Eskimos need discipline: Bowman. B1 Sports, B1
Esks slotback returns to practice with some advice after bye week
As he prepared on Sunday to make a full return to practice for the first time in a year, Adarius Bowman had a lot on his mind.
When all you can do is sit and watch your team, you’re not left with much else than your thoughts.
A torn anterior cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament in his left knee sidelined Bowman in the second week of the 2012 Canadian Football League season. The sure-handed, powerful slotback has watched the Edmonton Eskimos go 7-15 in his absence and 1-5 this year, plunking the team in the cellar of a powerhouse West Division.
“For me right now, sitting over here sucks and it seems hard, but mentally I feel like I’ve gotten so much better in terms of the simple stuff,” Bowman said on Sunday morning as his teammates were trickling back in from their bye week. “Just coming into the huddle and letting everyone know, ‘Hey, let’s just get this done. Don’t worry about third down, let’s just worry about each other.’ It affects all of us.”
In his one full season with the Eskimos in 2011, Bowman tied with Fred Stamps for the team lead in receiving yards, with 1,153. His 18.6 yards per catch were a league best. Over the last 22 games, the Eskimos have floundered while trying to find their identity in the post-Ricky Ray era. More than just falling in under Mike Reilly’s leadership, Bowman has watched from the sidelines as things have gone off-kilter with the team.
On a four-game losing skid, the Eskimos go into next Sunday’s game against the Toronto Argonauts three games behind the third-place B.C. Lions and are tied with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for the worst record in the league.
While offensive struggles were anticipated as Reilly learned the ropes as a firstyear starter, the Eskimos’ defence has allowed 169 points, the worst in the West and the fifth-most lax total in the league. An inability to stop the run has plagued the team in each of its losses, giving way to 869 yards allowed — also a league-worst.
“Structure, discipline, we were undisciplined. And I love my team, I’m not trying to be rude, I’m just being honest,” he said.
“Discipline, in all areas. The defensive playbook, the offensive playbook, coaches talking to players and players talking to coaches.
“Even for Kavis,” Bowman continued, moving on to head coach Kavis Reed.
“Kavis: Get back to making us follow you. We’re important, but make us follow you. We follow you,” Bowman said.
“I think he got to the point where, ‘I’ve got a lot of veteran guys, you guys run the team.’ I agree with that, sometimes you need that.
“Sometimes you need your coach. Especially when you’re losing.”
For all of the despair that a 1-5 record can bring, Bowman pointed out there are still two-thirds of this season left. He has all of the confidence in the world in Reilly and says he can’t wait to get on the field with him.
“He’s taking a lot,” Bowman said of Reilly. “He’s trying to handle the media side of it, he’s trying to keep the team together and let us know that he’s trying to work with these coaches.
“I love his tone, his leadership. Our biggest thing right now is just chemistry.
“The one thing I feel like with this team right now is we have to comfort him. We’ve got to comfort him, that way he’ll play easy and not make mistakes. It’s an easy game, it’s a game we’ve been playing our whole lives.”
When Bowman returns to the game — he’s currently on the Eskimos’ nine-game injured list — he thinks all of that time spent watching will make him a more valuable contributor to his team.
“The mental aspect of the game that I learned (while injured), I just had time to watch and observe … and you get to critique yourself and others. You get to SEE,” Bowman said.
And in seeing himself out of the picture?
“I really didn’t think it made that big of a deal, but when you have pieces missing out of your puzzle sometimes it’s not the right picture,” he said.
“I think it’s just (a matter of) us getting it together.”