GABLE GEARS UP FOR THE BIG FINISH
The Edmonton Eskimos aren’t ones to run from their problems.
And there are certainly enough problems for them to ponder while the rest of the West Division moves on to the post-season beginning next week.
But running isn’t really one of them. Not high up on the list, anyway.
In fact, they’re smack dab in the middle of the CFL pack when it comes to a fifth-ranked rushing attack that’s been averaging 100 yards per game heading into Week 21.
While much of the focus has been on an Eskimos offence fronted by reigning Canadian Football League most outstanding player Mike Reilly and his league-leading 5,242 passing yards, and while Duke Williams is a shoo-in to finish atop the receiving leaderboard, where he currently sits with 1,534 yards, running back C.J. Gable has quietly gone about his business on the ground.
The 6-foot, 219-pound University of Southern California product sits among the top three rushers in the league statistically, behind Ottawa’s William Powell and Winnipeg ’s Andrew Harris, and comes into Edmonton’s final game Saturday against the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers (2 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED) just 49 yards shy of what would be his first 1,000yard season of his six-year CFL career.
“At this point, yeah, I’m going to try to get that,” Gable said of Saturday’s game, despite the fact the result won’t make a difference in the standings to either Edmonton or Winnipeg, who will travel for the West semifinal regardless. “And if I don’t, as long as we get the win, that’s all that matters.”
We say quietly, not only because Gable’s efforts have been overshadowed by Edmonton’s aerial attack — not to mention the fact Reilly stole the thunder with the lion’s share of the Eskimos’ rushing touchdowns this season on short-yardage snaps — but also because of the way the running back exploded onto the Green and Gold scene in 2017.
Around this time last year, Gable’s name was synonymous with 100-yard rushing performances, rattling off three straight, including a career-best 157-yard outing in his last game with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats before being traded to Edmonton, where he added a fourth in the playoffs with 107 rushing yards in a win over the Bombers.
This year, he has just one such effort: A 165-yard outing against the B.C. Lions in Week 3, which also happens to stand as the biggest rushing performance by any CFL player this season.
“That’s pretty good,” Gable said, laughing. “I could have had 200 in that game if I didn’t get some runs called back.”
The good news is, he wasn’t traded the day after he set a new career high, this time around.
“Well, in this business, you never know what can happen,” Gable said. “So, you know, I might be here this year and next year, I might be traded again. I just never know.”
In that one game alone, Gable was one-sixth of the way to reaching the mystical 1,000 yard mark. His 833 yards last year, split between Hamilton and Edmonton, was as close as he’s ever been before.
“Because I never got that many carries,” Gable said. “I don’t get the ball all that much. You look at all my carries, I always have the least amount of carries all the time, so it’s hard for somebody to get that.
“Not like Harris or Powell, they all get 20 carries a game. I don’t get that.”
In his four 100-yard games at the end of last season, Gable averaged 18 carries per game. He carried the ball 23 times in his jailbreak game of 2018, but has averaged just 11 carries in each of his 14 other outings.
“I don’t know, it’s not my decision to call plays, so I just run what they call,” said Gable, whose 951 rushing yards have come on 178 carries for a 5.3 yard average to go along with five touchdowns (compared to Reilly’s 13 rushing touchdowns). “That’s what happens and that’s it.”
But if he gets called upon enough to crest quadruple digits on Saturday, you still won’t hear him complain.
“Yeah, every back wants to hit 1,000, that’s the thing that they want to do,” said Gable, 31. “I just hope I can get that. If I can’t, then I’m going to try again next year.”
But as far as Gable is concerned, Edmonton’s aerial attack can stay in the spotlight.
“It’s quiet. People don’t really talk much about me, and that’s good,” said Gable, who will cross the 1,000-yard mark if he can keep up his 63.4 yards-per-game average on the season again Saturday.
“I don’t really like to be in the light like that. I just quietly get my 50 yards here or there. It adds up.”