CFL.ca Staff
With the West Division won and the CFL’s top record to boot, this is the moment the Edmonton Eskimos have been waiting for.
Well-rested and relatively healthy, the Esks enter the playoff picture on Sunday as the favourite to win it all. Of course, merely showing up won’t be enough.
Having already proven since Ed Hervey took over as GM and Chris Jones as head coach that they’re a perennial contender, the Eskimos now look to take the next step and translate their regular season success to playoff success.
It starts with a familiar opponent. The Esks open things up with a rematch of last year’s Western Final when the Stamps shredded Edmonton’s defence and knocked the Green and Gold out of the playoffs. This year the Eskimos showed a marked improvement against their biggest rival, taking two out of three against Calgary to finally settle their greatest demons.
That was then, of course, and in a one-game elimination matchup anything can happen.
How they got here
In a word, dominance describes the Esks’ 2015 season, at least ever since being shown up in the season opener by the Argos at Fort McMurray. Edmonton lost star quarterback Mike Reilly in that game to a knee injury and he missed half the season, but that wasn’t enough to stop Edmonton from claiming the West Division crown.
Matt Nichols and James Franklin carried the load for the Esks who went 6-3 in Reilly’s absence, then Reilly returned to beat the Stamps in a Labour Day Rematch while leading Edmonton to eight straight wins to finish off the season.
Derel Walker emerged as a premier CFL receiver while Adarius Bowman finished second in the league, helping the Esks emerge as a well-rounded team that can stop you cold on defence and pile up points on offence.
The Esks’ defence was most impressive however, finishing number one in the CFL in allowing 18.9 points per game with a balance of strong defending both through the air and on the ground.
Turning point of the season
The turning point of Edmonton’s season was no doubt a victory at home in the Labour Day Rematch against Calgary, although a subsequent win against the Stamps on Oct. 10 is also a candidate.
The Eskimos wouldn’t have won the West without winning either of those games, but the Labour Day Rematch marked the return of Mike Reilly under centre. With a defence firing on all cylinders and the franchise quarterback leading the huddle, the Eskimos haven’t lost since then.
Perhaps most importantly that victory ended a 12-game losing streak against the Stampeders, finally proving once and for all that the Eskimos could beat their vaunted division rival. The momentum carried over to the rematch on Oct. 10, when the Eskimos became the only team to defeat Calgary at McMahon Stadium this season.
Post-Season
The Eskimos are confident, well-rested and healthy, entering the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak followed by a 21-day layover between games.
Mike Reilly played his best football in the final weeks of the season and is back to his usual self after suffering a knee injury in Week 1, and the Esks are 8-1 this season in games he’s started – their only loss coming in the season-opener against the Argos.
The defence is number one in the league, the offence is explosive and led by two superstar receivers in Derel Walker and Adarius Bowman.
This is an Esks team that has everything going for it, and if that’s not enough? The tables have turned in the Battle of Alberta, the Eskimos owning a two-game winning streak against Calgary going into a matchup at home where the Esks are 8-1 this season.
The Eskimos may be entering the post-season on an eight-game winning streak, but will a long 21-day layoff in between games erase the positive momentum they were able to build down the stretch?
The road to the Grey Cup starts with a difficult test against Calgary and while the Eskimos have won two straight vs. the Stampeders, visions of last year’s one-sided playoff loss haven’t been erased. The Stamps are the defending Grey Cup Champions and haven’t lost since that narrow defeat to Edmonton back in November, and you can bet they’ll be fired up to go into Commonwealth and return the favour.
While the Esks’ defence has been solid this season, the offence has been a little less successful – although still highly efficient.
The Esks may be entering the playoffs on an eight-game winning streak, but many of those victories were close, including a three-point win over BC in overtime and a one-point win over Winnipeg that came on a last-play field goal by Sean Whyte.
