Down and Out

Although the Eskimos might not be mathematically out of the playoffs judging from last nights performance at Ivor Wynne the playoffs look like nothing but a distant dream. After their 36-11 beat-down at the hands of the Hamilton Tiger Cats the Eskimos are two points behind of the B.C Lions for the final playoff spot in the West. If the Lions pull out a victory over the Bombers on Thanksgiving day, the Eskimos might as well start clearing out their lockers.

Going in to last nights game the Eskimos had to have known that the Ti-Cats were hungry. Everybody talked about how defensive coordinator Greg Marshall ripped his defense a new one after the Eskies squeaked out a 37-35 win last week. It obviously worked as the Hamilton defense held the Ricky Ray and the Eskimos to zero passing touchdowns and forced two interceptions. Not to mention Mathieu Bertrand fumbling the ball two times.

My question is is as a coaching staff why wouldn't Kevin Strasser elect to maybe run the ball for a change. All in all the Eskimos offense attempted a total of ten rushing plays. Ten! How one dimensional do you want to look? Ricky threw the ball 34 times, completing 25 of those passes for 198 yards and an interception. Not impressive numbers for a quarterback who received ample amounts of time in the pocket. The highly criticized offensive line only allowed two sacks in the game, nothing overly glaring there considering their disastrous start to the season.

So why don't the Eskimos run the ball? You're on the road, control the clock! I can understand if you've given the running game an honest look and nothing's opening up and the argument could be made in that case when you look at McCarty's negative three yards on three attempts stat. But he only got three attempts! I guess McCarty is the Eskies new top receiver because he caught the ball seven times, a game high amongst receivers.


The Eskimos defense and special teams didn't fare much better. Despite the seemingly reinvigorated effort the defense has shown since the arrival of new linebackers coach Mark Nelson, the Eskimos looked lost out there last night allowing Glenn to throw for 339 yards and three touchdowns. With the exception of the one touchdown the rushing defense did their job against a dangerous DeAndra' Cobb, holding him to only 49 yards on the ground in 16 attempts. Watching that fumble and recovery by Stevie Baggs on the Eskimos kick return was just painful. That single handily killed any momentum the Eskimos had.

Stopping Cobb could be the only positive in an otherwise brutal performance by the Eskimos. Now its up to the Bombers to help out the Eskimos. If the Bombers pull out a victory that will set up a great match-up for the Eskies and Lions next week in a possible playoff showdown. Of course if the Eskimos actually showed up to play last night they could have controlled their own playoff destiny instead of watching it unfold on television.

Quick NHL hits

• Watching Ondrej Pavelec hit the ice on his own was purely frightening. I'm not a praying man but my thoughts go out to him and I hope he makes a speedy recovery.
• Pavel Datsyuk shocked us all when he pulled off the Gordie Howe hat-trick last night after dropping the gloves with Corey Perry. The Detroit-Anaheim rivalry has established itself as being one of the best rivalries in the West.
  
• The Europe experiment looks like it's going well but man oh man do I hate listening to American announcers. Not all of them of course but for the most part these guys treat the game as if its baseball and do more story telling than actual play-by-play. Where's Jim Hughson when you need him?
• And finally I love that Zdeno Chara signed a seven year extension with the Bruins. Not only is he the face and captain of that franchise but he has become the sole reason why teams hate to play the Bruins. The signing also gives me peace of mind knowing that my Chara jersey is safe and sound. Nothing worse than getting a name on the back and then having that player get moved the next season. ( Talk to Oilers fans about the number 44)

Photo Credit- Edmonton Journal