Desperate times call for desperate measures

Dave Campbell
ESKS.com

August 27th in Toronto, a Monday night game at Rogers Centre against the Argonauts.   The Eskimos scored a 26-17 win improving their record to 5-3 which was good for second place in the West Division and left them just two points out of first place.  

Fast forward almost six weeks later and the Eskimos are mired in a five-game losing streak.  Their record sits at 5-8 and they currently don’t have a playoff spot.  The Eskimos have lost three games by a total of four points and have lost two games by a whopping total of 67 points.  They are averaging just 18 points scored in their last five games and their once stingy defense is allowing an average of 32 points per game in that same stretch.

In an effort to awaken their slumbering offense, head coach Kavis Reed made the bold decision to remove Marcus Crandell from his offensive coordinator post and make himself the team’s offensive play caller.  The decision stunned many people around the CFL.  This columnist had to look at the e-mail on his phone several times to believe it.
 
Desperate times call for desperate measures.  Reed might be the first coach in CFL history to be a defensive, special teams, and offensive coordinator.  He admits he’s not very well versed about the offensive side of the ball.  He’ll rely heavily on Crandell, who remains with the team as quarterbacks coach.  David Kelly’s role increases as he serves as the team’s offensive adviser. 

As bad as it seems for the Esks right now, a win tonight over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats puts them back into a playoff spot as the crossover team in the East Division.  It would also move them one step closer to the Saskatchewan Roughriders for third place in the West Division; the two teams play each other next week.
 
In the Canadian Football League, one win can change the complexion of a season for a football team.  Reed could have stayed the course, or fired Crandell.  He did neither.  Instead he decided to take more of a load on his shoulders.  Reed feels he can make a difference to the offense.

“I think that we have the ability to do some things a little bit differently that will allow us to have more explosive plays,” Reed said.  “I think that we’ve done a good job with the situation that we’ve been in.  I looked at the numbers. For the most part we’re doing a good job of moving the ball, and it’s our own self destructiveness that has been our Achilles heel.”

One thing Reed did right away this week was name his starting quarterback for tonight’s game in Kerry Joseph, who hasn’t played for the last two weeks because of a lower body injury.  He’ll be the third different quarterback to start for the Eskimos after Matt Nichols made his CFL debut last week in Calgary and Steven Jyles started two weeks ago vs. BC.  If the Eskimos keep themselves in the playoff picture, you can bet Joseph will be at the controls for the rest of the season.

Instability has been a big issue for the offense during this five-game slide.  Not only has there been shuffling of quarterbacks, but the running backs have been, at times, a jumbled mess.  The Eskimos signed Cory Boyd in mid-August and then welcomed back Jerome Messam before Labour Day.  Now the Eskimos needed to sign a running back in August as they only had two healthy backs on their roster and Boyd was available.  Messam came back to the Eskimos after a tryout with the Miami Dolphins.  Through it all, the Esks’ best offensive weapon was seemingly lost in the shuffle.  Hugh Charles was on pace for a 1,000 yard rushing season; now it might not happen with five games left.  More importantly, he needs the ball more and it appears Reed has recognized this as he named him the team’s number one running back.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who calls what play.  It’s about taking advantage of field position.  It’s about not taking bad penalties to put yourself in first and long, or second and long, or simply have to punt.  

Most of all, it comes down to execution.  Or this team will be executed soon.

NOTES:     CFL tackle leader J.C. Sherritt will miss tonight’s game because of a knee injury.  Simoni Lawrence will make his first CFL start at middle linebacker.  Defensive tackle Ted Laurent will return to the lineup after missing two games as the result of re-aggravating his ankle in Hamilton three weeks ago.  Devin Tyler will start at right tackle; he missed two games with a throat injury.  Dylan Steenbergen comes out and has been placed on the one-game injured list with a lower body injury.  Fullback Darcy Brown is out with a hamstring injury, and fellow fullback Peter Thiel will miss the game because of a concussion.  Jerome Messam will start at fullback.