Eskimos: Season kicks o against ’Riders.
Coach, players have confidence in ex-Lions backup as season kicks off
The buzzword around the Edmonton Eskimos for the last six months has been unflappable.
The buzzword is fused to the buzz position for the team after it came out of the 2012 Canadian Football League season in dire need of a starting quarterback.
With the 2013 season about 14 hours away for Mike Reilly on Friday, the Eskimos’ starting quarterback was the embodiment of the word.
Reilly will lead the Eskimos into action on Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium (1:30 p.m., 630 CHED, TSN) against the Saskatchewan Roughriders and though it’s just his fourthever CFL start and his first with this team, the 28-yearold was comfortable, treating it like any other day before any other game.
Asked what the biggest challenge would be for him this season, Reilly didn’t talk about pressure or responsibilities or a starter’s learning curve.
“I feel like we’ve knocked the rust off and we got a few things going in the first couple of games in terms of sustaining drives and doing all that,” he said. “And as I said after the last game, we need to work on red-zone efficiency but we’ve only been at it for a month.”
While Reilly may see through the bumps on the road, they’re out there waiting for him, just like they were for Anthony Calvillo, Ricky Ray, Henry Burris and Travis Lulay when they were in Reilly’s spot in their respective careers.
Reilly watched first-hand as Lulay lived and learned as the Lions’ starter in 2010 and 2011. The 2010 Lions lost in the West Division final to the Riders in overtime; the 2011 Lions survived a 0-5 start and bounced all the way back to a Grey Cup win.
Lulay ran the unflappable gauntlet in those two years. It’s a journey a great quarterback needs to make, he said.
“I think that’s part of the learning process,” Lulay said before the start of training camp while discussing Reilly’s future.
“If a guy never experiences a certain level of adversity, you don’t know what you’ve got until you get to that (point).
“There are obviously ebbs and flows to each season,” Lulay continued. “You might go on a three-game winning streak or you might go on a three-game losing streak, either of those positions are a unique challenge, whether that expectation gets raised and now you put too much pressure on yourself or vice versa. You start losing some games and you start pressing.”
If there’s one thing that Kavis Reed knows, he’ll tell you, it’s quarterbacks. The Eskimos head coach made a living reading them as an Eskimos defensive back from 1995-99. Before that, he quarterbacked his Choppee High School team.
Reed doesn’t seem worried about the adversity that comes Reilly’s way this season. The biggest battle his starter will fight, he said, will be internal.
“Not trying to be the hero every game,” Reed said of Reilly’s biggest challenge. “He has to understand that he’s in a critically important position, but no more important than the left guard or the right tackle.
“It’s one where he has to assume his role and his responsibility and just execute what he needs to execute to help us be successful. Not to take too much on his shoulders, and just be a part of the football team.”
Reed also stresses that the quarterback must be a leader, has to be a motivator. Count Fred Stamps as one of those motivated.
Stamps, who plays everything as cool as you’d expect a mellow New Orleans native to, lights up when he talks about Reilly. A year ago he’d sit in his locker stall, saying the right things but languishing from a lack of attention from then-starter Steven Jyles and an inconsistent quarterbacking crew. He had 664 yards to his name through 12 games last season before Matt Nichols and Kerry Joseph got to work and bumped him up to 1,310.
Through limited time in two pre-season games, Reilly kept it simple. He got his playmakers the ball, whether it was sprinter/receiver Isaiah Sweeney or Cary Koch.
“He’s a real quarterback,” Stamps said of Reilly, his inflection picking up and his hands joining in on the conversation.
“He’s great around the guys, all the guys in the locker-room. He’s a great leader. What more could you ask for in a guy like Mike? That’s like with all of our quarterbacks: Matt, Mike, Kerry (Joseph) the two rookies (Jonathan Crompton and Jacory Harris). That’s pretty good.”
“I think there’s going to be a lot of good things that happen during the season but that’s with the understanding that we’re going to have to climb some mountains,” Reilly said.
“We’re going to have to get over some difficult situations. There are going to be some plays where things don’t work out correctly. There are going to be things where we aren’t on the same page, but you have to overcome those issues.
“You still have to fight through them and understand that you’re going to have some issues. You have to have a short memory and fight through them. I think that’s the thing, is understanding. We’re not going to be in mid-season form until mid-season, but if we work hard and if we play fast, then I think we’ll be ahead of the curve.”
In Reilly, Reed and Eskimos general manager Ed Hervey feel they can put a face to the buzzword. After five months of waiting, Reilly can begin to try to create his era as the Eskimos’ next great quarterback.
“Some people say leaders are born, some say that leaders are made,” Reed said. “Your environment sometimes helps you become a better leader and sometimes people have the genetic ability to lead and I really believe Mike and Matt, to be honest all five of our quarterbacks, have that skill set.”