FOUR SEASONS RECAP: ESKIMOS 39 RIDERS 36 OT
EDMONTON – A single yard ended up costing the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday.
Adarius Bowman caught three touchdown passes as the Edmonton Eskimos came away with a 39-36 overtime victory over former head coach Chris Jones and the Roughriders.
The Eskimos won the game in the extra session as Sean Whyte kicked a field goal and the Riders were stopped just short on a third-and-one play during their possession with the ball in OT.
“We needed a little less than a yard. If you can’t get a yard, you shouldn’t be in this game. We didn’t have a challenge flag to do anything about the spot,” said Jones.
“We have to be able to get a yard. We have had four opportunities in the first two games where we have failed to do that.”
Bowman ended the game with a 141 yards receiving. Edmonton quarterback Mike Reilly went for 378 yards and four touchdowns while Saskatchewan’s Darian Durant had 317 yards and four TD passes of his own.
The defending Grey Cup champion Eskimos are 1-1 on the season, while the Roughriders drop to 0-2. Both Edmonton games this season have needed overtime to determine the outcome.
“To have the first two games go into overtime, we talk about in this room about fight, fight, fight to the very end,” said Edmonton coach Jason Maas, who recorded his first win as a head coach.
“We’ve done that two straight games. The last time we came up short, this time we pulled it our miraculously at the end. I couldn’t be happier for the guys in that room. We fought to the end and I’m very excited to get the first W. We fight together and we pulled it out together.”
Saskatchewan was successful on its first possession as Durant completed a 26-yard touchdown pass to Rob Bagg.
Edmonton came close to tying the game on a long drive, however a pass by Reilly was intercepted in the end zone by Justin Cox.
The Roughriders added 38- and 39-yard field goals by Tyler Crapigna to lead 13-0 midway through the second quarter.
The Eskimos finally got their act together with five minutes left in the first half as Reilly connected with Bowman for a 56-yard TD catch.
Saskatchewan came right back as Ricky Collins showed great concentration to reel in a ball that had bounced off an Eskimos defender for a 13-yard touchdown. It was set up by a punt fumble recovery by Jeff Knox Jr. The convert failed.
Edmonton responded with a four-yard Reilly TD pass to Chris Getzlaf to cut the Riders’ lead to 19-14 at the half.
Following a failed third-down gamble by the Riders on their own 30-yard line, Edmonton surged to its first lead on an unconverted four-yard TD run by John White.
After another turnover by Saskatchewan deep in its own territory, a punt fumble scooped up by Esk Kenny Ladler, Edmonton took a 28-19 lead to start the fourth quarter as Bowman caught a five-yard touchdown pass.
Reilly continued to pick apart the Saskatchewan secondary on his team’s next possession, making a 68-yard pass to Cory Watson before tossing his third TD to Bowman, this one a 31-yarder.
The Roughriders took advantage of Joe McKnight’s second punt fumble loss of the night, as Durant completed a 20-yard TD pass to John Chiles with five minutes to play. Saskatchewan was able to recover the ensuing on-side kick, leading to a 45-yard field goal to cut the Edmonton lead to four points.
The Riders surged ahead with just 19 second left on a six-yard TD pass to Shamawd Chambers and looked to have had the game won, but Edmonton was able to get a 51-yard field goal from Whyte as time expired to send the contest to overtime.
“I think that’s a game we should have won,” said Durant. “That’s my attitude about it. We have to make sure we correct the mistakes we have been making and just get better.”
The Eskimos return to the field on Thursday as they travel to Winnipeg, while the Roughriders return home to face the B.C. Lions next Saturday.
Notes: Durant went over the 25,000 career passing yards mark in the game, his 100th CFL start … The defending Grey Cup champion Eskimos are 1-1 on the season, while the Roughriders drop to 0-2 … It was CFL season-high crowd of 34,196.
I ripped Darian hard last week. He is WAY better this week
Entertaining first half.
This team is extremely well coached too
This league really is weak. The challenge flags are so out of control the game is know 30 minutes longer. If it was exciting to watch 30 minutes would be great but it is not.
Why would the D rush 3 and back 15 yards off receivers and let Reilly complete 15 yarders to get within field goal range. WTF. Riders had it won except for stupid prevent defense play. When the hell will they ever learn?
