Sack attack in limelight as Eskimos, Riders set for home-away duet
Another hefty helping of B.C. Lions, please.
The Edmonton Eskimos defensive line couldn’t be blamed for wanting to order more of their last opponent, after sacking the Lions quarterbacks seven, five and, most recently, four times on their way to sweeping that season series 3-0.
This week, they turn their attention to some fresh meat in Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Cody Fajardo, whom they will face for the first time in a home-and-away series beginning Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium (5 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED) to close out the regular season.
And with 16 sacks in three games against the Lions, don’t be surprised if the Eskimos pass rushers come out of the tunnel wearing orange visors against the Roughriders.
It’s no secret that over the past five years, those were the two opponents the Eskimos have taken a particular interest toward, given the mass exoduses that have taken place on their own roster.
First, it was the flood of players who followed former head coach Chris Jones and his staff to Regina not even two weeks after winning the Grey Cup in 2015. While that well has all but dried up — with offensive lineman Thaddeus Coleman the lone survivor of that group of players still with the Roughriders — this season there has been a shift in migration out west, where a number of ex-eskimos players were brought in by Ed Hervey, who was general manager of that championship Eskimos squad.
“It’s not quite as intense as if we’re playing B.C., which, a lot of the guys are there now,” said Eskimos defensive tackle Almondo Sewell, “versus a lot of guys who were in Saskatchewan then. (Coleman) is the only one left.”
But there is still some friction between the Eskimos and Roughriders when it comes to this season’s sack race. An Eskimos defence that led the league in that department for the majority of the season and currently sits at 50, has recently been bumped to second overall by a Saskatchewan crew that comes into Saturday’s game with 53 sacks.
Of course, that is small consolation for the Roughriders’ newly ordained franchise quarterback, Fajardo.
“Get the ball out of my hand,” said the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Nevada product. “When they start rolling and they get sacks on top of sacks, it’s kind of like the snowball effect where things, offensively speaking, kind of get out of proportion and they know they’ve got you pinned and they know they’ve got you countered.
“So for me, try not to take early sacks. I know sacks are going to happen in every game. One of the best ways to get a team out of pressure is a running quarterback. If you can gash them for 20, 30 yards in the run game when they bring pressure, it makes them think a little bit more about running that pressure again.”
If Sewell & Co. get their way, Fajardo will be busy scrambling for safety.
“We should (get after Fajardo), that’s the whole point,” said Sewell, who sits tied atop his team in sacks alongside Mike Moore and Kwaku Boateng with eight apiece.
The Roughriders counter with a heavy in Charleston Hughes, who leads the league with 15 sacks on the season. Worse yet, he is about due to add to that total considering he has been held off the stats sheet in that column in his last three outings.
But Eskimos defensive line coach Demetrious Maxie is expecting more of the same from his group against the Roughriders as he saw against the Lions last week.
“They’re pretty much the same style of play as far as offensive scheme,” he said, referring to offensive co-ordinators Jarious Jackson and Stephen Mcadoo. “They’re both from the same background, they’ve worked together. They’re buddies, so they communicate quite often. And we’ve always had good games against Saskatchewan that have always gone down to the wire.”
Truth be told, the sack battle will take a back seat Saturday in a game where the Roughriders are more interested in securing a home playoff date with a win and the Eskimos would like nothing more than to avoid limping into the playoffs as the crossover team with a semifinal date set in Montreal to face the Alouettes on Nov. 10.