MOSAIC PLACE RECAP: ESKIMOS 35 ROUGHRIDERS 24

The Eskimos spotted the Saskatchewan Roughriders a 21-3 lead after a little more than one quarter of action Saturday night at Mosaic Stadium. That’s when Mike Reilly and the Edmonton offence had seen enough.

The Eskimos responded with 32 straight points, including a 21-point second quarter, en route to a 35-24 victory over the Riders.

“Going back to the sidelines (after the first drive) there was this feeling that, ‘This isn’t going to happen to us again,”’ Reilly said after his team improved to 13-4. “We’re not going to let this happen. It still took all of the first quarter and part of the second until we got that one drive going and then we rolled. And then we got the second one and third one and we took over.”

Reilly was a spark in the Eskimos’ seventh straight victory, completing 29-of-39 pass attempts for 377 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 36 yards and one touchdown, as well as a two-point convert.

The previous week the Eskimos had to orchestrate another comeback victory in overtime over the B.C Lions. Their offence was inconsistent through much of that contest, and it looked sluggish to start on Saturday in Regina. A holding penalty and an interception on the opening offensive drive brought back feelings of a week ago.

And then it clicked.

Reilly capped a drive with a five-yard touchdown run to get Edmonton on the board early in the second quarter. He then hooked up with Adarius Bowman on a 50-yard touchdown pass with less than two minutes remaining in the first half.

Edmonton took the lead with 17 seconds to go before halftime when Reilly found Derel Walker for a 10-yard touchdown to go up 24-21.

“That second quarter should be an eye-opener to everybody on our offence of what we’re capable of doing when we get out of our own way,” Reilly said. “Hopefully that momentum carries over to the next game because Montreal has a good defence and that’s a game we need to win.”

Bowman followed up his 198-yard receiving game from a week ago with another monster effort. He posted 12 catches for 208 yards on Saturday against a Riders defence that was starting some young and inexperienced players.

Saskatchewan’s interim head coach Bob Dyce credited Edmonton with solid play, but added his team could have put up stronger resistance.

“We missed some opportunities to make tackles that would have either stopped some big plays or at least make Edmonton work a little harder for their touchdowns,” said Riders interim head coach Dyce.

The Riders (2-14), already eliminated from playoff contention, opened the game with two touchdowns on their first five offensive plays. Rob Bagg took an end-around handoff two yards for a touchdown. A 50-yard pass from Brett Smith to Naaman Roosevelt set up the first Riders score.

After a Sean Whyte extra point made it 7-3, Smith found Ryan Smith on a quick slant route, and the speedy slotback raced 65 yards to the end zone and the Riders went up 14-3 after the opening 15 minutes.

Saskatchewan increased its lead on the first play of the second quarter when Keith Price tossed a 29-yard touchdown strike to Roosevelt. It was Price’s first CFL pass attempt.

Roosevelt, one of the rookies hoping to catch on next season, led the Riders with five catches and 101 yards receiving. Smith had 191 yards passing on 11-for-15 attempts.

Edmonton’s seven-game winning streak is the longest such streak since their 1995 season. They’ll host the Montreal Alouettes next weekend, while the Riders will travel to take on the Calgary Stampeders.

Reilly said his team had better be ready to take on a desperate Montreal team.

“I would like to think we’re more like the team that come out and played in the second quarter, but we need to maintain that consistency,” he said. “The rest of the games we play this season are going to be difficult games, so we can’t be getting down early and thinking we can just turn it on whenever we want and we’ll come back.”

EXTRAS: Edmonton running back Shakir Bell was carted off the field in the third quarter with a right leg injury. Head coach Chris Jones said the injury wasn’t as severe as first anticipated? Saskatchewan linebacker Jeff Knox Jr., registered six tackles, which gave him 101 tackles on the season. He’s the first Riders player since Jerrell Freeman in 2011 to surpass the 100-tackle mark.

(The Canadian Press/Craig Slater)

POSTGAME RIDER COMMENTS

HEAD COACH BOB DYCE

– We talked about getting out to a fast start.  We wanted to use the energy of the crowd.  We got a turnover and capitalized and we said before the game we needed to finish but as you saw, guys didn’t finish.  If you give Edmonton opportunities, they’re gonna score points.

– For some reason we lost our focus in the second quarter.  And Edmonton’s a good team.  Let’s not kid around here.  We tried to strip the ball instead of make the tackle which isn’t what we teach our guys to do.  From there it snowballed a litte and we didn’t have the same success on offense after that.

– I probably sound like a broken record in that I know when we play well we can play with most teams in this league.  But 16 games into the year, we can’t be having the same challenges.  To say we’re a good team, we have to be able to sustain it.  To say it’s youthful exuberance, I don’t know that’s the case.  Some of the plays that were missed weren’t a result of not knowing what to do.  The guys were there and didn’t make the play.  I’ll give the offensive line credit because that’s a good D.  The QBs had time and we were able to run the ball.

