Adarius Bowman knows Buck Pierce. In 2010 in Winnipeg, Bowman saw firsthand the hardships that the talented, determined and injury-prone quarterback endured trying to play his game. Pierce was slowed that year by a knee injury and saw his season come to an early end on Labour Day when he dislocated his elbow playing against the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Now lost at sea in the Bombers’ organizational chaos, his starting job taken from him this season after his latest injury, Pierce serves as the precautionary tale in the CFL for young, risky running QBs.
Looking across the Edmonton Eskimos’ locker-room on Sunday, Bowman said that there isn’t much that Mike Reilly and Pierce have in common as quarterbacks.
“I think they’re two different players,” Bowman said. “I like Mike, I don’t dislike Buck, but…I didn’t really get (to work with) Buck that much. With Mike, I would consider him more vocal. I don’t dislike Buck, I just like Mike a little bit more.”
With nothing but time on his hands over the last year as he’s recovered from a torn ACL and MCL, Bowman has been watching Reilly in his six games as the Eskimos’ starting quarterback this season. And every time that Reilly tucks the ball and starts to run downfield, Bowman, like many Eskimos fans watching, holds his breath a little bit.
Because if there’s one thing that Mike Reilly and Buck Pierce share, it’s an abundance of drive to get things done, no matter what the cost.
“(There’s) no fear in Buck. He doesn’t slide, he takes a hit and from that standpoint,” Bowman said, “I feel like they’re very similar.”
The timing of the Eskimos’ bye week is one of the few things that has gone their way in their 1-5 stumble out of the CFL’s blocks. The most recent loss, last Friday’s 30-29 failed comeback attempt against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, was the most physically punishing one of Reilly’s four years in the CFL.
Take a look at some of the worst hits Reilly took in that game here, with the first two links via 630 CHED’s Morley Scott on Vine. Reilly was also hammered by Bulcke in the third quarter, on a play that looked like something out of a WWE match.
Last Friday, the first half in particular, was painful to watch. Reilly is still carrying the remains of a nick on his cheekbone that came from the play where his helmet popped off and he was hit. While part of the blame for the pain he took can go on the Eskimos’ offensive line, the first two hits in those previous links were preventable. Before his helmet popped off and as he was set up for a shot from Brian Bulcke that eventually resulted in a fine, Reilly could have removed himself from the play. His reluctance to slide in these situations is something that’s lingered with his game from Week 1 of this season and is a growing concern for the Eskimos.
“It’s the second conversation we’ve had: You’re not a running back,” Eskimos head coach Kavis Reed said. The first conversation was praise for Reilly’s improved play over the last two weeks, where he’s thrown over 300 yards without an interception and brought the Eskimos back from deficits to a shot at victory in each of the last two games.
“We need you to run with the football at certain times, like the last drive (last Friday against Hamilton) when he made the decision to run with the football (for 22 yards), it was a very smart football play. But early in those football games we don’t need those hits on the body. It’s an accumulative thing. When you take too many of them in an 18-game season you may not make it through. We’ll hopefully make it a point of him being smarter that way.”
“I think there’s times in games where you have to be able to take the risk of getting some extra yardage,” Reilly said. “Obviously the last drive of the game you’re not going to slide on that. There were some other opportunities earlier in the game that I probably could have gotten down and saved the hit but when we’re 1-4 at the time and now 1-5, I think everybody in this room is going to do everything that they can to get a win.”
It might be here that Reed and even Bowman would object. Sure, you get what you have to when you have one shot left for the win, but the team is stressing the marathon of the season and to put these short, dangerous sprints into perspective.
“I don’t want him to stop it, because I like that aggressiveness, but we need him,” Bowman said.
“And defenders, that’s what they love. I’ve heard them say that all the time. ‘He’s not going to go down, get a shot on him.’ It’s wear and tear. Get a few shots in the first quarter and the third quarter is different.”
Part of that first conversation that Reed had with Reilly after the bye week focused on Reilly’s development over the past six weeks. He doesn’t have to play every game like it could be his last anymore.
“I really felt in the first six games that Mike was trying to prove to everyone that he’s the franchise quarterback,” Reed said. “When Mike was selected, we felt he had all the intangibles to be the franchise quarterback and the way he’s played in the first six games have proven why we selected him.
“I don’t think he has to go out and try to prove to thousands of people that he should be a starting quarterback, I think he just needs to relax, do the things he’s capable of doing and give us a chance to win like he has been doing. We trust Mike.”
He has the job. Now he just has to stay in the game.
“Nobody’s really concerned about playing safe and playing scared,” Reilly said, crediting Marcus Henry’s outstanding touchdown catch in the fourth quarter against Hamilton. “We want to do whatever we can to win and that’s how I’ve always played.”
Week-end winners
Game of the week: Saskatchewan at Calgary – It didn’t quite live up to the hype, but the Stamps were impressive enough in ending the Riders’ undefeated start to the season and piggybacking Jon Cornish for four touchdowns. For an August game, this pairing of the league’s top two teams had a playoff feel to it. A handful of Eskimos who’d stayed in Edmonton for their bye week were so interested they made the trip down to Calgary to check it out.
Players of the week
Offence: Jon Cornish, Calgary – Four touchdowns, 16 carries and 175 yards in a dominating performance that will be very hard to forget. And this:
Defence: Charleston Hughes, Calgary – His first game back from injury and Hughes had a strong all-around performance with three tackles, a quarterback sack and a forced fumble. Sure, Hughes and the Stamps couldn’t stop Kory Sheets in the third quarter, but neither can anyone else in the league. Also consider that the person making decisions here sat through Brandon Whitaker going over 140 yards in the second half against the Eskimos. There are worse crosses for teams to carry in these situations.
Special teams: Chad Owens, Toronto – Owens seems capable of pulling off things like this every week. He’s rolling now (or once again, depending on how you look at it. The Eskimos’ special teams coverage unit will get a great challenge in front of it on Sunday.
Unlucky but lucky: Noel Devine, Montreal — He fumbled three times and lost the ball in every instance in Montreal’s loss to Toronto. Devine’s knee injury may have taken him out of some hot water/given him some job security for his part in Montreal’s nosedive in the first game in the team’s short post-Dan Hawkins era.
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Up next
The Eskimos travel to Toronto to see Ricky Ray and the Argonauts on Sunday. Kickoff is 5 p.m. MT on 630 CHED and TSN.
