John White and Eskimos' defence beat Riders 24-0 despite "Horrible Human Beings" motivation

If there was any motivation added from the controversial Edmonton Eskimos' ads about Saskatchewan Roughriders' fans being "horrible human beings", it wasn't for the Roughriders. Friday night's game in Edmonton wound up being an incredibly lopsided affair, with the Eskimos prevailing 24-0. It was the first CFL shutout this year and the first one league-wide since Saskatchewan beat Hamilton 37-0 on July 21, 2013. Why'd it happen? A great defence and a terrific performance from running back John White.

Edmonton head coach Chris Jones has long been renowned for his defensive prowess, and that was on display Friday night. The Eskimos brought all sorts of defensive looks and blitzes, which made things very difficult for second-year Saskatchewan quarterback Tino Sunseri (playing thanks to typical starter Darian Durant's injury that will keep him out for at least the regular season). Sunseri was sacked six times on the night. He has shown potential at times, and he looked good near the end of the Roughriders' double-overtime comeback win over Ottawa last week, but he still has very limited CFL game experience. A veteran CFL pivot may have been able to identify where Jones was bringing pressure from and who was left open as a result; Sunseri wasn't. (And neither was Seth Doege, who subbed in for Sunseri partway through and has even less CFL experience.)

In fact, Sunseri's struggles throwing the ball were so noticeable that Saskatchewan only called 12 passes all night. He completed just six (50 per cent) for 53 yards with no touchdowns and an interception. That kind of passing production isn't going to get it done in the CFL. The Riders' vaunted ground game was also good, but not great either; Anthony Allen had 73 yards on 11 carries, but Jerome Messam only added 11 yards on his three touches. While Saskatchewan didn't do anything great when they did get a chance on offence, a lot of this was also about how little time they had the ball for, though.

That was thanks to an Edmonton offence that went full ground-and-pound, and dominated both the score and the time of possession in the process. White had an incredible day, collecting 192 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries (11.3 yards per carry), including a 60-yard run, and adding two catches for seven yards and another touchdown, but quarterback Mike Reilly was also devastatingly effective in the ground game, rushing 10 times for 106 yards (10.6 yards per carry). That in turn opened up space for the passing attack, and while Reilly's 124 passing yards and one touchdown don't stand out, he did what was needed there and completed a decent 62.5 per cent of his passes. Offensively, this win was about successfully executing the ground game, though, and defensively, it was about eliminating the Riders' passing attack. The Eskimos achieved both of those goals Friday, and that's why they won in such dominant fashion despite any motivation they may or may not have given Saskatchewan ahead of time.