Aug
Esks “D” gets no respect
Courtesy Edmonton Journal:
If it’s true that defence wins championships, why does the Edmonton Eskimos defence get so little credit — in comparison to the offence –for the team’s success?
It’s not just the last two games.
Almost every Eskimos fan knows the names Parker, Bright, Kwong, Moon, Kelly, Scott and McGowan.
They were all offensive stars from throughout the Canadian Football League franchise’s history, and all are on the Eskimos Wall of Honour at Commonwealth Stadium.
But despite having some of the league’s best defences, only five of the 25 players on the Wall are strictly defensive players.
Even CFL Hall of Famer Ron Estay, with four Grey Cups, and five-time Cup champions David Boone, Ed Jones and Joe Holliman have not joined teammate Dave Fennell up there.
They were the heart and soul of the defence that staked the Esks to five consecutive Grey Cup victories from 1978 through 1982. Unfortunately, the high-octane offence got too much of the credit.
Thirty years later, the offence is being praised after two straight wins while the defence is largely ignored.
“Yeah, it’s kind of like that,” agreed linebackers coach Dan Kepley, who is perhaps the greatest middle linebacker in Eskimos history.
“We can take the role of unsung heroes, if that’s the term. When the offence is having trouble, it’s our job as defence to go two-and-out, get them the ball back as many times as we can, and, sooner or later, they’ll figure it out. And, if they don’t, that just means we have to work harder at getting (the ball) back.”
No one on defence is complaining about the lack of credit. They’re just happy that after being embarrassed in Games 2 and 3, they managed to recover in Game 4 and put together a solid effort in Game 5.
“The last two games we looked real good, we’re coming together as a group, everybody’s comfortable now,” said defensive lineman Dario Romero, who had two quarterback sacks in the win over the Montreal Alouettes last week.
“They say defence wins championships and, hopefully, we can get us there.
“I said from Day 1 I thought we were going to be pretty good. We went through a rocky start there, but we’re coming together like I thought. The intensity is there. A lot of guys are flying around having fun. I try to get the younger guys just to stay loose, not get so worked up and over-anxious, have fun and play ball. That’s when you play your best.”
The defence gave up 90 points in losses to Montreal and the B. C. Lions and 22 points in the first quarter of Game 4 against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
But just when it appeared a third straight humbling loss was coming, the defence stiffened and has now allowed just 30 points in the last seven quarters, including 19 points in the Eskimos’ 33-19 win over the previously unbeaten Alouettes.
It was the turnaround in Regina that allowed the defence to regain its confidence and maybe save the Eskimos season.
“The way they played in the second half of the Saskatchewan game, the greatest thing that came out of that is an absolute confidence and determination that I can count on my man and my teammate lining up beside me to do his damn job,” said Kepley. “And everybody did his job and worked his ass off because they didn’t quit.
“At 22-0, after losing two games 50-something and 40-something, it would have been easy to lay down. But you can lay down for anything. You have to stand up for something, and in that game we stood up and decided it’s not going to happen again.
“There’s a saying, once your mind has been expanded to a point, it’s never content to go back. Their minds got expanded to a point of how much they could believe and how much they could accomplish and how much they could do with one another on the field. Then they transferred that and brought it in against Montreal.”
Now, the Eskimos are back in the same mindset they had coming out of training camp–that they can be among the best defences in the CFL this season.
“Yeah, we can be the best,” said middle linebacker Maurice Lloyd. “But that’s just saying. If we don’t come out and play our game we can get beat by anybody. We could get beat by the deaf and the blind. We have to come out and do what we’ve been doing the last two games, and in pre-season, communicate, fly to the ball, have fun.
“The games we lost, we weren’t having fun because we were so tense trying to make plays, we put ourselves out of position. So our defence can be the best, but we have to work at it.”
As Kepley said, the players have to truly believe it to be true.
“Part of it is it’s truly important that you believe it, and don’t let your mouth say the words that your heart is not feeling;who is truly committed to believing the words he is saying, from his heart, rather than just saying it because he’s talking to a reporter.
“If you have enough who are saying it from their hearts, then look out.”
Head coach Richie Hall isn’t about to jump on the “we can be the best” bandwagon just yet, although he is encouraged by their play the last seven quarters.
“I’m encouraged … I’m not satisfied and they shouldn’t be satisfied,” said Hall.
“But the more they play together, they develop that cohesiveness, that confidence.
“This might be the first time we’ve had the same secondary two weeks in a row, at the same position, so that can only enable us to get better because they feel comfortable.”
