Eskimos special teams look to rebound following firing
With only three days of practice before a crucial West Division battle with Saskatchewan, the Edmonton Eskimos don’t have time to mourn a fired coach.
But they did have time to think about why it happened and what they did to put Cory McDiarmid’s name on the bullet.
The special teams co-ordinator paid the price after Edmonton’s 30-3 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but in situations like these it’s often the players who weren’t getting it done.
“Everyone is going to take it differently,” said special teams captain Blair Smith. “We know that it’s a business and those decisions can be made at any point in time. We’re always ready for that kind of thing.
“But there is definitely a personal element. Being special teams captain it resonates with me. I don’t look too kindly on it. But our production speaks for itself this season. All we can do is look to improve.”
There isn’t a lot of time for wholesale change before Monday’s game in Regina. What the Eskimos hope is this move turns up the intensity in an area of the game where it is most important. Special teams is about speed and intensity and both of those areas need a booster shot.
“I’m sure there are going to be some things that we change up,” said Smith. “But we just got out here, we didn’t dive too deep into the schemes.
“There might be little differences but for the most part it’s the same group, same philosophy. We’re going to go out there and kick ass like we know we need to do. Take it up a little bit.”
NO OFFENCE TAKEN
Speaking of taking it up a bit, the Eskimos offence, which had been the team’s bread and butter most of the season, was a bag of crusts against Winnipeg. Three points to show for an entire football game is inexcusable in any league.
What went wrong? Well, that’s what QB Mike Reilly and head coach Jason Maas are trying to figure out in time for Monday.
“When this offence gets on a roll we’re really hard to stop,” Reilly said. “But when we hit a lull we have to figure a way to pull ourselves out of that. If we can figure out what it takes to do that we’ll be in much better shape.”
As a means to that end, Reilly has been evaluating everything he does in the week leading up to a game. Getting everyone on the same page is a big step in getting the offence going, so that’s what he’s trying to do.
“As the quarterback you have to look at the entire offence and how you’re operating within it, how you’re talking to the guys, trying to get your point across over the week,” he said.
“Maybe you need to spend more time in certain areas with position groups or do different things after practice. All that stuff gets evaluated every single week, even when you win.”
Maas says he and Reilly have discussed simplifying the offence, relying more on plays the players are comfortable with and have had success with, but they don’t want to risk being too predictable.
“There is a fine balancing act between doing stuff you’re comfortable with and stuff you’re great at doing, knowing they’re going to be prepared for it (because they’ve seen it on film) and attacking in a different way that they’ve never seen before,” Maas said. “When they don’t know what’s coming, that’s what I’d prefer.”
Whatever they call, it comes down to execution, the lack of which has been at the root of their problems lately.
“Execution, paying attention to the details,” Maas said. “Playing better together in all the facets, protecting, throwing, running. Just doing your job more than anything.
“Me calling better plays at the right times. Calling stuff we’re good at running more often. It will take a combination of everything like that but I’m confident we have the guys and the right schemes that we’ll get the job done.”
The Blue Bombers threw a very aggressive pass rush at the Eskimos last week and it worked to perfection, meaning everyone else in the league will be doing the same thing until Edmonton proves it can handle the pressure.
Maas says it’s not about his offensive line, but more about receivers and running backs not picking up the extra guys.
“We talked about it in our room today with the running backs and the receivers,” he said. “When it comes down to a running back or a receiver getting the guy they need to get, they need to get him.
“We need to be better in that department because those match ups are hard to scheme. You have to be able to block those kind of guys and if you can’t it makes for a long day.”