Do you believe in miracles?
The fact that second place in the West Division and a chance to host a home playoff game is still in play for the Eskimos heading into the CFL’s final weekend of the regular season is miraculous in itself.
It would be even more incredible if the Eskimos can pull it off, considering that the Green and Gold were all but eliminated from a possible second-place finish after losing 28-19 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Sept. 30.
They are currently tied with the Bombers for second place with 11-6 records.
“This is the CFL, man,” said Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly. “Nothing’s over until it’s over.”
He meant in games, but also over the course of the season, apparently.
“We’ve still got a chance,” Reilly said. “It’s not in our control, but we’re not going to worry about that. We’re going to worry about getting ready for Sask. … figure out how to play our best football against them because that’s a damn good football team that we’re going to be going up against.”
The Saskatchewan Roughriders, 10-7, have won four of their last five games and also defeated the Eskimos 54-31 at Edmonton in August, but they have lost two of their last three games at home.
All the Eskimos can control is whether or not their playoff path is through the West or East Division:
- A win in Saturday’s 5 p.m. game against the Roughriders at Regina’s new Mosaic Stadium will guarantee the Esks of a berth in the West Division playoffs.
- An Eskimos win combined with a Blue Bombers loss or tie Friday at Calgary to the first-place Stampeders (or an Eskimos tie combined with a Winnipeg loss) means a second-place finish and the chance to host the West semifinal on Nov. 12 at The Brick Field.
- If the Bombers win to extend the 13-3-1 Stamps’ losing streak to three games, the Eskimos end up in third place with a win or tie and travel to Winnipeg for the West semifinal.
- And, finally, an Eskimos loss to the Riders will send Edmonton packing to the East Division for the playoffs, with a semifinal matchup at either Ottawa or Toronto, depending upon the result of the Argonauts’ game with the B.C. Lions on Saturday. Ottawa is currently in first place at 8-9-1; Toronto has an 8-9 record.
“One win and, hopefully, Winnipeg loses and we get a home playoff game, which our fans deserve,” said offensive lineman Matt O’Donnell. “They’re out there every game, 30,000-plus strong, and we’ve got the best fans in the CFL, we have the best attendance in the CFL, so really, we’re just trying to do it for them.
“We put ourselves in a bad situation losing six in a row. A couple of close games, a couple of close losses, but it’s always who gets hot at the right time of the season. Thankfully, the numbers are still on our side.”
Five weeks ago, the Eskimos were on a six-game losing streak and trailed the Bombers by six points with five games remaining. Winnipeg had the tie-breaker advantage, having won both regular-season contests. The Esks had to win all of their remaining games and hope the Bombers lost all but one. “Slim and none” best described Edmonton’s chances of hosting a playoff game and “none” was about to leave town.
But a funny thing happened to the roller-coaster Eskimos, who started the season with a seven-game winning streak. They suddenly turned things around and won all four contests in October to catch up to Winnipeg while the Bombers lost two consecutive games for the first time since September 2016 and three of their last four games.
“Just getting hot at the right time, stringing together the right amount of wins and just finding those gutsy wins, finding a way to win at the end,” O’Donnell said. “It doesn’t matter what kind of adversity happens, just finishing out good teams.”
Winnipeg also has been hit with a bunch of injuries, including a leg injury that will keep former Esks quarterback Matt Nichols on the sidelines this week. Fifth-year journeyman Dan LeFevour, 30, will take over the offence in his absence.
“If they lose one more game, they’re going to hand it to us,” Eskimos defensive tackle Almondo Sewell pointed out. “We’ll take it.”
The Eskimos are riding the momentum of not only four wins in a row, but also having knocked off the Stampeders 29-20 last Saturday at The Brick Field, marking the first time that Calgary has suffered back-to-back losses in 104 games.
“This is what we needed,” Sewell said after the Calgary game. “It’s the hardest team in the league to beat. We played disciplined (no defensive penalties). Coach (Jason) Maas has been preaching it all year.”
What happens if Winnipeg wins on Friday? Does that affect the Eskimos’ game plan for Saturday?
“We’re going out to win,” said head coach Jason Maas. “We want to keep the momentum we have. Our guys are going to play extremely hard. We only have one focus and we talked about it all week, being cold and calculated with our focus and our focus is on nothing but beating Saskatchewan.”
SHORT YARDAGE: The Eskimos finished the regular season with a 6-3 record at home, marking the 37th time in 40 seasons at Commonwealth Stadium that Edmonton has had a .500 record or better on home turf. The Esks’ all-time record at Commonwealth is 243-105-2 (.697 win percentage) … Former Calgary Dinos QB Andrew Buckley is listed as the Stampeders’ starting quarterback in Friday’s game.