Elks: Edmonton Eskimos 2019 v3

[MessierII]

Definitely the worst game they’ve played thus far. Obviously the penalties were devastating but aside from that offense wasn’t clicking like usual. Gotta give some props to the montreal D though they played well.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Definitely the worst game they’ve played thus far. Obviously the penalties were devastating but aside from that offense wasn’t clicking like usual. Gotta give some props to the montreal D though they played well.

The Esks offense looked like it hadn't practiced all week. Timing was off all day, patterns weren't sharp, countless times two recievers were on top of each other and on one play with the one receiver laughably stopping progress of the other, and thus failing on another 3rd down gamble.

Even short quick strike motion passes in this game were off. Harris not hitting recievers in stride, players not running their routes properly.

Really not a sharp performance but like I said football is a momentum sport and we lost it early not just kicking the FG. On the road, especially, where you compete against the other team and try to silence the crowd, you grab any momentum, you take the FG.

Maas management of this club is really an adventure.

 

[Drivesaitl]

So 4/5 of out games have been against either BC, or Montreal, two of the 3 worst teams in the league. Somehow we're only 3-2 at this point and our serious schedule hasn't even started.

Got a lot of improving to do offensively. When Stafford is your best receiver and offensive player. you know its been a long day for everybody else.

If you didn't watch this game, and have it set on PVR, I wouldn't bother. it was a very frustrating game.


Maas btw has recanted his promise not to be screaming and yelling on the sidelines. That started in the first quarter and kept going, and he should be mad at himself. This club has some of the strangest 3rd down gamble play selections and schemes I've ever seen. Consistently bad this season. We're around .500 on gambles. Second down conversions were also a complete disaster today.

 

[guymez]

Unfortunately I am not at all surprised that the Esks lost this game. This game had loss written all over it well in advance.
Ultimately Montreals defence and the play calling was better than the Eskimo offence and how Mass called the game.

How is it though that this team is (once again) last in the CFL in penalties?

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Haven't watched the PVR yet, but from what I could decipher on the radio with Morley's clueless broadcasting, this sounded like a Maas Special right from the get go. 3rd and 1 gamble in easy field goal range and you f***ing THROW?! That set the tone. I was very worried from that point onwards.

The run game sounds like a problem at this point. 2 yard gains on first down aren't cutting it. I don't know if it was just a lack of push from the O-line, (I'll have to watch because nobody on CHED has a clue), but Gable has never looked like anything more than a replacement level starter here and it's probably time to pick up the phone.

 

[Stoneman89]

Unfortunately I am not at all surprised that the Esks lost this game. This game had loss written all over it well in advance.
Ultimately Montreals defence and the play calling was better than the Eskimo offence and how Mass called the game.

How is it though that this team is (once again) last in the CFL in penalties?

You called it yesterday (trap game), so kudos. Was out golfing so missed the game, but after hearing the comments, I won't waste my time PVRing it. Probably just get pissed off at the stupidity of Maas and throw something at the telly. Am planning on going to the game Thursday, so I'm hoping it's a better effort against a hapless Argo squad.

As for the team continuing to lead the league in the penalty parade year after year, that is definitely on the coach. Players have come and gone, but the same lack of discipline continues under this clown.

 

[guymez]

You called it yesterday (trap game), so kudos. Was out golfing so missed the game, but after hearing the comments, I won't waste my time PVRing it. Probably just get pissed off at the stupidity of Maas and throw something at the telly. Am planning on going to the game Thursday, so I'm hoping it's a better effort against a hapless Argo squad.

As for the team continuing to lead the league in the penalty parade year after year, that is definitely on the coach. Players have come and gone, but the same lack of discipline continues under this clown.

I had the game PVR'd and was able to fast forward more than I would normally.
They really helped Montreals cause by shooting themselves in the foot. It was pretty evident early on (1st quarter) that the Esks werent going to win this game. Sloppy play calling and sloppy execution.

I have to hand it to Khari Jones...he has really stabilized the Al's in the midst of a lot of upheaval.
He out coached Maas in that game.

In terms of the next game I'm with you...hopefully they play better and call a better game against the Argos.
The Argos will be a hungry team...their defence is decent.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

After watching the PVR, that really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Not our best game by any means, but Montreal simply played fantastic on defense, and had a fair bit of luck/calls on their side.

-The holding penalty on Kelly that turned Stafford's would-be TD into a FG was garbage, so that's 4 points there.

-Maas' idiotic play call on 3rd and 1 that resulted in Stafford dropping a sure 1st down cost us a FG attempt at a minimum.

