EDMONTON — Mike Reilly is a fierce competitor, so it’s no surprise that last week’s showing by the Edmonton offence did not sit well with him at all, even if the Eskimos managed a win.
The veteran quarterback completed just seven of 22 passes for 49 yards in Edmonton’s 27-18 win over Hamilton. That was the lowest passing total in a league game by a winning team since Winnipeg Blue Bombers completed just two passes for 15 yards in a 19-12 win over Hamilton back in 1974.
"He (Reilly) would have liked to have practised on one of our days off," head coach Chris Jones said Friday as the Eskimos prepared to welcome the B.C. Lions this weekend. "Sure enough, this week for the first time the offence beat the defence on two straight days."
Thing is, as Reilly said, that was practice.
"I expect this week’s worth of work to translate out on the field. But again, practice is one thing, we have to do it on the field," said Reilly, who had just his second start last week after missing eight weeks with a knee injury suffered in the season opener.
Jones, who was given a Gatorade shower Friday to celebrate this birthday, said he’s confident Reilly and the offence will be vastly improved Saturday against the Lions.
"I would fully expect us to bounce back," he said. "We have some awfully good coaches on the offensive side of the ball and some awfully good players who take pride in the work they do so I would fully expect our offence to come out and play a strong game."
The Eskimos (8-4) will have running back Chad Simpson and lineman Simeon Rottier back from lengthy injuries. Simpson could have played last week in Hamilton but Jones said the staff decided to keep him out one more week to be sure he’s 100 per cent healthy.
The Eskimos signed the former Winnipeg Blue Bomber back in June when John White suffered a season-ending injury. Simpson, who didn’t play in 2014 and has been hampered by injury this season, has played in five games, carrying 27 times for 148 yards.
"I was sitting out for a whole year so any time I get some action I’m thankful," Simpson said of getting back onto the playing roster. "As my running back coach at Morgan State used to say, stay ready so you don’t have to get ready. I’ve been doing this since I was seven so I don’t have to get up for this."
Although the Lions have struggled to a 4-7 record, the Eskimos aren’t taking them lightly, partly because the Lions beat Edmonton 26-23 earlier this season.
"They make you earn everything, they sit back and they rally to the football," receiver Ken Stafford said of the B.C. defence. "They’ve got that great linebacking corps, the defensive secondary is good, the D line gets after the quarterback so we have to take what they give us and make our plays and continue to do what we do."
Stafford said the offence remains confident they can move the football and score points, something they had trouble doing in Hamilton when the defence scored two touchdowns to give Edmonton the win.
"This is just Mike’s third week playing football so we’re just getting back on track (with him at quarterback). We haven’t peaked yet and you don’t want to do that. We still have six games and you want to peak around playoff time."