Will Eskimoes Lie Down this Week?

Hamilton Tiger-Cats
1

Lions and Bombers are fighting for 2nd in the west so they will both go hard. However, there is still a chance for Edmonton to get into 3rd if one of the other 2 loses both of their remaining games. (Don't you dare do that Bombers!)

If you're the coach, do you tell your team not to sweat this game as you are in the playoffs and a couple of wins may make your path forward much harder? Play hard as a tune-up next week.
Or do you play hard THIS game and ease up the final game against the A&G0$?
Or do you go hard both games?
Or tank both games?

Your call

2

Really? Do you really think any self respecting coach would allow his team to lay down?

3

Even though Eskimos "on paper" are the better team than any of the Eastern teams, if they are the cross-over team, they still have to travel east for a 1:00 pm eastern start time. Never a sure thing, and they probably would rather play in the west, even as the third place visiting team. Plus, Hamilton made the big comeback for the win in Edmonton, with Jeremiah setting the consecutive pass record, taking it away from Jason Maas. Lastly, Maas is another in our string of former QBs who left under less than ideal circumstances, with a losing record. Lots of incentives. Mike Reilly is no slouch and he has a stable of proven receivers to use.

I'm thinking the Esks will come in firing on all cylinders, looking to avenge that earlier loss, and looking to send a message to any eastern team(s) that they might be facing. And if they finish out strongly against Hamilton and Toronto, they may be moving up on both BC and Winnipeg, and tuning up for the play-offs.

It will be a good test for the Cats, and, I hope, another opportunity for us to tune up our play for the play-off run. If Cats win it, I think it will be a close one, probably going to the wire.

4

Oh my, my friend… have some fun. :slight_smile:

5

I don't think the cross-over will effect us Cat Fans..
As I believe our guys will finish 1st in the East.
Ottawa is in tough with 2 back to backs against The Peg.
And they will lose both.
I see our Cats winning both the Edmonton and Montreal Games.
Ottawa will stick at 15 points.
Cats will end at 18 points.
"That' s what I see happening". :thup: :thup: :thup:

6

Maybe the Eskimoes will lie down but I don't think the Eskimos will.

7

Esks will play hard, will be very tough opponents. They’re a good team. If they do end up playing us in a crossover, they’ll want to send a message this week that they are very strong. Ticats will have to be at their best to win this game. Let’s hope they are.

8

Got me… hangs head in embarassment and shame. :oops:

Guess I’m in the same league as a one-time U.S. candidate for V.P. -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI

9

There's a reason there has never been an all Western final...it's not easy to crossover and go to the Grey Cup, and at this point you could even say it's almost impossible because nobody has ever done it. Until somebody successfully marches through the East, no team is going to purposefully take the harder road.

10

Here are some recent facts about the Eskimos after their last weeks loss to BC

The Eskimos like to throw the ball. (this one is a real problem with our DB's)

Mike Reilly completed 24 of 32 passes for 261 yards and a touchdown Saturday, contributing to his league-leading 332 passing yards per game. That has him on pace to finish the season with 5,979 – well ahead of the 5,663 yards Ricky Ray set the current club record with in 2008. But when it comes to pass attempts, Reilly has now become just the third quarterback in Eskimos history to throw 600 passes in a season, joining Warren Moon (664 in 1983) and Ray, who has done it three times, including the club record 715 in 2005. So far, Reilly has completed 430 of his 602 pass attempts (71.4 per cent) for 5,315 yards 26 touchdowns and 12 interceptions for a pass-efficiency rating of 104.5, for a career best in every field, including touchdown-to-interception ratio. :frowning:

Penalties are still very much a problem.

With 10 penalties for 103 yards, the Eskimos actually came out ahead in all the falling flags compared to the 12 calls that went against B.C. for 108 yards. But considering Edmonton had committed a season-low five infractions for just 40 yards in their previous outing, they looked to be back to old form Saturday. It didn’t help that the Eskimos were blown for back-to-back offside infractions just three snaps into the game, resulting in a free first down. Even head coach Jason Maas got involved, drawing one, if not two, objectionable conduct penalties in the final three minutes.

The return of the fumble.

For the second time in as many games, the Eskimos coughed up a fumble on a kick return. That’s not good news for return man Troy Stoudermire, who two games ago was brought in to replace the lacklustre yet sticky-fingered Kenzel Doe. Stoudermire certainly flashed brilliance while bringing a 53-yard missed field goal back 50 yards, until he fumbled the ball away to the Lions, who turned it into a 39-yard field goal on the ensuing drive. It was the only turnover of the game Saturday, and makes it 10 points scored off of Stoudermire’s fumbles so far.

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