Is momentum a real factor or is it simply perceived?
Eskimos head coach Jason Maas believes momentum is real during games because things can turn for the better or worse on one or two plays.
For example, the Eskimos took advantage of the instant field position they received after the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ unsuccessful fake punt early in the third quarter of last week’s West Division semifinal to score the first of four touchdowns on consecutive possessions to take control of the sudden-death playoff game.
Can momentum carry over from one game to the next?
Probably. The Eskimos have certainly gained a lot of confidence by winning each of their last six games and seem to have played even better on offence, defence and special teams during the past few weeks.
Over that time, the Eskimos reduced the number of penalties they were taking and limited turnovers – losing only three over the last five games while forcing opponents into seven turnovers for a plus-four turnover ratio.
The only thing that could make the Eskimos current situation any better is if the West Division final was being played at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
Unfortunately, Sunday’s 2:30 p.m. playoff game to decide the West Division representative in the 105th Grey Cup is scheduled for Calgary’s McMahon Stadium because the Stampeders roared out to a 13-1-1 start this season to clinch first place and the home playoff contest that goes with it.
The Stamps are currently ice-cold, though. Not only have they been sitting idle for 16 days, but Sunday will mark 36 days since Calgary’s last win on Oct. 13 and 50 days since their last victory at home (Sept. 29).
Can this team, which will be playing in its sixth straight West Division final, find its mojo in time to advance to a fourth Grey Cup in six years? The Stampeders have lost only 17 regular-season games during the past five years, and six of those defeats – including three consecutive losses to finish this year’s regular season – came after Calgary had clinched first place.
“They’re a great team,” Maas said. “They’re playing at home with a Grey Cup berth on the line, so I know they’re motivated, hungry, all those things, but so are we. That’s why I think both teams are going to go out and give it their best. The team that makes the most plays, controls the line of scrimmage, doesn’t turn over the ball and is the most disciplined will win. Both of us are capable of doing that.”
Still, Sunday’s West final could provide some interesting answers as far as the importance of momentum with the Eskimos and Stampeders at opposite ends of the spectrum.
“They’re going to come out and play the type of football they’ve always played, which is good on all three phases,” Maas insisted. “They’ll try to get after the quarterback, they’ll protect their quarterback, they’ll do all the things that they’ve done over the course of the last eight years, and we’ve all known how much success they’ve had, particularly at home.”
Calgary had won 17 consecutive home games – the third-longest streak in CFL history – until losing to the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 20 and again to the Blue Bombers in the final week of the regular season when the Stamps rested several players, including quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell.
The home team has also won the West final each of the last three years, with the Stampeders emerging victorious in 2016 and 2014. And Edmonton hasn’t won a playoff game in Calgary since the 2005 West semifinal.
“We’re up for the challenge,” Maas said. “The week off (Calgary had the first-place bye last week), sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. Obviously, I’m sure they were welcoming it based on how their season ended. They got back to the drawing board a little bit and rested and feel a little bit better about themselves after a week of practice.
“At the same time, we used it to go out and win a football game and get better ourselves. I think you’re going to see two teams who are ready to play on Sunday and the best team is going to win.”
Despite his belief that both teams will come out with guns a-blazing on Sunday, Maas has noticed some cracks in the Stampeders’ armour.
“When you look at their last six games, it’s uncharacteristic of their football club,” he said. “It’s nice to see that team’s not impervious to (some problems). When you don’t protect the quarterback, when you turn over the ball and you have penalties, you don’t win all those games. They’ve lost three games by losing some of those battles.”
Maas pointed out that Calgary has taken almost as many penalties during the last seven games as they did during their first 11, when they ranked second in the league in that category. They’ve averaged 9.8 penalties per game over the last seven games compared to 6.5 earlier in the season.
“You have to be disciplined when you play against them,” he said. “We say it every single time we play them. They don’t generally hurt themselves.”
While Calgary led the league in turnover ratio at plus-20, Maas noticed that a lot of those turnovers came on downs when opponents were losing and trying last-ditch attempts to rally, gambling on third down.
“They’re good with taking care of the ball,” he said. “They’re good at taking it away. You have to beat them at that part of the game. That’s first and foremost on our minds, to win the ball security battle in this game.”
However, the Stampeders haven’t been winning that battle recently.
“They’ve turned the ball over more in the last six games than they turned it over for the first part of the year,” said Maas. “They’ve given up more sacks in the last six games than they have for most of the other 12 games.
“When you’re not successful, you start wondering instead of just going out and playing football,” he continued. “They’ve been playing so well for eight years straight that they’ve never faced this adversity. They hadn’t lost two games in a row for 103 games (until late October), so they’re in uncharted territory.
“I’ve watched them for many years and they don’t generally hurt themselves (with penalties or turnovers). If they continue to do that against us on Sunday, I’ll feel better about our chances of winning.
