Elks: Edmonton Eskimos Thread 2.0: 7 - 5

[Drivesaitl]

Yes indeed, if you look back at the EE dynasty there was a familiar pattern for success.

At first the tandem was Lemmerman and Wilkinson. If one of them was cold then there was no hesitation in bringing the other one in. They both knew it and they were fine with it. It's called winning.

Then it was Wilkinson and his "understudy" Warren Moon. In the 1981 Grey Cup game Moon was ice cold and the 5 in a row run was in serious jeopardy. Campbell didn't hesitate to bring in Wilkinson to settle the team down. It worked. The team got it together, Moon came back in and they won on the last play of the game.

The point is that if you can pull Warren Moon to shake things up then I don't understand why you can't pull Mike Reilly, if only for a few series. Reilly is certainly no NFL hall of famer and if his ego can't take it well.....I know what Norm Kimball and Hugh Campbell would have said.

Excellent rundown and I remember the era and watching this play out. I wonder if there is something in the psyche of Maas and Reilly that sees it differently, that sees being pulled or sat as disappointing. If you look at Maas he was Lemmerman of sorts rarely being the starter here and seeing the ball less, and mostly due to injury or if RR was struggling. With Reilly everything about his onfield demeanor suggests he hates sitting out. Even being incensed at the concussion protocol series where he sat multiple downs.

They need to understand that you alternate for the good of the team, just like when a team employs two backs, like Hamilton did against the Bombers, that it might mean you are getting the ball less, but that its for the good of the team and to stretch the opponent D and get them lots to think about. To me Franklin can challenge on middle/long passes to a degree that is somehow different than Reilly. It seems like the ball arrives faster to the receiver which is harder for the DB's to handle. With Reilly it seems like the offense has to hit a lot on short plays before they start going for the longstrikes and that Reilly led offense needs the opponent D to be biting on the short stuff. With Franklin there seems to be no such wait. He can gun it into the short pockets in coverage.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Montreal is gonna make Edmonton look like they dont belong, which is pathetic.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

turn on the TV, saw it was 12-0 for the Als and turned it off

just a wretched excuse for a professional football club...but Terry Jones get to be in the locker room so we have that

 

[Tobias Kahun]

They need to get Reilly out of there and put franklin in, reilly has been garbage all year.

 

[Del Preston]

Len Rhodes should be fired.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I suppose it's only fitting that when the Oilers finally escape being a laughingstock that the Eskimos would take their place.

Fire everyone.

 

[rboomercat90]

turn on the TV, saw it was 12-0 for the Als and turned it off

just a wretched excuse for a professional football club...but Terry Jones get to be in the locker room so we have that

Would you please stop with the Terry Jones gets to go into the locker room crap. The problems with the media were real. This league needs a partnership with the media to survive and starting with Hervey and Jones they were moving away from that. It needed to change. The stunt Maas and Hervey pulled last year, twice, shows they still didn’t get that. It needed to be addressed and it was. Judging by Maas performance as a coach, maybe they should have just dumped both of them.

 

[Drivesaitl]

This game will really show if the Esks on field have given up or if any resiliency remains.

It drives me nuts that the Eskimos know the game is bad conditions, sleet and rain, just watch two of their team mates fumble, and then Gable and Walker fumble to follow it up. Esks with 4 fumbles.

Meanwhile Zylstra can hang on as always and leading the club.

Sometimes you wonder about players that are heart and soul vs just along for the ride.

 

[Del Preston]

Would you please stop with the Terry Jones gets to go into the locker room crap. The problems with the media were real. This league needs a partnership with the media to survive and starting with Hervey and Jones they were moving away from that. It needed to change. The stunt Maas and Hervey pulled last year, twice, shows they still didn’t get that. It needed to be addressed and it was. Judging by Maas performance as a coach, maybe they should have just dumped both of them.

Has attendance improved this season because the media gets more access? It was an idiotic reason to fire a good GM and the timing was even worse.

Len Rhodes is too stupid to figure out you get more fans in the stadium by winning games and lowering ticket prices. I've yet to hear someone say they want to go to a game because Terry Jones gets to waddle into the locker room on a more frequent basis.

 

[Cloned]

Maas doesn’t go for two there? He’s losing his mind.

 

[Stoneman89]

Would you please stop with the Terry Jones gets to go into the locker room crap. The problems with the media were real. This league needs a partnership with the media to survive and starting with Hervey and Jones they were moving away from that. It needed to change. The stunt Maas and Hervey pulled last year, twice, shows they still didn’t get that. It needed to be addressed and it was. Judging by Maas performance as a coach, maybe they should have just dumped both of them.

IMO, I think it was Maas that wanted nothing to do with it, and Hervey as his GM tried to back him up, and paid for it with his job. And last I looked, Jones is still in the league with the same attitude.

 

[rboomercat90]

Has attendance improved this season because the media gets more access? It was an idiotic reason to fire a good GM and the timing was even worse.

