Chris O’Leary
Edmonton Journal
At his lowest point of the CFL season, Steven Jyles’s teammates picked him up.
The Edmonton Eskimo quarterback handed the Winnipeg Blue Bombers the ball, the game and the team’s first victory of the season on Thursday. His fumble with 43 seconds left in the game allowed the Bombers to recover the ball and hang on for a 23-22 win at CanadInns Stadium.
Jyles went to the sidelines after the play and buried his head in his hands, knowing the gravity of what had happened. The 29-year-old had just rushed into field goal range when he had the ball punched out of his grasp by Winnipeg defensive tackle Jake Thomas. Blue Bomber defensive back Jovon Johnson immediately threw himself onto the loose ball to essentially clinch the victory.
While the loss didn’t sit well with Eskimo head coach Kavis Reed, he came out of the locker room and first credited his players for how they handled the heartbreaking loss.
“It’s an extremely difficult loss, but I’m extremely proud of the way this football team played,” he said. “Once again, the character of this football team showed. Give credit to Winnipeg. They did everything they needed to do to get the win, and they deserved it.”
Without yet watching the game film and breaking down the game further, Reed said on Thursday night that he had been pleased with Jyles’s game. Jyles made 16 of 30 passes for 244 yards, throwing for two touchdowns and zero interceptions on the night before his fourth-quarter gaff.
“He did everything possible in a difficult environment to give his team a chance to win,” Reed said of Jyles. “Unfortunately, he made a mistake at the end, or they made a play at the end, probably better stated and they won the football game.”
A sombre locker room had its quarterback’s back.
“You can’t put it on Steven,” said receiver Cary Koch, who had a pair of catches for 38 yards and a touchdown. “We all take the blame. We all could have done something better earlier in the game or later in the game. We’ll take it as a team loss and go from here.”
“We win as a team, we lose as a team,” slotback Fred Stamps said. “It’s not a one-man game. Nobody can put anything on Steven, anything like that because it’s a team effort.”
One stall over from Stamps, rookie Shamawd Chambers echoed the sentiments.
“That one play isn’t why we lost,” the receiver said, taking blame himself for the loss.
“Like coach Kavis said, we’re going to feel (the loss through the bye week), but we move on,” Stamps said. “There’s another season that starts next week when we come back from bye week. We’ll put (the loss) behind us.”
Despite the sour outcome of the game, Koch was looking for positives as the team wrapped up its fifth week of play.
“We’re coming together as a team,” he said. “We’re showing signs, even at the end there. It’s loud, we’re away, you can’t hear anything.
“You know, we got down and – you’ve got to respect the game. Football is exciting. It’s fun, it’s fast and that’s the way the cookie crumbles. A fumble here or a catch earlier, a missed drop, something like that, and the game’s totally different.”
coleary@edmontonjournal.com
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