Leading into Monday’s Labour Day Classic, Kavis Reed had said his team needed a crescendo in its season.
On Tuesday, a day after the Eskimos’ 37-34 loss to the Stampeders, Reed got it, for better or worse.
If you haven’t heard it yet, check the audio of Eskimos’ GM Ed Hervey’s Tuesday morning press conference. Things got loud on Tuesday and at the exact mid-point of the CFL season, they promise to not be the same the rest of the way for the Eskimos.
Did Hervey do the right thing in calling out offensive lineman Simeon Rottier and essentially exiling him from the lineup this year? Was he right to step in and insist offensive co-ordinator Doug Sams no longer make play calls? What about saying that Greg Marshall’s defence needs to be turned loose?
With the Eskimos at 1-8, on a seven-game losing streak and masters of making ridiculous games somehow winnable (without winning any of them) in the final few minutes of play, something had to give with this team. Something needed to be said. In many ways, Hervey’s comments sounded like a medley of every disgruntled fan that has paid to sit through games this season, an #Eskimos post-game search on Twitter come to life.
But the thing is, this is Hervey’s team.
Simeon Rottier is Hervey’s player. The offensive line that he’s been revving the bus in front of since the week before training camp started is the line that he had an off-season to build. Like any new GM (save for Marcel Desjardins), Hervey inherited the roster of his predecessor, but the team that he took into training camp was heavy with his touch.
“Everyone is on notice,” Hervey repeated on Tuesday, sparing very few from his fury. No question about it, they’re all on notice now. What I’m interested in seeing is how this team responds to Hervey’s all-out call-out. Is this the defining moment that jolts the Eskimos into a string of wins that starts Friday against Calgary, the Shelbyville to Edmonton’s Springfield? Or did the kick in the pants miss its mark and leave the Eskimos heaped on the ground, nauseous? We get to find out on Friday, an end to a short week that will have the Stamps coming in looking for a season-derailing knockout.
Hervey’s handling of Simeon Rottier might be the most puzzling thing of this all, and it could be the longest lasting impression from the day that the rookie GM took down his weeks-long wall of silence with local media.
“It wouldn’t bother me if he didn’t play another down all year,” Hervey said of Rottier, who has started in all nine of Edmonton’s games.
Rather than release him, Hervey will have Rottier in practice and in the locker-room every day, the walking scarlet letter for the rest of the team to take heed of. Play up to the standard or you’ll end up like Simeon over there, doing hard time on second-team for one to nine weeks. What does that do to the morale of an offensive line? What does that do to the locker-room of a 1-8 team?
What can we take from Sams’ reduced roll? When I spoke with Kavis Reed on Tuesday, he said he’d be meeting with coaching staff to discuss who would be doing the play-calling for the rest of the season. Last year, when then-O.C. Marcus Crandell met a similar fate, the Eskimos won two games in a row, snapping a five-game losing streak. They were the last games they won that year. They dropped their final three regular-season games, squeaked into the playoffs (Edmonton thanks you, Swayze Waters) and lost to the Argos a week later. Season over.
There’s a broader meaning to what Hervey said. Everyone is on notice. What does a pending free-agent O-lineman think this week when he sees footage of this press conference? Assuming there’s massive coaching turnover at the end of the season, how many on-the-move coaches saw or heard this press conference and were enticed to come work in Edmonton?
“I’m not trying to micro-manage,” Hervey said to reporters on Tuesday. “I’m trying to protect my quarterback.”
Long silent on team issues, Hervey wasn’t away checking his emotions, thinking up the politically correct way to handle his team’s dire situation. On Tuesday he was raw and passionate, still so much fight in him, 10 years after his own Labour Day Classic moment. And now it goes one of two ways.
Week-end winners
Game of the week: Hamilton at B.C. – The TiCats Rodney Dangerfielded their way into BC Place and almost came away with a huge win over a Lions team that many are surprisingly counting out at this point in the season. Travis Lulay bounced back with a performance very well suited to him, with 359 yards on 26 of 36 passing for three touchdowns and running one in.
Honourable mention to the Calgary-Edmonton game, but I’ve seen that one before. Actually, I’ve seen variations of that game the last five times the Eskimos have played. That fourth quarter was fun, and maybe their best (or just craziest) comeback attempt yet, but they need a different outcome.
Players of the week
Offence: Maurice Price, Calgary – Kicking off some biased picks this week, I’m going with the guy I saw in person who wowed me with his second-gear speed. It didn’t take long to see what makes Price special. Give him the ball, give him a couple of steps to get going and look out. All three of his touchdown passes played out that way, short connections turned into massive yards after. Five catches, 165 yards, three touchdowns, all done on a bum foot.
Defence: Henoc Muamba, Winnipeg – I’ll admit, it’s a total token pick, based on the pick. The St. FX product became the first player in the league to intercept Darian Durant this season (without the play coming back on a flag) and for that he gets the nod on defence. He also had nine tackles and one on special teams. It’s been a rough year for Winnipeg fans. You’ve got to celebrate the little things sometimes.
Special teams: Joe Burnett, Edmonton — Burnett’s 78-yard punt return set up the Esks’ only touchdown of the first 45 minutes of play and was the only thing that kept the score close in the first half of Monday’s game. Dabbling in both kick and punt return this year, the play was the longest of his two-year CFL career.
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