With the Eskimos having clinched a CFL playoff berth Saturday, receivers Greg Ellingson and Ricky Collins, Jr., plus kicker Sean Whyte were able to enjoy some individual accomplishments.
“We’re going to the playoffs now, and that’s a huge weight off the guys’ backs,” Whyte said after the Eskimos’ 19-6 victory over the BC Lions at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium. “I just hope we can come together. I think we can be better than we are.”
Ellingson, for the fifth consecutive season, and Collins both went over the 1,000-yard mark in receptions during Saturday’s game.
“It’s cool with two receivers going over 1,000 yards in the same game,” Collins said. “I feel like that’s something special.”
“It’s cool to hit that milestone as a receiver always,” Ellingson said. “It’s something you don’t really focus on, but it’s something at the end of the year when you look at (the statistics), you’re like, ‘Did I reach 1,000?’ ”
Ellingson admitted that he was more excited about Collins reaching 1,000 yards for the first time in his four-year CFL career than he was about repeating the feat for the fifth year in a row.
“It never gets old,” said Ellingson, who has also caught a pass in each of his last 60 regular-season games. “It’s my fifth time, but I’m pumped for him because I know it was something he really wanted.”
Collins said getting 1,000 yards is “a great personal accomplishment.”
“Going over 1,000 yards for the first time in my career is one of those (goals) you set as a kid, especially playing professional football,” he said. “Every player wants to go over 1,000 yards. With that being done, I feel like I’ve arrived.”
Collins, 27, didn’t realize that he had gone over 1,000 yards until he heard the announcement over the public address system. By then, it was too late to collect the football as a souvenir of the moment.
“I wish I would have kept it, but I didn’t,” he said.
Collins has been slowly working his way towards 1,000 yards over the last few games, even catching back-to-back short passes for gains of two yards and then seven yards in the third quarter to reach the milestone.
“That’s the way life goes,” he said. “Everything isn’t going to be as perfect as you want it to be. Sometimes, you have to chop wood. That’s what I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks, just taking care of my business, blocking-wise, all the extra stuff.”
Two plays later, Ellingson caught a 43-yard bomb at the BC two-yard line, but the Eskimos failed on three attempts to push the ball into the end zone.
“Another thing is 100 catches,” Ellingson said about goals receivers like to achieve.
“If you can reach that, too, that’s a really cool accomplishment.”
Ellingson, who has 79 catches for 1,094 yards this season, has never reached triple digits in receptions. He would have to have monster-sized outings in each of the Eskimos final two regular-season games against the Saskatchewan Roughriders to reach that goal this year.
Meanwhile, Whyte kicked four more field goals to set a personal record with 46 successful kicks in a season, but that’s still 14 field goals off Justin Medlock’s CFL record set in 2016. Whyte currently leads the CFL with 167 points but has previously had seasons with 185 and 182 points.
The 33-year-old kicker from White Rock, B.C., is also one field goal off his career-high streak of 25 consecutive successful kicks. But don’t mention that Whyte’s current league-high streak is at 24 in a row.
“Stop counting, man,” he said. “That’s like saying, ‘shutout,’ in hockey. Don’t say it.”
Whyte made field goals of 22, 49, 44 and 21 yards on Saturday. The two long kicks came just before halftime.
“It seems like it’s been like that all year long,” he said. “If it’s my first kick of the game or early in the game, it’s going to be a long one, so I always expect it now.
“But it’s been a good year. Logan (Kilgore, his holder) has been great for me. He makes my job easy.”
Whyte, who kicked his 100th career convert at The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday, also moved past Gerry Organ into 15th place on the CFL all-time points list.
Whyte has several little superstitions to celebrate each successful field goal. He simply shakes hands with Kilgore – “Just keep it classy,” he said – and has been doing back-to-back golf swings in opposite directions with receiver Natey Adjei for the past two years.
“With (rookie quarterback Jeremiah) Briscoe, I do the (Phil) Mickelson hat tip and thumbs up. I’ve got little things with everybody, so it’s just become a routine,” Whyte said.
Meanwhile, Jason Maas moved into sole possession of seventh place on Edmonton’s head coach all-time win list with 39 victories. He was previously tied with Eagle Keys and Jackie Parker.