-Whyte grazing the post on the FG attempt in the 3rd quarter was really bad luck. Montreal should have been scrimmaging on their 5 yard line, instead got it at the 35 without conceding a single.

-The Als got away with an extremely blatant hold on a 20 yard gain. That's 30 yards of field position in one fell swoop, and they went on to score on the drive.

-Normally reliable Whyte shanks one from 30 yards to keep it a 2-possession game inside of 3 minutes. Those misses will happen from time to time, but it could hardly have come at a worse time.

-Turnover in the endzone negated by an illegal contact penalty that was not visible in real time, and TSN evidently couldn't even find a replay of it, because they never showed one. Quite possibly a phantom call. Als ended up with a FG because of it.

Overall, Harris' timing wasn't great and he had a below average game, but give Montreal credit. They had blanket coverage all afternoon. There were very few open targets that got missed, and almost no YAC yards to speak of. A+ performance from the Montreal secondary. Stealing Campbell, Evans, and Levels from the Stampeders is really paying dividends for them now. I wish we'd seen more of the run in the second half, though Gable definitely missed a couple holes earlier on. Despite O'Donnell being out, the offensive line held up fine.

Hard to criticize the defense. Adams burned them for too many chunk plays, but he was honestly getting pretty lucky on those, managing to connect on several desperation throws off his back foot. Risky, but it paid off for him in this game.

The return game is actually showing a pulse. This bodes well going into a game against the Argos awful kick coverage unit. We might be able to burn them on a couple. It's a shame that Sean Whyte happened to have a bad day, or else the special teams unit could have received a rare thumbs up for their efforts.

Not as concerned going forward as I expected to be. With the way that Montreal defense is playing, they could well end up with 9 or 10 wins, so we need to adjust our perceptions. That was a decent team that played a very solid ball game, and we still needed to make several key mistakes at the worst possible moments and have a couple bad calls go against us to end up losing. Anyone else besides maybe Winnipeg could have easily lost the same way in that one.

 

[guymez]

After watching the PVR, that really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Not our best game by any means, but Montreal simply played fantastic on defense, and had a fair bit of luck/calls on their side.

-The holding penalty on Kelly that turned Stafford's would-be TD into a FG was garbage, so that's 4 points there.

-Maas' idiotic play call on 3rd and 1 that resulted in Stafford dropping a sure 1st down cost us a FG attempt at a minimum.

-Whyte grazing the post on the FG attempt in the 3rd quarter was really bad luck. Montreal should have been scrimmaging on their 5 yard line, instead got it at the 35 without conceding a single.

-The Als got away with an extremely blatant hold on a 20 yard gain. That's 30 yards of field position in one fell swoop, and they went on to score on the drive.

-Normally reliable Whyte shanks one from 30 yards to keep it a 2-possession game inside of 3 minutes. Those misses will happen from time to time, but it could hardly have come at a worse time.

-Turnover in the endzone negated by an illegal contact penalty that was not visible in real time, and TSN evidently couldn't even find a replay of it, because they never showed one. Quite possibly a phantom call. Als ended up with a FG because of it.

Overall, Harris' timing wasn't great and he had a below average game, but give Montreal credit. They had blanket coverage all afternoon. There were very few open targets that got missed, and almost no YAC yards to speak of. A+ performance from the Montreal secondary. Stealing Campbell, Evans, and Levels from the Stampeders is really paying dividends for them now. I wish we'd seen more of the run in the second half, though Gable definitely missed a couple holes earlier on. Despite O'Donnell being out, the offensive line held up fine.

Hard to criticize the defense. Adams burned them for too many chunk plays, but he was honestly getting pretty lucky on those, managing to connect on several desperation throws off his back foot. Risky, but it paid off for him in this game.

The return game is actually showing a pulse. This bodes well going into a game against the Argos awful kick coverage unit. We might be able to burn them on a couple. It's a shame that Sean Whyte happened to have a bad day, or else the special teams unit could have received a rare thumbs up for their efforts.

Not as concerned going forward as I expected to be. With the way that Montreal defense is playing, they could well end up with 9 or 10 wins, so we need to adjust our perceptions. That was a decent team that played a very solid ball game, and we still needed to make several key mistakes at the worst possible moments and have a couple bad calls go against us to end up losing. Anyone else besides maybe Winnipeg could have easily lost the same way in that one.

Fair points....appreciate the detailed write up.
The penalties, poor execution and perplexing calls by Maas were ultimately the difference IMO.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Fair points....appreciate the detailed write up.
The penalties, poor execution and perplexing calls by Maas were ultimately the difference IMO.