Len Rhodes is too stupid to figure out you get more fans in the stadium by winning games and lowering ticket prices. I've yet to hear someone say they want to go to a game because Terry Jones gets to waddle into the locker room on a more frequent basis.

Has attendance improved this season because the media gets more access? It was an idiotic reason to fire a good GM and the timing was even worse.

Len Rhodes is too stupid to figure out you get more fans in the stadium by winning games and lowering ticket prices. I've yet to hear someone say they want to go to a game because Terry Jones gets to waddle into the locker room on a more frequent basis.

was the attendance rising when they were winning? No, it wasn’t. It’s been steadily declining for decades. The reasons why have been debated forever on here. Giving the media access to the players can help. This is such a transient league you need to do whatever you can to find a reason for the fans to want to cheer for them. Shutting the media out doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t think much of Rhodes either but do you really think another guy doing that job tolerates an employee being insubordinate to him either? I doubt it.

 

[rboomercat90]

IMO, I think it was Maas that wanted nothing to do with it, and Hervey as his GM tried to back him up, and paid for it with his job. And last I looked, Jones is still in the league with the same attitude.

I suspect it was Maas too and Hervey took the bullet for him. Lucky for Jones, he’s started to win. I doubt he’d have survived this season if he hadn’t. They were ready to turn on him earlier in the season.

 

[Del Preston]

was the attendance rising when they were winning? No, it wasn’t. It’s been steadily declining for decades. The reasons why have been debated forever on here. Giving the media access to the players can help. This is such a transient league you need to do whatever you can to find a reason for the fans to want to cheer for them. Shutting the media out doesn’t make any sense.
I don’t think much of Rhodes either but do you really think another guy doing that job tolerates an employee being insubordinate to him either? I doubt it.

The ticket prices are far too high. That's the issue with the attendance. Lower the price and more fans would go. Have a winning organization and even more fans would show up. Rhodes thinks people go to the games to watch Flo Rida and Joe Jonas perform at halftime. Lol.

I don't believe the media access is the only reason Hervey was fired. Rhodes had five or six months to fire him after last season and didn't do anything until April.

 

[Cloned]

Has a QB ever experienced such a sharp midseason decline like Reilly has?

 

[Del Preston]

WTF was that, Maas?

 

[Cloned]

This team exhibits all the traits of a poorly coached one.

 

[Del Preston]

This team exhibits all the traits of a poorly coached one.

I can't believe what they just did. And of course Maas throws a tantrum like a child on the sidelines.

 

[Cloned]

Is it wrong that I kind of cheered when Reilly was injured?

 

[Del Preston]

 

[MoneyGuy]

The ticket prices are far too high. That's the issue with the attendance. Lower the price and more fans would go. Have a winning organization and even more fans would show up. Rhodes thinks people go to the games to watch Flo Rida and Joe Jonas perform at halftime. Lol.

I don't believe the media access is the only reason Hervey was fired. Rhodes had five or six months to fire him after last season and didn't do anything until April.

Media access wasn't the reason for the firing.

 

[rboomercat90]

The ticket prices are far too high. That's the issue with the attendance. Lower the price and more fans would go. Have a winning organization and even more fans would show up. Rhodes thinks people go to the games to watch Flo Rida and Joe Jonas perform at halftime. Lol.

I don't believe the media access is the only reason Hervey was fired. Rhodes had five or six months to fire him after last season and didn't do anything until April.

I think the biggest problem with the attendance is that interest in the league is at an all time low. There is just so many other things to do now that weren’t there years ago when the team drew 40k plus. Doesn’t help that the prices are where they are at. Doesn’t help that all the home games are televised either. The team has an entire generation of fans that don’t have a clue what a home town blackout is. Winning should help but it didn’t after the Maccioca and Tillman eras ended.

Don’t think I’m a Rhode’s supporter because I’m not. I ridiculed him mercilessly when it got out that he was taking money out of the operating budget to bring in acts like Vannila Ice and others. I just don’t think he’s entirely at fault for firing Hervey. Every team in the league agreed to the microphone experiment. I doubt any coach wanted to do it but all of them did except Maas. Even after he got fined, he pulled another stunt. He embarrassed the organization doing that and somebody needed to answer for it. Because Hervey got canned, I think it’s safe to assume he knew what Maas was going to do and supported him. I also think the timing was poor. I can only speculate, but my guess is Hervey promised to tow the line after that and Rhodes gave him another chance and then months later it became obvious to Rhodes nothing was going to change.

 

[Del Preston]

Media access wasn't the reason for the firing.

It was one of the reasons Rhodes gave at the press conference.

 

[Cloned]

The Esks have gotten extremely lucky today against a very poor Als team.

 

[MoneyGuy]

It was one of the reasons Rhodes gave at his press conference.

I should have said it wasn't a big part of the reason. There was much more to it.