The CFL is back, and we’re looking at a team a day leading up to regular-season kickoff on June 23. Today, the Edmonton Eskimos.
Reigning Grey Cup MVP Mike Reilly, the quarterback who led the Edmonton Eskimos to their first CFL championship in a decade, isn’t making any predictions about how long his team’s winning streak is going to last.
“As long as it gets to 11,” Reilly says. “That’s all we’re focused on right now.”
He and the Eskimos enter this season with a target on their backs as they’re currently riding a 10-game win streak that started Sept. 12, 2015, and continued on through the Grey Cup on Nov. 29. In their season opener on June 25 at Commonwealth Stadium, they’ll meet the Ottawa Redblacks in a rematch of last year’s championship final.
But it’s a very different Eskimos team this season compared to last. Nearly the entire coaching staff, including head coach Chris Jones, departed for Saskatchewan last December. And while new head coach Jason Maas hasn’t necessarily shaken up the offence, but the former quarterback has changed how quickly the Eskimos operate.
Reilly, along with many other veterans on this Eskimos offence, have been adjusting to a no-huddle approach at training camp.
“You’ve gotta be able to think a lot quicker,” says Reilly, who’s entering his fourth season in Edmonton, and his seventh in the CFL. “It comes to a point where you almost eliminate thinking. You have to have that muscle memory built in where you just line up and you know what you’re supposed to do right away.
“I think this gives us a ton of freedom and flexibility to make plays. I think the changes we’ve made are gonna make our offence a lot more explosive.”
| Team outlook | Edmonton Eskimos |
|---|---|
| 2015 record | 14-4 (1st in West) |
| Incoming players | Chris Getzlaf (WR), Jacoby Ford (WR), Neil King (DB), Joe McKnight (RB) |
| Outgoing players | Otha Foster (DB), Andrew Jones (OL), Kendial Lawrence (RB), Aaron Grymes (DB) |
That the Eskimos’ offence is going to be operating with more speed is one difference you’ll see, but it’s on the defensive side of the ball that Edmonton has shaken up its roster the most compared to last season.
The Eskimos, who at times boasted the best defence in the league last year, lost some defensive players who went to Saskatchewan to join coach Jones. Aaron Grymes and Dexter McCoil, who in 2014 was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie, have both signed with NFL teams. The team also lost defensive back John Ojo for the season Monday with an Achilles injury.
Despite the losses, Reilly says the veterans who remain, including defensive end Odell Willis, cornerback Patrick Watkins, linebacker J.C. Sherritt and defensive tackle Almondo Sewell, comprise a strong core, and he expects the D to thrive.
“When our guys are healthy and flying around there’s no better defence in the league,” he says.
More 2016 CFL season previews: BC Lions; Calgary Stampeders; Saskatchewan Roughriders; Winnipeg Blue Bombers; Hamilton Tiger-Cats; Toronto Argonauts; Ottawa Redblacks; keep checking back for more as the regular season approaches
The early goal for the team this season, according to its QB, is to get off to a better start. (The team won just six of its first 10 games.) For Reilly, that’ll mean staying healthy—he suffered a knee injury in Game 1 of 2015 and was limited to 10 games, though he was stellar in his return, passing for 2,449 yards and completing 214 of 329 passes.
“We need to start fast,” he says. “We came out of the gate slow last year in a number of ways. We didn’t start well. We opened the season with a loss to Toronto, and we played poorly.”
Winning streak aside, a good start is doubly important because they’re aiming to become just the third team in 34 years to repeat as Grey Cup champions.
“When you’re a champion, whatever you did the year before, that’s not gonna be good enough this year,” Reilly says. “All the other teams are trying to get better, they’re trying to get to where you’re at. You need to up your level of play as well.
“People will be coming for us, but that’s awesome. We love it.”