Pretty much. I'll say though, the two penalties that ended up costing us the biggest were frankly terrible calls, but unfortunately not surprising since the league is desperate to sell them and every win they get helps the cause.

Just finished up the BC-Sask game. Hilarious that Reilly still refuses to come out of the game while clearly hobbled down by 3 TDs with a minute left. Mike's bravado continues to get the better of him, and Claybrooks needs to grow a spine and take him off the field. I thought that was probably BC's second-best game of the year though. Giving up that kick return for a TD with 30 seconds left in the 1st half was a killer though. Critical error that was the key moment in a game that was still theirs for the taking until the defense melted down in the the last 10 minutes again.

 

[MoontoScott]

If anybody thought that the EE would steal a victory this year because our head coach outfoxed the opposition then they will be very disappointed.

Essentially, the players have to win in spite of him so if either the offence or the D have an off day then we are doomed.

Better off to let Harris call the plays himself. He couldn't be worse, that's for sure.

As for B.C. well Claybrooks is in a tough spot. How does he pull Reilly without having his tires slashed? I wonder if he will last the season. What a difference it makes when a HOF coach like Wally retires. I wonder if he lives far from B.C. place?

 

[Drivesaitl]

Not sure what coaches around the league are thinking on 3rd and 1 this year but it’s bordering on stupidity.

Never seen so many stops on 3rd and 1 in the CFL.

The death of common sense, and conventional wisdom.

A team should be able to get a QB sneak one yard almost every time. You have the D lined up one yard off. Simply any kind of push off and you get the one yard unless your execution of a simple play is an abortion.

The Esks, particularly, seem to be worse on these gambles this season, and we've seen demonstrations of why you don't pass on a gamble, you don't, unless you desperately need to get something, some big break going, for sure you don't need to be taking that risk early in the 1st quarter in a 0-0 game.

The coaching handed Montreal the momentum early in the game, on that poorly schemed gamble, and the AL's punched it down our throats for a 7-0 lead mins later, which they never relinquished.

Football is very much a momentum game. How do pro coaches not comprehend this basic notion.

 

[Drivesaitl]

After watching the PVR, that really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Not our best game by any means, but Montreal simply played fantastic on defense, and had a fair bit of luck/calls on their side.

-The holding penalty on Kelly that turned Stafford's would-be TD into a FG was garbage, so that's 4 points there.

-Maas' idiotic play call on 3rd and 1 that resulted in Stafford dropping a sure 1st down cost us a FG attempt at a minimum.

-Whyte grazing the post on the FG attempt in the 3rd quarter was really bad luck. Montreal should have been scrimmaging on their 5 yard line, instead got it at the 35 without conceding a single.

-The Als got away with an extremely blatant hold on a 20 yard gain. That's 30 yards of field position in one fell swoop, and they went on to score on the drive.

-Normally reliable Whyte shanks one from 30 yards to keep it a 2-possession game inside of 3 minutes. Those misses will happen from time to time, but it could hardly have come at a worse time.

-Turnover in the endzone negated by an illegal contact penalty that was not visible in real time, and TSN evidently couldn't even find a replay of it, because they never showed one. Quite possibly a phantom call. Als ended up with a FG because of it.

Overall, Harris' timing wasn't great and he had a below average game, but give Montreal credit. They had blanket coverage all afternoon. There were very few open targets that got missed, and almost no YAC yards to speak of. A+ performance from the Montreal secondary. Stealing Campbell, Evans, and Levels from the Stampeders is really paying dividends for them now. I wish we'd seen more of the run in the second half, though Gable definitely missed a couple holes earlier on. Despite O'Donnell being out, the offensive line held up fine.

Hard to criticize the defense. Adams burned them for too many chunk plays, but he was honestly getting pretty lucky on those, managing to connect on several desperation throws off his back foot. Risky, but it paid off for him in this game.

The return game is actually showing a pulse. This bodes well going into a game against the Argos awful kick coverage unit. We might be able to burn them on a couple. It's a shame that Sean Whyte happened to have a bad day, or else the special teams unit could have received a rare thumbs up for their efforts.

Not as concerned going forward as I expected to be. With the way that Montreal defense is playing, they could well end up with 9 or 10 wins, so we need to adjust our perceptions. That was a decent team that played a very solid ball game, and we still needed to make several key mistakes at the worst possible moments and have a couple bad calls go against us to end up losing. Anyone else besides maybe Winnipeg could have easily lost the same way in that one.

heh, great post as per usual but the whole feeling of the game, and ones response to it, is altered by "did not watch the game in real time" Thus you knew it was a loss going in, and were able to have a calm look at it. The game, in realtime, was maddening. Another in a series of experiences in frustration. Which just went on for 4 quarters. Several times I'm asking myself why I'm inflicting this on myself. The game actually gave me a headache.

