Mike Reilly has been too busy this off-season to shave off his playoff beard.
The Edmonton Eskimos quarterback has been front-and-centre as one of the team’s models for the classic-look uniform redesign along with other CFL marketing initiatives.
He even got to pitch the CFL with an on-camera interview during Game 4 of the NBA East Conference final game between the Toronto Raptors and Cleveland Cavaliers.
Now, with 2016 training camp underway, Reilly was brutally honest when he said the Eskimos will have to be even better than they were last season if they hope to become just the third team in 34 seasons to repeat as Grey Cup champions.
“I think our league, as a whole, has done a better job advertising, trying to get people fired up about the season,” said Reilly. “The shoot we did for Adidas and TSN was top-notch.”
Reilly was in Toronto for the last game the Raptors won this season and took full advantage of his chance, telling a national audience that the atmosphere reminded him of the Grey Cup game.
“Yeah, that’s a big deal for all of Canada,” Reilly said. “For that game to happen so close to training camp and for us to get on TV and talk about the league a little bit, it was a great time to have a huge audience. For me, it was a great experience to be able to see that game, the atmosphere. It was electric in there.”
Reilly started growing his beard toward the end of last season, deciding a little image change would not be a totally bad idea.
“I usually grow my beard out in late September,” Reilly said. “I usually shave during the off-season, but when they started doing the off-season promo stuff and I looked a little baby-faced, I just kept it. Then I got lazy and let it go wild.”
Not Brent Burns or Joe Thorton wild, but it has been getting shaggier closer to training camp.
“My wife hates it, so it’ll probably be gone in a couple of weeks,” Reilly said with a chuckle.
Starting a new CFL season as a Grey Cup champion meant Reilly and his teammates did not have to spend much time trying to figure out what went wrong.
Instead, the focus has shifted to how to keep it going.
“The early parts of the off-season you have relief from those thoughts about what you could have done better because you did win the championship,” said Reilly. “But then, after a couple of months you’d better start thinking about ‘what could I have done better’ because if we play at the same level we played last year, we won’t win the championship again.
“We have to play better than everybody else because everybody else is going to up the ante and they’re coming after us.”
Champions always have the target on their backs and that’s what makes defending that much harder.
“What we did last year isn’t good enough for this season,” said Reilly. “We, for the longest time, a decade in Edmonton, have been looking at targeting other people so we know how it is to chase the champion. You know when you play those teams, you find a way to give a little more.
“So, we expect to get a little more from every team we play this year and that’s good. That’s the way we want it. We’d better be prepared and be ready for it.
“It’s very hard to do for a number of reasons,” said Reilly. “Sometimes, you have teams whose rosters are depleted, guys retire or whatever. Maybe veteran guys are older and not quite as fast. Maybe you’re not as hungry.
“The good thing is you don’t have to worry about any of those three things here. Our veterans are still playing in their prime. Others haven’t reached their prime yet. We’ve maintained the core group of guys we need and our coaching staff has made us the furthest thing from complacent.”
Enter coach Jason Maas.
“Our new head man was on the other end of things last season and he wants to win one this year,” said Reilly. “He doesn’t care what happened last year. That has rubbed off on everybody, so it’s a great attitude coming from the top down.”