Courtesy Edmonton Sun:

The Eskimos will gather this morning at Commonwealth Stadium for the official wrap-up of a 5-12-1 belly flop of a CFL season.

Garbage Bag Day, it’s called, in the trade, and the Internet chat rooms and radio talk shows are lousy with would-be comedians delivering predictably acerbic, not wholly unjustified punchlines, variations on a trashy theme.

The feeling among some of the hardcore is to go ahead and hoist the whole football operations unit into the dumpster and start afresh. That would certainly satisfy the urge to identify and punish some culprits for the Eskimos’ second straight non-playoff year.

But it would be extreme-to-self-destructive to haul the perceived trash away and rebuild, particularly on defence. Which doesn’t mean there won’t be changes. Change is a given when you lose. In the Eskimos case, though, CEO Rick LeLacheur already is on record saying that wholesale changes are not in the plans.

The Eskimos defensive corps, an injury-induced merry-go-round early in the season, evolved into a promising young group as the season progressed. To use a hockey term, one used in reference to goaltending, the Eskimos defence gave the team a chance to win most nights, including the final match of the season on Saturday in Hamilton.

If the Eskimos couldn’t put away even the lowly Tiger-Cats in the season’s final game, don’t blame the defence. They didn’t give up a single touchdown (Hamilton’s only major came on a punt return), yielded just 10 Hamilton first downs, and held Tiger-Cats quarterback Richie Williams to nine completions for 76 net yards.

The only points they gave up came on four Nick Setta field goals, including a pair of 38-yarders and a 53-yard boot.

“I wanted them to make a statement for themselves that they were going to run through the finish line,” said defensive co-ordinator Rick Campbell. “They were very good (Saturday night).

“It’s so disappointing for everyone when you lose and we’ve lost so many times (six) in a row. But I don’t know the last time we or anyone has held the other team to 100 yards passing — total. In the second half, I think they had 31 yards (passing) and they ran for almost nothing in the second half.”

And fine, fine, this was a statement being made against the worst team in the league in a meaningless, play-out-the-string game. The point is, the Eskimos defence didn’t merely play out the string. They played hard, well enough to stifle an admittedly weak Hamilton offence.

Campbell, for one, believes there is a strong core to work with on defence going forward. He also knows that may be hard, if not impossible, for fans to discern, in light of the six-loss swan dive the team took after quarterback Ricky Ray went down for the season in Edmonton’s 18-11 loss to Toronto on Aug. 28.

I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen,” Campbell said. “There are two ways to look at it from the outside — You’ve got to blame somebody and make some people pay for it.

“On the other side, if you’re the person in charge, you’ve got to do whatever gives the Eskimos the best chance to win next year. And there’s quite a few pieces of the puzzle in place.”

The young, promising pieces include weak-side linebacker Siddeeq Shabazz and defensive backs Lenny Williams and Jason Flowers, both of whom joined the Eskimos after the season began.

“Both those guys literally got off the plane and played in a matter of days, which is hard (to do) to say the least,” Campbell said.

They had their ups and downs, including a 382-yards-receiving, four-TD schooling from Calgary QB Henry Burris in a 35-24 Labour Day victory by the Stampeders.

Overall, the defence’s showing was uneven — third best against the pass, second worst against the run. There were individual performance letdowns, starting with the disappointing play of second-year Canadian safety J.R. LaRose, who under-delivered on the promise of his rookie year.

And how optimistic or pesimistic your outlook is depends on how you view the likes of Omarr Morgan, Jason Goss, Chris Thompson and Stanford Samuels in the secondary, as well as players like Ron Warner, Tim Cheatwood, Isaac Keys, Kenny Hollis and Adam Braidwood along the line.

And whether you believe versatile veteran Shannon Garrett and heart-and-soul middle linebacker A.J. Gass should be invited back or not.

Would Campbell be happy and confident starting next season with largely the same group that finished this one?

“My deal right now is I’d love to,” Campbell said. “Still, it’s tough when you’re losing like this.

“I’m keeping an open mind and I’m hoping the Eskimos are keeping an open mind, too.”