Agree with all the bolded. Disagree that the Whyte miss was huge. The AL's gaining the endzone, and the Eskimos not getting there was the story of the game.

Disagree on Kelly, and there were two plays by him that really hurt us. On one the bozo goes into a pile with a late hit and its automatic infraction. A play so mind numbingly stupid I can't trust many players that do it.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Colin Kelly is a pylon.

Not impressed with his play at all.

We got an international on the Oline here and he plays like this?

Is 300lbs of beef and little else checking off all the prerequisites?

The guy seems one of the first to have a meltdown and lose composure out there.

 

[guymez]

Pretty much. I'll say though, the two penalties that ended up costing us the biggest were frankly terrible calls, but unfortunately not surprising since the league is desperate to sell them and every win they get helps the cause.

Just finished up the BC-Sask game. Hilarious that Reilly still refuses to come out of the game while clearly hobbled down by 3 TDs with a minute left. Mike's bravado continues to get the better of him, and Claybrooks needs to grow a spine and take him off the field. I thought that was probably BC's second-best game of the year though. Giving up that kick return for a TD with 30 seconds left in the 1st half was a killer though. Critical error that was the key moment in a game that was still theirs for the taking until the defense melted down in the the last 10 minutes again.

Regarding Reilly...its interesting that exactly the same thing happened in Edmonton with Maas. Now we see the same thing with Harris.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

heh, great post as per usual but the whole feeling of the game, and ones response to it, is altered by "did not watch the game in real time" Thus you knew it was a loss going in, and were able to have a calm look at it. The game, in realtime, was maddening. Another in a series of experiences in frustration. Which just went on for 4 quarters. Several times I'm asking myself why I'm inflicting this on myself. The game actually gave me a headache.

Agree with all the bolded. Disagree that the Whyte miss was huge. The AL's gaining the endzone, and the Eskimos not getting there was the story of the game.

Disagree on Kelly, and there were two plays by him that really hurt us. On one the bozo goes into a pile with a late hit and its automatic infraction. A play so mind numbingly stupid I can't trust many players that do it.

Very true, although in most cases having the real-time emotional investment can cloud judgement in the heat of the moment. There's no way to measure it, but I'd like to think watching after the fact allows for more objective evaluation from an X's and O's perspective.

Whyte's miss certainly wasn't why we lost or the big story of the game, but being down 10 instead of 8 with a few minutes left is a world of difference. That miss from short range was the cherry on top of a game where a lot of things went wrong leading up to it.

The Kelly late hit penalty was pretty dumb, but it's another one of those plays that never in a million years would have been called until this year. The play was still live when he made the hit, and players have been taught since day one to play to the whistle. Unfortunately you're no longer allowed to do that, and guys need to adapt. At least the Als gave it right back with their own roughing penalty two plays later (a weak make-up call IMO). It was the holding call that took away the TD that was the real killer. One of those "you could call that on every single play" type of penalties that conveniently bailed out the home team. Given the massive and obvious hold that Montreal got away with on a 20-yard pickup by Stanback that moved them into scoring range a little later, that one has me a little chapped.

 

[Kyle McMahon]

Regarding Reilly...its interesting that exactly the same thing happened in Edmonton with Maas. Now we see the same thing with Harris.

I wonder if these guys have unpublicized bonus clauses in their contracts or something that they get extra $ for hitting certain statistical thresholds. There's just no reason I can think of to keep the starting QB out there during garbage time, and I don't really buy the "captain goes down with the ship" nonsense.

 

[nabob]

After watching the PVR, that really wasn't nearly as bad as I thought. Not our best game by any means, but Montreal simply played fantastic on defense, and had a fair bit of luck/calls on their side.

-The holding penalty on Kelly that turned Stafford's would-be TD into a FG was garbage, so that's 4 points there.

-Maas' idiotic play call on 3rd and 1 that resulted in Stafford dropping a sure 1st down cost us a FG attempt at a minimum.

-Whyte grazing the post on the FG attempt in the 3rd quarter was really bad luck. Montreal should have been scrimmaging on their 5 yard line, instead got it at the 35 without conceding a single.

-The Als got away with an extremely blatant hold on a 20 yard gain. That's 30 yards of field position in one fell swoop, and they went on to score on the drive.

-Normally reliable Whyte shanks one from 30 yards to keep it a 2-possession game inside of 3 minutes. Those misses will happen from time to time, but it could hardly have come at a worse time.