Well coaching decisions cost them this game. Playing not to lose on D at the end of regulation and putting too much confidence in team who can't execute a qb sneak in ot.
Sometimes I just don't understand this game I guess. Late in the game and were down 13 points and 2nd down with 17 yards to go on the Esks 50 yard line. Why did Durant throw a 8 yard pass?
Last play of the game. Why not go for the field goal and send it to another OT ? Our quarterback rushes are terrible and that is why we lost this game tonight. Jones made a bad decision because he wanted the Big Win in front of his old team.
Overall the team played well. The only thing that really disappointed me was the real soft defence on the last Eskimo drive to tie the game up.
We have a lot of good players that still need to jel and learn to hang onto the ball.
GO RIDERS! GO CFL!!
Good game but two critical coaching errors. Played 20 yards off receivers with 20 seconds left to go..C'mon you don't just give them two easy receptions to put them into field goal range? And in OT, if you can't get a yard and don't have a play to get a yard, you kick the FG..you kick the FG. A FG and the team with DD goes on offence and perhaps scores a TD and you place it in your defence's hands. If you really feel you need to gamble, do it in the second mini game. One thing is obvious… Read more »
Is anyone else tired of this formula?
Defensive break downs+Stupid Penalties+Stupid Coaching Decisions+Turnovers-A lot of good things= 0-2, last in the West and the only winless team in the CFL
We saw this a lot in 2015, and so far 2016 is just as disappointing.
A positive is that Chris Jones is calling the game with the confidence of a man who is 100% secure in his job, and is not afraid to take risks.
Agreed with all of the coaches decisions. Our short yardage is embarrassing. That was the problem tonight.
Pretty poor effort by both of the lines. Poor decisions by the coaching staff throughout the game. And as usual, ray charles was the head ref tonight. Gotta love those riders and that cfl game!
All the bickering about going for it on 3rd down… It's the right call, every bloody time it's 3rd and 1 or less you should get it. The D is a yard off. The problem isn't going for it, the problem is not getting it! It's ridiculous we can't get a yard!
This Riders team will be a good team MARK MY WORDS! .. Work on what has to be fixed (turnovers, short yardage etc..) and let this team continue to gel BECAUSE it will only lead to good things and this team will be a damn good team! It's a character building loss, no they didn't win, but they didn't fold either after being down by 14 late in the 4th Qtr! the Riders showed alot of fight and worked their ass off to come back and almost win! And no!,Nobody likes losing but it's a long season and Saskatchewan (with… Read more »
I do think a rb with size would help in our short yardage situations.Our centre is having a rough time in snapping and surge in short yardage.There's just no way edm should ve got away with the 2 easy out patterns to the sidelines like that..the cushion allowed was pathetic..show some confidence in your dbs..they are good.I love the gambling by CJ at the end..but that game should ve been over by half time IMO..correctable mistakes were made by this team tonite,edm didn't win as much as the Riders just made it tough on themselves..I did notice that our online… Read more »
Well we gave the grey cup champs all they could handle with a team that has only played their 2nd game together. Stuff will get fixed. I love it when you watch our bench, the coaches are grabbing guys and coaching them up. Things are only going to get better!
Right now the Riders are on the cusp of being a good team. There however still appears to be some personnel issues. I don't think our running game is dynamic or diverse enough. We need a power back to bring what Messam did. Sorry if I don't believe Steele is the answer. Giving up 39 points is more than a bit concerning. Our secondary did some good things but overall was victimized far to often for far too much. They gotta fix that. The short yardage team has cost them two games which is unacceptable. We proved we can move… Read more »
There was so many bad snap this game it's surprising we never had more fumbles. It needs to be addressed immediately imo.
-tyr
Wow! What a game! How can any Rider fan be upset! Before the game I looked at the picks on this blog. No expectation of a Rider win and for good reason. As the ultimate team game you cannot expect 12 new D players to be successful in their second game together … against a pretty damn good team. Of course we all wanted a win but if fans weren't entertained (and I suggest surprised) by that game then you obviously don't understand this 'team' game. (No … winning isn't the only thing. That's a cliche to motivate players)
A person never gets used to this!