The Eskimos are a confused team particularly on offense and Kavis Reed must accept full responsibility. This game may be the worst but the lack of clarity in player assignments makes one wonder if the Riders 13 man Grey Cup debackle is more explainable. For the Eskimos to come onto the field for a last second field goal with the wrong personnel was a head scratcher. Particularly after wasting their time out seconds before. Reed just doesn't understand clock management and frankly neither does Marcus Crandell. Then to top it all off, after the time out, to come onto the field with the wrong kicker and end up with a block and 6 the other way. This was a total gong show
Fast forward to the third quarter third down gamble. A Hamilton player was down with an injury, the Eskimos have a ton of time and then had to rush the play and turn the ball over on downs when everyone was again totally confused is inexcuseable. TSN commentators said that Hamilton had shut down Edmontons rushing game. That was totally false, Edmonton shut down Edmontons rushing game. After just 8 carries they abandoned any semblance of a rushing game.
Bottom line is Reed should be fired, he simply has not shown he is smart enough to make critical coaching decisions. Crandell has to be fired, the Eskimo offense does not know what players are supposed to be on the field and when they get the right personnel, they don't seem to understand what to do. The Crandell experiment needs to end and it needs to end now!
I absolutely agree Crandell hasn't got a clue and as a result the same could be said for the Eskimo offense. I over 50 years of cheering for the Eskimos, I have called for the coaches head exactly twice. Danny M and now, Reed and Crandell are starting to make Danny M look like a genius!
Coming into the season the ESKS were expected to have a terrible season with the trading of Ricky Ray and naming Steven Jyles their starting QB with Kerry Joseph as 1A all signs pointed to a ad season as Edmonton would be in a transition/rebuilding season using they Ray money to improve at other positions.
Then Suddenly they win some games due to the outstanding play of their defense where they did bring in some all star players such as Joe Burnett.
Now the lack of having a true starting QB has caught up to them and people are looking to Fire the Head coach and OC. The fact is that they can not make chicken soup out of chicken.....
So without a starting QB the problems that were hidden by some wins and the great play of the defense have reared its ugly head.
Football at any level starts with having a quality starting QB the ESKS are not even close to that.
They will in the off season need to find that young and upcoming QB that can grow with the Young receivers that they have drafted and the young O Lineman that they have waiting on deck.
...this defies possibility according to defined laws of logic
...KR is a young, decent coach on a bumpy road right now, bound to happen at some point, it's not going to be calm blue skies all the time...firing him will result in nothing but the complete and utter implosion of the rest of the EE season, and a chance for the riders to squeak into the playoffs, which is something our two teams have clandestinely vowed to prevent...
..I didn't watch the game (and from the game thread it appears I didn't miss much) but a kneejerk reaction like firing the HC isn't warranted...the LCD and the LCD rematch were too close to be demanding for the Commonwealth guillotine to be dusted off and oiled up...
...go sit on the deck and have a beer, in no time you'll feel better
Start Jyles next week at Commonwealth vs B.C. - Joseph experiment is over. Nichols got dinged to la la ville on one hit.
Run game is gone to non existent; Charles is the lead guy..no complaints. Put in Boyd/Brown and run the ball.
OC needs more thought control - Reed is not a bad coach....Messam is O.K., not on last years pace.
The performance at QB is not what I am getting at, it is the utter confusion that seems to be prevelant when the Eskimos have the ball. Not knowing what personnel is supposed to be on the field is not the QB's fault it is the fault of the OC and ultimately the Head Coach. Having the wrong kicker come onto the field and not being able to correct it because you wasted your time out when the play was stopped is garbage and is a coaching error. Not knowing allignments and not knowing who should be on the field is the coaches fault.
I am not sure if they keep such statistics but I would bet that Edmonton leads the league in procedure calls by a country mile. Have Crandell and Reed not caught onto the fact that there is a play clock. Again it is no wonder that Saskatchewan was called for the 13 men when Reed was the OC.
I think the QB situation is a big part of it. Jyles has flares of brilliance, but, IMO, is not a starter. I have always said it. KJ is past his prime, and is no longer a starter. The OL has not been great. It is tough to pin blame soley on a HC or OC in this situation. Grabby Magoo made the decision to try to save cap room at QB, and honestly...I can not blame him, but he did not get a sufficient replacement. Take that money and throw it into a couple OLmen (he was hoping for Labatte, Picard, or Heenan), a WR (Hoping for Andy, got Carr) and a RB (which he now has)...but you need the right QB. I can understand the move on Jyles, because he actually played pretty respectably as a Bomber, and really started this season off decently, but if it were me I would never have went after him. Problem is the options were Glenn, Jyles or perhaps Burris.
Gotcha. For some reason I assumed it was Daley. Probably because it seems like a bonehead move he'd make. :lol: I guess Reed does take responsibility for the 13, but I'm still not ready to fire him. I say Crandell goes first.
Man, when was the last time Edmonton had a good OC? Chapdelaine wasn't that good. Don't recall Strasser being much better. Crandell's sucked. :lol:
For this season I agree there were really no options at QB and was hoping that Jyles would be sufficient for this season was a stretch but was really the only option. Re Shaping your team will take more than one season and it is especially harder when you do not even have a sufficient QB. Making Jyles the QB pretty much showed that the plan was not to win this season but to begin re-shaping your team and upgrade at other positions and they started with the defense which is a pretty smart move.
Next season however there are some young QB withing the league which are back ups that have an upside to them. Then there is always the talk about McPherson from Montreal a little older then the rest but has not put any miles on his body so for 30 he is in good condition.
I am not sure that they think that Nichols has it or i would think that he would have been the #2 this season. They have a 2nd year pro in Masoli who they chose to keep away from the situation by basically stashing him on the IR for the season.
At this point the top young back ups may be Reilly in BC who is a free agent and has garnered his experience working through the BC system, he will be in his 4th season. The other is Drew Willy who has gained his experience through an NFL camp his rookie season, the UFL as a #2 in wich he saw time and got some starts and the UFL in 2010 was solid at the time with full training camps and a season of 6 games as planned and a lot of Bubble players chose there over the CFL. 2011 Willy sat at #3 in San diego after a full camp with the Jets and ran the scout team. I do not think however that the Ridrs will be looking to deal him.
I think there best shot is to go after Reilly in BC who will be a free agent, moving Masoli onto the roster and keeping Nichols also. Unfortuneley I think they will still keep jyles in the mix as a back up.
Give Reilly the chance to be #1 and have Nichols and Masoli battle for the number two. It is just time to see some fresh blood at QB instead of the same retreads that have failed. BC has been successful with Lulay and it appears as Calgary will be with Tate and Will in SASK. Reilly could be withing that class as well as Masoli
I agree I would let Reed fire Crandell to save his own arse then if things don't get better fire Reed. It's one thing to fire the guys up in the Locker room but you have to be their leader during the game.
For a few years now we've been teasing the Rider fans on counting men on the field, but we hired the guy responsible for the whole debacle.
Jyles gets the start against the Lions and Nichols will be the back-up QB. as per Dave Nalor TSN
Eskies will have to Spin Doctor the rest of this season.