-Turnover in the endzone negated by an illegal contact penalty that was not visible in real time, and TSN evidently couldn't even find a replay of it, because they never showed one. Quite possibly a phantom call. Als ended up with a FG because of it.

Overall, Harris' timing wasn't great and he had a below average game, but give Montreal credit. They had blanket coverage all afternoon. There were very few open targets that got missed, and almost no YAC yards to speak of. A+ performance from the Montreal secondary. Stealing Campbell, Evans, and Levels from the Stampeders is really paying dividends for them now. I wish we'd seen more of the run in the second half, though Gable definitely missed a couple holes earlier on. Despite O'Donnell being out, the offensive line held up fine.

Hard to criticize the defense. Adams burned them for too many chunk plays, but he was honestly getting pretty lucky on those, managing to connect on several desperation throws off his back foot. Risky, but it paid off for him in this game.

The return game is actually showing a pulse. This bodes well going into a game against the Argos awful kick coverage unit. We might be able to burn them on a couple. It's a shame that Sean Whyte happened to have a bad day, or else the special teams unit could have received a rare thumbs up for their efforts.

Not as concerned going forward as I expected to be. With the way that Montreal defense is playing, they could well end up with 9 or 10 wins, so we need to adjust our perceptions. That was a decent team that played a very solid ball game, and we still needed to make several key mistakes at the worst possible moments and have a couple bad calls go against us to end up losing. Anyone else besides maybe Winnipeg could have easily lost the same way in that one.

Missed the game...but now I feel like I got most of it. Thanks for the solid post.

 

[guymez]

Hearing that Gable and Hightower are out for the nest game. Hightower is on the 6 game list.

The Esks had better not be looking past tomorrows game.

 

[guymez]

I wonder if these guys have unpublicized bonus clauses in their contracts or something that they get extra $ for hitting certain statistical thresholds. There's just no reason I can think of to keep the starting QB out there during garbage time, and I don't really buy the "captain goes down with the ship" nonsense.

Its hard to figure for sure. This never used to be a thing...not sure whats changed.

 

[bellagiobob]

I wonder if these guys have unpublicized bonus clauses in their contracts or something that they get extra $ for hitting certain statistical thresholds. There's just no reason I can think of to keep the starting QB out there during garbage time, and I don't really buy the "captain goes down with the ship" nonsense.

Lions’ DeVone Claybrooks ‘genuinely concerned’ with punishment Mike Reilly is taking | 3DownNation

“The thought process behind that was that Mike didn’t want to leave his teammates out there. Mike being the leader that he is, the trooper that he is, he didn’t want to come out of the game,” Claybrooks said.
Claybrooks wanted to take him out but Reilly wanted to finish with his teammates.
“I’m never going to ask the rest of my guys to do something that I won’t do. We were in it together, we got our butts kicked together…so I’m certainly not going to bow out and say I’m going to take a minute-and-a-half off,” Reilly said.
“That’s not how we operate. We win together, we lose together and we finish the game together even if it’s out of reach.”

I understand Reilly's thought process, but the coach needs to be the bad guy and make the call for him. Can't imagine his teammates thinking any less of him if the coach pulled him in garbage time.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Lions’ DeVone Claybrooks ‘genuinely concerned’ with punishment Mike Reilly is taking | 3DownNation

“The thought process behind that was that Mike didn’t want to leave his teammates out there. Mike being the leader that he is, the trooper that he is, he didn’t want to come out of the game,” Claybrooks said.
Claybrooks wanted to take him out but Reilly wanted to finish with his teammates.
“I’m never going to ask the rest of my guys to do something that I won’t do. We were in it together, we got our butts kicked together…so I’m certainly not going to bow out and say I’m going to take a minute-and-a-half off,” Reilly said.
“That’s not how we operate. We win together, we lose together and we finish the game together even if it’s out of reach.”

I understand Reilly's thought process, but the coach needs to be the bad guy and make the call for him. Can't imagine his teammates thinking any less of him if the coach pulled him in garbage time.

Rielly is incredibly selfish.

 

[guymez]

Rielly is incredibly selfish.

I think its the opposite of selfish.
Its just poor judgment.

 

[joestevens29]

I really don't know that it's selfish or bad at all. This is kind of the standard in North American football.

If you are one of the top QB's you usually are only coming out if you are hurt or last week of the season.

 

[Jet Walters]

Hearing that Gable and Hightower are out for the nest game. Hightower is on the 6 game list.

The Esks had better not be looking past tomorrows game.

The Argos have also been out West with limited travel and have a full weeks rest. The Esks played Saturday in 35+ degree heat and had to travel across the country. I bet this game will be a challenge for the Esks to win despite the apparent mismatch on paper.