You make the call ... Did Maas mess up?
Eskimos coach taking plenty of heat for late-game decision in West final
Conventional wisdom dictated the West final would be decided by the quarterbacks.
Few could have imagined that would include Jason Maas.
Yet, there was the Eskimos’ quarterback-turned-coach, playing as big a role in the outcome as anyone on the field.
With his Eskimos down 32-25 with 1:56 left to play and his team facing a third and four on the Calgary Stampeders’ 13-yard line, the Eskimos head coach chose to kick a field goal.
It’s possible not a single person in the CFL could understand the logic at the time, so we’ll let a glassy-eyed Maas try to explain.
“We kick it deep, our defence gets a stop, and we have about a minute to go down and score one touchdown and beat ’em. That was the mindset,” said Maas, whose coaching inexperience was the biggest concern most in Edmonton had when he was hired as boss.
“(It was) a belief in our whole team. The defence was going to get the stop, the special teams was going to get the ball back for us, and the offence would go down and score.”
But you needed a TD either way, a hellacious wind was at your back and a Stamps stop would still have left the hosts pinned deep in their zone.
“Yes, you’re right,” said Maas, whose team wasn’t able to stop Calgary’s offence until the dying seconds, setting up a late punt the Eskimos fumbled away anyway to seal a 32-28 Stamps win.
“You could say, ‘If you felt (so confident in your team) why didn’t you just go for it on thirdand-five.’ That’s a fair question. We decided to go the other route, and it didn’t work, and there are questions asked and consequences to it. You could lose a ball game. It turns out, that was the case.”
Does he regret the call?
“You can look back on it and wonder, but I won’t ever regret it,” said Maas.
“I have faith in our team, and it was a faith decision.”
No, it was a terrible decision — one he’ll have to wear all winter long, which will include next Sunday when the Stampeders will face Toronto in Ottawa for the Grey Cup.
The hot seat Maas sat on in the bowels of McMahon Stadium after the game was all too familiar as it was the Stamps quarterback-turned-coach — Dave Dickenson — who was similarly chastised late in last year’s Grey Cup when he called his backup quarterback’s number on third and goal in the final minute instead of Jerome Messam’s.
“Listen, decisions are always going to be questioned,” said Dickenson, when asked if he was as surprised as everyone else at the play call.
“I’m sure you guys question a lot of the decisions I make as well. Every coach has a reason but I’d be more inclined to let their guys answer those questions.”
They tried.
Eskimos fullback Calvin McCarty said, “players play and coaches coach.”
Edmonton kicker Sean Whyte said he just does as he’s told.
The only player to give an honest answer was Stamps linebacker Alex Singleton. “I thought they were disrespecting our offence,” he said when asked about the decision.
“To think they could come out and stop them after we rushed for 150 yards in a half with 1:40 left was a bad call in my opinion.”
It was an opinion Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly couldn’t share, publicly at least, insisting he’d never question a coach’s decision.
Stampeders quarterback, Bo Levi Mitchell, rolled his eyes when asked about the botched call — effectively concurring it was idiotic, before answering with classy diplomacy.
“I should have answered the question first so (Singleton) knew how to answer it — we don’t want to comment on what they do,” he chuckled, playfully elbowing his teammate before being a little more forthcoming.
“If we were in the same situation I think I’d be surprised because they went for it on third and 10 and thought they’d go for it again because they would put us in a situation where if they don’t get it we’re on the five yard line against the wind and we can’t take a safety because then they’re only down by three. Hard to tell as a coach.”
Not really.
As for the game, the Stamps deserve endless credit for bounding back from a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter to win a game largely on the backs of running backs Jerome Messam and Roy Finch who combined for a pair of touchdowns and 152 yards on the turf.
Mitchell, who passed for one touchdown and 228 yards, did a wonderful job managing a game in which the only turnover came on the final punt.
However, this game is going to be remembered for the mess Maas made of things in the final few minutes.
Deservedly so.
To think they could come out and stop them after we rushed for 150 yards in a half with 1:40 left was a bad call in my opinion.