Eskimos’ Maas shrugs off latest sideline outburst
Another week, another sideline shot of Edmonton Eskimos head coach Jason Maas blowing up.
By now, he can bet a camera is trained on him at all times during the TSN broadcast, already having caught the infamous headset smashing during the Labour Day rematch, as well as a Thanksgiving Day offering where he can be seen choking the life out of the mic piece of his headset — obviously a different one — and barking irate orders to an assistant in the upstairs booth.
The latest instalment involved Maas dressing down special teams co-ordinator Cory McDiarmid after punter Hugh O’Neill conceded a safety in the end zone Saturday against the B.C. Lions.
“From what I can tell, he politely said that he didn’t appreciate being notified that they were taking the safety after the fact,” Eskimos alumnus Jed Roberts, who can read lips, posted on Twitter.
Except the polite part was meant tongue in cheek, as McDiarmid found himself the target of a nationally televised verbal barrage, on a night when his special teams was anything but on the way to a 35-29 win over a Lions team that had already been knocked out of playoff contention.
But that’s looking way too much into things, as far as Maas was concerned after the game.
“It’s just sometimes coaches get into heated exchanges about things and there’s nothing wrong with it,” Maas said. “At the end of the day, we’re both trying to win and we’re both trying to communicate with one another. Sometimes, it gets heated.
“That’s football, if you ask me.”
Extra point: The Eskimos cancelled Tuesday’s practice and media availability, and will be back on the field Wednesday from 11:15 a.m. to 1:20 p.m. in preparation for Saturday’s final regular-season home game against the Calgary Stampeders (5 p.m., TSN, ESPN2, 630 CHED).