Courtesy Edmonton Journal:

If one CFL pre-season game is any indication, the Edmonton Eskimos’ offence could provide a real rush for its demanding fans this season.

Eskimo runners scooted for a healthy 227 yards in Wednesday’s 45-12 shellacking of the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

For a team that’s lethal with quarterback Ricky Ray manning the passing game, a dangerous ground game anchored by newly acquired running back Jesse Lumsden could cause even more fits for CFL defences this season.

Eskimos head coach Richie Hall credited his offensive line for the success of the ground game on Wednesday, which was statistically better than anything last year’s Eskimos put together.

“They controlled the line of scrimmage, whether it was run or pass,” Hall said. “That’s what we want to get them to do. If you’re able to control the line of scrimmage, it forces the defence to defend the whole playbook.”

Using the whole playbook is something that rookie Ciatrick Fason thinks will make the team tough to contend with this season.

“When you’ve got a guy like Ricky, or all of the other quarterbacks, they can spread the field and that makes it easier for us,” said the six-foot-one, 220-pound running back, who ran for a game-high 84 yards on 10 carries and had a touchdown on Wednesday night.

“Once we start pounding the defence, that makes it that much harder on them. They don’t know whether to stack the box or just stay in their regular defence. It’s real good to have a great quarterback and a great running game behind it.”

Fason and fellow import running back Arkee Whitlock (six carries for 40 yards) were both impressive, according to Hall.

“When you look at Ciatrick, he’s a kind of a bigger kind of bruising back. When you look at Whitlock, he’s a little … I don’t know if he’s as quick as [Stefan] Logan was in B. C., but he’s that kind of back.

“He can make you miss. You can be standing right there and he’s right around you. They have contrasting styles but they’re both suited for the CFL and what it does [is] it gives our team some flexibility and some alternatives just because of the attributes they bring.”

Lumsden, who found the end zone once on Wednesday as part of his 64-yard effort on six carries, was optimistic about the possibilities.

“I think that whenever you have a strong rushing attack and a strong passing attack, it makes it very hard for defences to defend,” he said. “If you have the ability to spread the ball out north and south and in the air, there’s a lot of good things that can happen from that. We just have to make sure we stay consistent and work hard.”

Before anyone gets ahead of themselves, the Eskimos know that the success they had came in one game. One pre-season game, at that.

“But you can only go on one game because that’s all we’ve played. We were able to run the ball effectively, therefore it makes [the defence] a little softer because you’re dominating the line of scrimmage.”

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