THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON -- Premiering on Sunday will be the Kevin Strasser Show -- complete with multiple formations, quick reads, constant motion, misdirection and the odd long bomb.
The Edmonton Eskimos desperately need it to be a smash hit.
Strasser, with 10 days under his belt as the team's new offensive co-ordinator, gets his first chance to make his mark Sunday when the Eskimos (5-5) take on the Saskatchewan Roughriders (6-4)at Mosaic Stadium.
"We want to dictate to the defence," said Strasser, a disciple of coaching legend Darrel (Mouse) Davis and his versatile but unpredictable run-and-shoot offence. "If you want to blitz, we've got an answer. If you want to play zone we've got an answer. If you want to play man we've got an answer.
"We feel we can go anywhere on the football field and execute."
Strasser, the former Eskimos receivers coach and offensive co-ordinator for the Montreal Alouettes, took over Sept. 9 from Rick Worman. Head coach Richie Hall had been unhappy with an offence that excelled on the stats page but was too passive and predictable on the field.
Strasser was the offensive co-ordinator of record in last Friday's gut-wrenching 35-34 loss to the Calgary Stampeders -- the second defeat in five days to the provincial rival -- which knocked the Eskimos out of first place in the West Division.
But the play-calling was a mix of Strasser and Worman.
On Sunday it's all Strasser.
"You're definitely going to see his style on this game," said quarterback Ricky Ray, who has been working for more than a week with a wristband to keep track of the new plays and formations.
"We're going to have a little bit of everything, stretching guys horizontally and vertically and giving some different looks to the defence."
Centre Aaron Fiacconi, who worked with Strasser in Montreal, says Strasser goes after the defence, which will be different from a Worman offence.
"He's aggressive. He'll attack people," said Fiacconi.
"Last week, we were more north-south in the running game, more aggressive, whereas with coach Worman we were east-west, trying to find a seam."
Fiacconi said they'll have their hands full with Saskatchewan's defence, particularly ends John Chick and Stevie Baggs, who lead the league with a combined 15 sacks.
"We've got to get off the schnide," he said. "We lost two tough games to a divisional opponent, which is something you don't want to do -- ever."
The teams played once already this year, in Regina in July. The Eskimos came from behind to beat Saskatchewan 38-33.
Hall said he hired Strasser because, when he was Saskatchewan's defensive co-ordinator, he admired the way Strasser's Montreal offences could keep a team off balance with formations and misdirection.
"He'll give you a three-by-two set, a four-by-one, a two-by-three, zero-six, two backs -- and I'm not saying you can't line up and defend it, but you've got to think," said Hall. "And that's what throws off your defence because you just can't dig your heels in."
Strasser said besides Davis, he learned at the feet of CFL coaching legend Don Matthews.
He said Matthews believed in getting players out of the film room and onto the field, training a player again and again until technique, formations, and plays were burned into muscle memory.
"We repped the heck out of every play that we ran and that's how we got good at it," he said. "That's what we want to do here.
"We want to rep it, rep it, rep it and rep it."
. NOTES : Roughriders defensive lineman Kitwana Jones, released by the Eskimos earlier this month, says he's keen to crack hats Sunday and show the double-E what they gave up. Saskatchewan head coach Ken Miller says the import will see action on special teams as well as on the line of scrimmage ... Edmonton's explosive kick returner Tristan Jackson practised in a knee brace this week after getting injured when he got tackled from behind in Friday's game, but is expected to be ready ... The Riders and Esks meet again in the Alberta capital Sept. 26.
