Game Preview: Edmonton @ Winnipeg

They’ve had a bye week, two overtime thrillers and their first win under head coach Jason Maas.

Now, the Edmonton Eskimos will try their luck with a short week.

Winnipeg will be the destination for the 1-1 Eskimos, who will be facing a Blue Bombers team that also notched up its first win of the year against Hamilton.

It’ll be a rejuvenated Bombers team led by third-year starting quarterback Drew Willy and a running game made more dangerous with the addition of running back Andrew Harris.

“There’s not one easy out in this whole league,” said Maas. “We’re going on the road to Winnipeg this week, playing against a tough team that just got their first win on the road.

“Each week in the CFL, you have to come to play and you can’t hurt yourself. It is a short week for ourselves, but we do the same thing every week. You do a lot of burning the midnight oil. It’s really just about grinding it out is a short week, getting the guys comfortable with what you’re doing early and letting them play fast.”

Even though the Bombers have struggled in recent campaigns, Maas refused to take his opponent lightly.

“They’re a tough physical team,” said Maas. “They get after the quarterback. Lapo (offensive co-ordinator Paul LaPolice) has their quarterbacks playing at a high level. They spread the ball around a lot to their backs and their receivers. They’re a challenge.”

Maas knows Bombers coach Mike O’Shea personally and looks forward to matching wits with a man he considers a personal friend.

“He’s a gritty competitor,” said Maas. “He’ll get his guys playing hard. Special-teams wise, you never know what you’re going to get. We’ve got to be well-minded not to hurt ourselves, be ourselves on the road and get a win.”

Edmonton’s offence, under the direction of quarterback Mike Reilly, has been as sharp out of the gate as any CFL team. Reilly has tossed five TD passes against one interception, racking up 761 passing yards in two games.

“The biggest challenge is mentally, making sure everybody takes all the information in,” said Reilly. “Generally, your game plan can’t be quite as exotic as it is on a longer week or a home game.”

If anything, having a short week at this time of year beats the alternative.

“It’s easier having it now instead of September, October just because guys’ bodies aren’t as broken down as they are later in the year,” said Reilly. “We only had one day rest, but we should be fresh.”

Film sessions confirmed the team is still in early-season form.

“We did some really, really good stuff and it showed a couple of stupid things, so basically how it felt on the field,” said Reilly. “Outside of those turnovers, I though we played a pretty decent game.”

Veteran corner Pat Watkins has been around the CFL long enough to understand the challenges of a short week.

“The challenge is getting ourselves back up for this game,” said Watkins. “We just came off a win. It’s easy to be complacent coming off a win. Knowing that we have a short week, we’re going to have to work harder and learn faster to be where we need to be.”

Both the Eskimos regular-season starts have been highly-entertaining, high-scoring affairs as the defence continues to establish its identity.

“There’s no question you want to go in and dominate a game, but we’ll take the win over a loss any day, no matter how it comes,” said Watkins. “We’ll always take a win any day.”

Harris had added a new element to Winnipeg’s offence and, so far, has been the team’s top targeted receiver.

“They’re a great team,” said Watkins. “(Willy) has a lot of talent around him. If you look across the board, with the two new receivers (Weston) Dressler and (Ryan) Smith, he has tons of talent. It’s going to be a good one. We have to do what we do best. Try to confuse people, fly around to the ball and make sure of our tackles.”