– It’s easy for us, because we’re competitors, to focus on the negatives but the defense stopped a great offense early.  Some of Naaman’s catches were big time catches.  Ryan Smith made great adjustments.  Matt Webster did a great job at safety but Keenan might be more aggressive there.  Markus White was great playing a full game.  There were certainly some bright spots that Saskatchewan has to look forward.

– It’s not that guys were out of position.  You just can’t quit on plays.  Two missed tackles resulted in scores.

– It’s tough to assess the QBs’ play right now.  They both started well.  I was disappointed in how we started the third quarter.  We gotta play with more fire.  There may have been some misses from that position.  We wanted to start Brett and bring Keith in late in the first or early in the second.  It just worked out the way it did.  You never know how it’s going end up.  We would’ve like to get Keith in a little bit more in the fourth quarter.

– The quarterbacks’ numbers looked good.  I’ll give them credit for some things that they did well but there’s more to the offense than just getting completions.  Sacks take you out of position to score sometimes.

– Keenan definitely stood out.  I talked to the defense about getting pressure on Mike Reilly and wanted to bring it from the secondary.  Both he and Tyree brought it from the secondary.  I was really pleased for Keenan because of the shoulder problem he had early on and I thought he was just fantastic tonight.

– I told the QBs they’re gonna face three tough defenses the next three games but they put up 21 points early against a good one tonight.  Keith had composure under pressure and kept his eyes upfield.  I look forward to watching both QBs the next few games.

– Adarius Bowman had a really big game last week too.  He’s a great receiver and a strong receiver.  He breaks tackles.  I coached him in Winnipeg and if you give him an opportunity he’ll hurt you.  That’s just who he is.  We could’ve limited the length of some of his catches but a player like that will make some plays against you.

– I have an understanding that Mertile thought Hollins was going to make the tackle.  That doesn’t give him an out per se.  We play to make the tackle and two guys tackling the ball carrier is better than one.  No one should make that type of mistake.

– I can’t say enough about Jeff Knox.  Only two rookies have hit 100 tackles in the league.  Barrin Simpson and George White and Knox didn’t even start Game 1.  His progression has just been outstanding.  Being a 23-year old, playing 18 games isn’t easy but he’s battled and made plays.  There’s room to get better but there’s nothing but positive things to say about him.  Macho came in and helped us out of a tough situation tonight when Marshay went down and did a great job for us.  It’s not just the young guys.

– It’s tough to answer questions without watching the film but Anthony Allen answered my expectations.  He’s a professional who protects well and very seldom will one guy bring him down.

– I can’t say who will start at QB next week.  We’ll look at the film and go from there.  Chances are Brett will start but I don’t want to lie to you in case we go another way.  The timing may be different but you’ll get a chance to see Keith start the somewhere the rest of the way.

– The one thing with Blake Sims is I won’t put a guy in a situation where he can’t succeed and the challenging part for him, and he’s been a good learner, is it’s not like training camp.  Usually the third guy doesn’t get any reps with our offense.  It’s not like training camp where reps are spread out evenly.  I’d like to see him get some snaps but I can’t say definitively.

– When you see a team go up 21-3, and we’ve seen this team play some really good teams very well at times, it’s a challenging thing.  We’d like consistency and some of that comes back on coaches because we need a consistent effort throughout.  It’s our job to get a top level performance out of them at all times.  It certainly is challenging.

S KEENAN MACDOUGALL

– It was a good chance to get on the field more than I have been.  I thought I did some good things.  There will be some things that need to get better.  I’m not too sure where the game changed.  I’ll have to watch film for the answers to that.

– It was big to have the chance.  Going into the season I had high hopes and thus far I didn’t get to do much.  We’re not live in practice so it’s tough to show the coaches so it was nice to do it in the game.

– As a defensive backfield we have to communicate well in general.  It’s not just on the safety.  Calgary will be a big test next week.

REC NAAMAN ROOSEVELT

– It was awesome for Keith.  That’s my roommate there.  He’s always poised.  We saw that play develop and we knew it was coming.  It was great to catch that one from Keith.

– They played more zone.  Usually they play more man.  They switched it up on us so we tried to stay aggressive the whole time.  The game plan was to get deep early and get open.  We wanted to show them we came to play.

– I thank Coach Copeland for preparing me and helping me stay motivated on the scout team.  My family told me to stay patient.

– I have to thank Drew Willy and Luke Tasker who I trained with this off-season, for helping me learn the CFL game.  It helped out a lot.

– We coulda got a lot more wins this year but I love these guys.  We have early meetings and meetings after practice.  All the things you need to do to be a winning football team.  I’ve enjoyed this season and I think we can be a good team in the days ahead.

– I actually threw the ball away after I caught that touchdown!  I actually don’t even know where I threw it but somebody ran and got it for Keith so I was pretty happy for that!