t was a five-word quote that succinctly — yet perfectly — described the Edmonton Eskimos 18-10 win in this clumsy Canadian Football League semifinal.
“We won. So, good enough.”
The speaker was “backup” quarterback Mike Reilly. The question: “Could you critique your performance?”
Reilly came off the bench midway through the third quarter in aid of an Eskimos offence that had turned four first-half interceptions into a measly four points. Reilly didn’t exactly pitch Madison Bumgarner relief (6-for-8 for 53 yards), but in the end he was standing outside the winning locker room doing interviews, not the losing one. And truly, in the playoffs, only the result matters.
Down the hall, this two-word quote said it all for Kerry Joseph’s day: “I sucked.”
“Bottom line: I just sucked,” the 41-year-old said, after what was very likely the last start of a very productive CFL career. “They brought a lot of pressure early, I didn’t see the field well, I didn’t make good throws. At the end of the day, the only way I can sum it up is, I sucked.”
Joseph was not, however, alone. Eskimo starter Matt Nichols’ numbers (12-for-23 for 59 yards) were worse than Joseph’s (7-for-17, 120 yards), with one exception: Joseph threw five interceptions on the day, while Nichols threw only one — and that was in the Riders end zone.
“The dressing room was good at halftime because we knew despite the turnovers we were still in the ball game (down 17-7),” said Joseph. “But it was horrible on my part. I let these guys down. I let this organization down. I let the province of Saskatchewan down and it was horrible, plain and simple.”
Nichols was handed every opportunity to make this a first-half rout, but between his ineffective work and some iffy kicking by bearded gnome Hugh O’Neill, the Riders were left to hang around, hang around… And with two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, and Joseph long since replaced by Tino Sunseri, Saskatchewan was only a touchdown with a two-point conversion behind, scrimmaging first-and-10 at the Edmonton 44.
But Edmonton’s strong suit is defence, and Sunseri wasn’t enough quarterback to crack it. The Esks defence has allowed one TD over the course of its last four home games. Edmonton now travels to Calgary next Sunday for the Western Final in which Reilly expects to start.
“I think it is pretty likely,” said Edmonton head coach Chris Jones. His club posted a 12-6 season, but went into the huddle on Sunday without its No. 1 in Reilly (foot injury) and No. 3 Pat White (concussion).
Fittingly, it was the Eskimos special teams that was responsible for the winning points, an 84-yard punt return by Kendial Lawrence that extended the score to 17-0. “It would have been a lot easier on me if we could have stuffed those ones in,” Jones said.
It was a worrisome day for the CFL, starting with a Commonwealth Stadium playoff crowd of just 26,237 in one of its stalwart cities. It was pretty cold in Edmonton, with a temperature of -10C at kickoff. But in Montreal, another anchor town for this league, they announced a crowd of 15,107 for the Eastern semi. Not good.
It must be said though, on a day when the CFL traditionally goes up against the National Football League, the quality of football on display in Canada was not at a level required to keep Canadians from reaching for the clicker and switching over to four-down football.
The rash of injuries to first-string QBs across the league is out of the CFL’s control, but the work by three of four starting QBs on Sunday (including B.C.’s Kevin Glenn in Montreal) was amateurish, and had absolutely zero chance of showing the CFL in a professional, competent light.
As the old cliché goes however, “They don’t ask how, just how many.” There are four teams left and they aren’t critiquing wins. Meanwhile, these Green Riders, last year’s Grey Cup champs, will now have all winter to lament an opportunity that was there for the taking.
“We didn’t do enough things to win,” said Saskatchewan defensive end John Chick. “You can’t give up points, big points, on special teams. That’s tough to come back from. There’s no secret to the game, you can look throughout the year the turnover battle usually wins the game.”
“We won it last year. We just weren’t good enough this year,” said Saskatchewan coach Corey Chamblin. “We weren’t ready to be champs this year.”