“But, at the end of the day, you don’t know when they’re going to get out of something like that,” he admitted. “Our guys are focused on us, focused on taking care of the ball, focused on taking it away, protecting our quarterback, being disciplined. All we have to do is play really good football on our end, take care of the things we are accustomed to taking care of and we expect to beat them.”
Hot or cold? Does it even matter after the opening kickoff?
Players need buy-in to reduce penalties
Maas knows from personal experience that it’s not easy to stop the train once a team starts taking an excessive number of penalties.
“We’ve tried everything for the two years I’ve been here,” Maas said about his coaching staff’s attempts to reduce the amount of penalties the Eskimos were taking. “We have a penalty board, we talk about penalties all the time, we do push-ups after every penalty, we run guys, we watch every single penalty in the game to learn from them.
“We are well aware when we have penalties. We have a Keys To The Victory board where every player has a number on their key. When you screw up, it gets moved to a discipline part, so everyone is fully aware.
“We keep track of all the turnovers and penalties in our league and see where we ranked through the entire year so it’s used as motivation so your team understands that that’s important. The last three years, the teams that are at the very bottom of that, ninth in turnovers and ninth in penalties, generally don’t make the playoffs and they’re usually the worst team in the league record-wise.
“So, it’s all about motivating your team and having your team learn from mistakes. It’s accountability on their part. Coaches can spew all they want, they can talk all they want about discipline and other things, but until players buy in and they all hold themselves accountable, you don’t get anything done.
“The last 10 weeks, particularly during our losing streak, our guys finally said enough’s enough. They started to fine each other, we started to do the push-ups, we started to do extra stuff. Our last six games, if I kept track of it, I’m pretty sure we were right up in first, second or third in (fewest) penalties and turnovers ratio in our league and, ultimately, we were 5-1 in those last six games (of the regular season).”
The Eskimos were assessed between 10 and 14 penalties seven times during their first 11 games this season, taking as many as 159 yards in penalties. They’ve averaged 6.5 penalties during their last eight games, but took only five penalties in the West semifinal.
As far as turnovers are concerned, the Esks finished in the middle of the pack during the regular season with the same number of takeaways as giveaways (their turnover ratio was zero). But they were plus-3 against the Bombers last week, scoring 14 points off the turnovers, and have been plus-four over the last five games.
“It’s a whole yearly thing to stop penalties, to get ball security better,” Maas said. “It takes a lot of energy that you’re not used to using and that can be draining.”
Sherritt practises for first time since injury
Middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon during the season opener against the B.C. Lions on June 24, practised on Thursday in the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre Field House for the first time since getting hurt.
“Right now, he’s worked his way back to be able to practise,” Maas said. “It’s a great thing for us, a great thing for him. He’s worked all year to get to this point. We needed to see where he was at and he had to come out to practice today to show us.
“I saw him running around, saw some good things. We’ll just wait to evaluate him on film and really see a little bit more.”
Maas said Sherritt was “an option” to play in the West Division Final, but chances are the Grey Cup game will be more realistic if the Eskimos get that far.
“In his mind, he’s focused on one goal and that’s to be available if we’re lucky enough to get to the Grey Cup,” Maas said last week.
Sherritt, 29, a seven-year veteran, has been assisting the coaching staff all season long by helping some of the younger players while he’s been rehabilitating his injured leg.
“He’s one of the main leaders on our football team,” said quarterback Mike Reilly. “There’s a ton of respect for that man on our football team.
“Just having him on the field was awesome.”
Sherritt practises for first time since injury
Middle linebacker J.C. Sherritt, who ruptured his left Achilles tendon during the season opener against the B.C. Lions on June 24, practised on Thursday for the first time since getting hurt.
“It’s literally something I’ve thought about every day for four months and change, so to finally get back out there and fulfil close to what my goal was is awesome,” said Sherritt, who practised again on Friday at the Commonwealth Community Recreation Centre Field House. “I feel great. Obviously, we’re taking it one day at a time and we’re evaluating after every day and that’s important. But I feel fantastic. I wouldn’t step out on this field if I didn’t.”
Sherritt said the mental part of his rehabilitation is over.
“I’ve pushed through every cut I needed to push through; every scary obstacle that I’ve had to conquer I have,” he said. “I’ve done everything I can to put myself in this situation and whatever happens, happens. I have no fear going forward.”
Maas said last week that Sherritt has been focused on one goal and that was to make himself available to play in the CFL’s championship game “if we’re lucky enough to get to the Grey Cup.”
The 29-year-old seven-year veteran, who is one of the most respected leaders on the Eskimos football team, has been assisting the coaching staff all season by helping some of the younger players while rehabilitating his injured leg.
“I would recommend that to any athlete who goes through this because I didn’t change my routine,” Sherritt said. “The only thing I didn’t do was play. Every meeting, every therapy session, all that stayed the same and days flew by.
“Right now, we’re already to the end. It was one of the fastest years I’ve had. To stay in that routine, stay around the guys, stay locked in, it keeps you disciplined the right way.”