Game Preview – Eskimos vs Roughriders

Heading into this weekend’s matchup against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Edmonton Eskimos head coach Jason Maas continued to be on message.

There’s a razor-thin margin between winning and losing. Penalties cost the team in an overtime loss to Ottawa and  a disciplined effort will get the first-year coach’s team into the win column.

“It’s not as enjoyable as it could have been with the loss,” said Maas about the bye week. “We’re a fighting team. We’ll fight to the very end whether things are going well or not, we always believe we can win in the end. I love that about the character of our team.”

Even though the offence looked in mid-season form and the defence continues to break in new faces, Maas termed it a team loss that his troops have to find a way to bounce back from.

“They had 12 penalties, we had 14,” said Maas. “The difference was, ours cost us more yardage because we had four 15-yard penalties, which just can’t happen.

“It’s all about being held accountable and coachable. Our locker room understands that. We watch every penalty. Not only the guy who made it, but the guys around him.”

Make no mistake … the message has not been lost on the players.

They know who they are and they’re not trying to hide.

“We don’t have to do anything different,” said defensive end Odell Willis. “The only thing we have to do is eliminate mental mistakes as far as penalty-wise. You take those 15-yard penalties and a few mental errors and it’s ball game.

“There’s no ‘we gotta find a rhythm’ or we’re in some state of panic. We’ve just got to eliminate the mistakes and the only reason we’re not worried about it is because it’s mental. It’s not about not knowing our schemes or getting beat man-to-man, so we’re going to be all right that way.

“The mental mistakes can be corrected because you chose to do it. Even I had one that I could have rectified if only I played my right technique and done what the coaches told me. I’ve got to clean it up, along with the rest of the boys.”

Quarterback Mike Reilly had one of the most productive games of his career with 383 passing yards and 433 total yards.

Reilly spent the bye week in Seattle with his wife watching plenty of film and thinking about the prospect of facing a Chris Jones defence for the first time in three seasons.

“It’s never fun going into a bye week thinking about a loss,” said Reilly. “I probably watched the film 2-3 times on the way home and my wife was wondering if I’d ever get over it. It’s easy to move on after a win, harder after a loss.

“Now, we have to focus on Saskatchewan. We get another opportunity this Friday to make amends for what we didn’t do last week. It’s been a while, but I got to go against his defence every practise for the past two years. It’s a different team, but you always have to be prepared when you go against a Chris Jones-coached team.

“Any quarterback in the league you talk to, there’s a certain couple of co-ordinators, your week is a lot busier preparing for. He’s absolutely one of those. You have to make adjustments because he’s going to come out with things you’ve never seen before.”

The defensive secondary continues to be a work in progress after the loss of standout corner John Ojo to a season-ending Achilles rupture.

“The first game of the year, we came out and executed real well offensively,” said defensive half Marcell Young. “We just have to do a better job communicating on alignment, assignment and technique. We have a great chance coming up on Friday.

“We have three newer guys to the CFL. All the (offence’s) tricks and all the motion is new to them. If we can get guys to calm down and play what they see, I think we should be fine.”