field-goal attempt. Instead, they realigned for an onside kick that travelled 11 yards before being touched out of bounds by special-teams captain Korey Jones. It amounted to a six-yard rush and a fresh set of downs, resulting in Sean Whyte kicking a field goal from seven yards closer.
It will go mostly overlooked in the loss, except by Jones, who hasn’t posted a lot of offensive statistics in his career.
“I don’t think I have any (onside kick recoveries), that might be my first one,” he said. “It’s something we had just installed recently and we got an opportunity for it. We needed some momentum.”
Possession doesn’t mean points Next to turnovers, time of possession is the most telling statistic in football. That’s because you score the most points when your offence is on the field. Unless you were the Eskimos on Saturday, when time was on their sides but the football gods obviously weren’t.
While the Argos expertly ran down the clock to protect their lead in the fourth quarter and even things out a little, the first three quarters saw Edmonton lead 27:44 to 17:16, which only translated to a 14-12 advantage on the scoreboard.
Penalty problems Undisciplined play cost the Eskimos yards, points and perhaps even a win Saturday as 12 flags were flung their way for 126 yards.
Up until that point, penalties hadn’t been much of a problem this season, though the Eskimos had hardly been perfect. But the self-inflicted wounding against Toronto, particularly when the Eskimos were in the red zone, was staggering.
C.J. Gable’s potential tying touchdown trailing 12-4 late in the half was called back by a holding penalty on fullback Alex Dupuis, which was one of six preventable penalties accounting for 61 yards against the Eskimos.
I see it on film every week. I see defenders falling on it ... It’s a dangerous surface.