Jul
Eskimos need urgency
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
For the second straight week, the 1-2 Edmonton Eskimos woke up the day after the blowout of the night before feeling out of sync and out of sorts over why they’re so out of it on the field of play.
The players are looking within for answers to their collective early season crisis; it’s a team groping for an identity almost before it has established one.
If answers aren’t found quickly, they could find themselves labelled a talented, angst-ridden gang of underachievers.
Defensive tackle Dario Romero, whose motor is always in high gear, believes the players have to play with more emotion.
“The thing we’re going to have to do as individuals is find the passion that we played with when we were kids, bottle it up and take it once a week,” Romero said. “There’s only one way to play.
“That’s how I play, it’s easy for me to get up for the games. But I’m not a big talker, so I’m not going to babysit anybody out there to try to get them going.
“As a professional and as a football player, it should be there. You either have it, or you don’t.”
So far this young season, the Eskimos clearly don’t have it.
“It’s frustrating,” Romero said. “I mean, we’re getting our asses kicked. It’s a reflection on all of us.
“I thought last week (50-16 loss to the Montreal Alouettes)was enough for people to say, ‘You know what, I’m not going to let this happen again,’ and find whatever it is that they need to get up for the game.”
In the cutthroat West Division, a team that falls behind early in the season can find it is mighty hard to catch up, which helps explain why this is a team with a sense of urgency about finding a sense of urgency.
“I’ve got a saying: ‘You either get right or get left,’ ” said middle linebacker Maurice Lloyd. “You either join the ship or you get left behind.
“Everybody has to look at himself and ask, what do I have to do?
“Everybody knows I’m a vocal leader and that I lead by example, but have I actually been leading by example?
“Everybody needs to look at themselves as a man and do a little soul-searching.”
It’s a tad early to say the Eskimos are being left behind in the CFL West. But it’s not too early to be seriously concerned about two horrid performances.
This is a team making misplays, instead of plays, with predictably dismal results.
Over three weeks, the Eskimos offence has produced 28 two-and-outs, a ludicrous stat for an offence led by a quarterback like Ricky Ray.
The remedy for the misfiring offence is almost certainly a collective one. It’s not logical that Ray suddenly has lost his touch.
But right now, Ray looks lost out there and his team, coaches, players and all, have to help him get found.
Needless rough play and roughing the passer penalties have hurt the cause, too.
Romero has taken two or three of those the last two games. A function of frustration?
“That’s vigilante justice, that’s all that is,” Romero said. “They want to cheap-shot me, I tell them,’I'm going to get you back.’
“You’ve got to take care of business, protect yourself so they don’t do it again, that’s all that is.
“I’m not a bully, I’m not (Toronto defensive lineman) Adriano Belli. There’s just certain things you’ve got to do.”
Well, maybe. Or maybe that sort of passion has to be controlled by some old-fashioned, team-first discipline.
Something else that has been glaringly evident in the second halves of both lopsided losses was a major leak of intensity and energy when things have gone against the Eskimos.
On Friday, the frustration began to leak out of some of the players.
“Would I say (that’s because of) a lack of focus? Maybe,” Lloyd said. “Would I say a lack of enthusiasm? That’s a lot.
“But, at the same time, everybody knows I came(here) from Saskatchewan, everybody knows Saskatchewan has the best fans, bar none.
“In the fourth quarter, I’m used to the fans picking up their players more than booing (them).
“I know this is a championship city, but at the same time, we’re human. When you hear boos from your own fans, that kind of brings a sense of urgency that … they don’t believe in you.
“When you have stuff like that, that’s when you see teams starting to fall apart, when other people don’t have faith in them.
“I feel that was disrespectful to Ricky Ray for our fans to boo him (Thursday night).
“When you boo your own captain, your own leader, what do you expect the team to do?”
Ray didn’t begrudge the fans their right to boo him, mind you.
Despite his evident frustration, Lloyd, too, knows how to channel negative energy from demanding fans into a focused effort on the field.
He knows fixing what’s wrong has nothing to do with the fans.
“What we have to do now is come out here and have our minds right to play 60 minutes, not 20 minutes,” Lloyd said. “Until we can do that, we’re going to fall short.”
Make that well short, the way things have gone so far.
