Reilly needs to protect himself from unnecessary hits
‘You’re not a running back,’ Reed told the QB in second chat
Adarius Bowman knows Buck Pierce. Bowman saw first-hand the hardships the talented, determined and injury-prone quarterback endured with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2010. Pierce was slowed initially by a knee injury, then his season come to an early end on Labour Day when he dislocated his elbow playing against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Now lost at sea in the Bombers’ organizational chaos, his starting job taken from him after his latest injury, Pierce serves as the precautionary tale for young risk-taking running QBs in the CFL.
Looking across the Eskimos’ locker-room on Sunday, Bowman said Edmonton starter Mike Reilly and Pierce don’t have much in common as quarterbacks. “I think they’re two different players,” he said. “I like Mike. I don’t dislike Buck, but … I didn’t really get (to work with) Buck that much. With Mike, I would consider him more vocal. I don’t dislike Buck, I just like Mike a little bit more.”
With nothing but time on his hands as he recovers from anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments torn last year, Bowman has been watching Reilly closely during the first six games of the season. And every time Reilly tucks the ball and starts to run downfield, Bowman, like many Eskimos fans, holds his breath a little bit. Because if there’s one thing that Reilly and Pierce share, it’s a drive to get things done, no matter the cost.
“(There’s) no fear in Buck. He doesn’t slide, he takes a hit and, from that standpoint, I feel like they’re very similar,” Bowman said.
The Eskimos’ latest loss in a 1-5 stumble out of the starting blocks — 30-29 when another late comeback attempt failed against the Hamilton TigerCats Aug. 2 — was the most physically punishing game of Reilly’s four-year CFL career.
The first half, in particular, was painful to watch. Reilly is still carrying a nick on his cheekbone from a play where his helmet popped off on a hit. He was also hammered by the Ticats’ Brian Bulcke in the third quarter on a play that looked like something out of a WWE match. Bulcke was eventually fined for the play.
While part of the blame for the pain he took can go to the Eskimos’ offensive line, some of the hits could have been avoided were it not for Reilly’s reluctance to slide in these situations.
“It’s the second conversation we’ve had: ‘You’re not a running back,’ ” Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed said.
The first conversation was praise for Reilly’s improved play over the last two games, where he’s thrown for more than 300 yards without an interception and rallied the Eskimos to have a shot at victory.
“We need you to run with the football at certain times, like the last drive (against Hamilton) when he made the decision to run with the football (for 22 yards). It was a very smart football play. But early in those football games, we don’t need those hits on the body. It’s an accumulative thing. When you take too many of them in an 18-game season, you may not make it through. We’ll hopefully make it a point of him being smarter that way.”
“I think there’s times in games where you have to be able to take the risk of getting some extra yardage,” Reilly said. “Obviously, the last drive of the game, you’re not going to slide on that. There were some other opportunities earlier in the game that I probably could have got down and saved the hit, but when we’re 1-4 at the time, and now 1-5, I think everybody in this room is going to do everything that they can to get a win.”
It might be here that Reed, and even Bowman, would object. Sure, you get what you have to when you have one shot left for the win, but the team is stressing the marathon of the season and to put these short, dangerous sprints into perspective.
“I don’t want him to stop it, because I like that aggressiveness, but we need him,” said Bowman. “And defenders, that’s what they love. I’ve heard them say that all the time. ‘He’s not going to go down, get a shot on him.’ It’s wear and tear. Get a few shots in the first quarter and the third quarter is different.”
Reed said Reilly played the first few games like he was “trying to prove to everyone that he’s the franchise quarterback.”
“When Mike was selected, we felt he had all the intangibles to be the franchise quarterback, and the way he’s played in the first six games have proven why we selected him,” Reed said. “I don’t think he has to go out and try to prove to thousands of people that he should be a starting quarterback. I think he just needs to relax, do the things he’s capable of doing, and give us a chance to win like he has been doing. We trust Mike.”
Reilly has the job. Now he has to stay in the game.
“Nobody’s really concerned about playing safe and playing scared,” Reilly said, pointing out Marcus Henry’s outstanding touchdown catch in the fourth quarter against Hamilton. “We want to do whatever we can to win and that’s how I’ve always played.”