CFL Soundtrack: Will the Eskimos creep back to prominence, or will they become unglued?

Moving on with our CFL Soundtrack preview series, a look at the CFL's nine teams and bands they're similar to, here's an examination of the Edmonton Eskimos and their comparisons to Stone Temple Pilots.

The strongest point of similarity between the Eskimos and Stone Temple Pilots comes in both organizations' recent years. In February 2013, STP officially fired singer Scott Weiland after months of messy fallouts and problematic tour dates. Remaining members Dean DeLeo, Robert DeLeo and Eric Kretz then moved forward with former Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington as a replacement. Before that point, Weiland had seemed like an inextricable part of the group; when he'd left before, the band had essentially shut down.

Similarly, former Edmonton head coach Kavis Reed seemed like an essential part of the organizational power trio (with general manager Ed Hervey and president/CEO Len Rhodes) at the start of last year, but he was axed in November as the team was struggling to a 4-14 record, and was eventually replaced in the offseason with Toronto Argonauts' defensive coordinator Chris Jones. Both Reed (2010-2013) and Weiland (1986-2003, 2008-2013) had prolonged stints as a face of their organization, and both were responsible for substantial successes, including the 8x-platinum Core, 6x-platinum Purple and the double-platinum Tiny Music...Songs From The Vatican Gift Shop STP recorded with Weiland and the Eskimos' 2011 11-7 record and West Final berth with Reed. However, in the end, it probably made sense for both groups to go in a different direction. They didn't want to come unglued, after all:

For the Eskimos, Reed was a highly-respectable hire in December 2010. He also ushered in a great 2011 turnaround, as the team went 7-11 in a mess of a 2010 season that saw both general manager Danny Maciocia and head coach Richie Hall fired midseason and also included a 52-5 Labour Day loss to Calgary that caused Terry Jones to wonder, "In the entire history of the Edmonton Eskimos has there ever been a lower moment?" The team's initial improvement under Reed was immense, and there were reasons to think they might be on the upswing. The next two years didn't go well at all, though. The team fell to 7-11 in 2012 after trading starting quarterback Ricky Ray, and that led to the firing of general manager Eric Tillman and his replacement with Hervey.

It made sense for Hervey to keep Reed on at first, as there had been plenty of reports of dissension between Reed and Tillman, and it was worth seeing if the fault was on the coach or the general manager. However, things didn't get any better in 2013, with Reed making himself a caricature thanks to his "consequences" rant and his fine for berating officials, plus leading the team to just a 1-9 start. While they got slightly better down the stretch, there were still significant reasons to doubt the coaching job Reed was doing, particularly with his handling of quarterback Mike Reilly's return from a concussion. Reilly was likely put in too soon, but prohibited from running and forced to throw to his first read, making the team's offence highly predictable and exploitable. Beyond that, Reed couldn't come up with a blocking scheme to keep Reilly upright, and he couldn't get the team to execute particularly well on offence or defence. The fault wasn't all his, as some of it was definitely on Hervey and the core of players he provided Reed with, but when the Eskimos finished 4-14, it seemed reasonable to at least let Reed go.

Similarly, the last few years of Stone Temple Pilots with Weiland were a disaster. There was internal infighting about what to play on their 2012 tour, and that was just the start of the problems. One of the most notable came at a September 17, 2012 show in Abbotsford, B.C., which has the distinction of being the worst concert I've ever attended (and was a show so prominently awful and memorable it's discussed on the band's Wikipedia page). After a solid opening performance from Crash Kings, concertgoers sat around and waited for over two hours for the main attraction, threatening to storm the stage at times. STP eventually came on at 11 p.m. and staggered through a short, highly-mediocre set, with Weiland in particular seeming so out of it many suspected he was back on drugs (language warning in that link). There's a video of part of their less-than-impressive showing here, including some pretty odd dancing from Weiland (language warning):

Things degenerated further for STP after that show. They cancelled their next night's show in Lethbridge, AB, citing Weiland's "strained vocal cords," but that seemed odd. Tour problems continued, and Weiland publicly discussed the idea of returning to Velvet Revolver in December, something that was shot down by Slash and other VR members who had moved on. After that, STP officially fired him in February. Although that led to some nasty comments and back-and-forth legal action on if they could continue without him, as with the Eskimos, they didn't seem to have a lot of choice.

What's interesting is that both organizations have replaced their former face with a long-time industry man, but one who's now asked to take on a very different job. In the case of the Eskimos, that's new head coach Jones, who's been a CFL defensive coordinator since 2003, but has never held a head-coaching job. He may well have the ability to do it, but that's unproven at the moment; in any case, the team's approach seems likely to be very different from how things ran under Reed. That can be said about STP too, as they've gone in a completely different direction with Bennington. His ability as a vocalist isn't in question, but Linkin Park's style is a long way from what Stone Temple Pilots did with Weiland. So far, though (and it's notable that Bennington was only there part-time, STP cancelled some planned appearances earlier this year, and he's since been working on a new album and tour with Linkin Park, so there may not be much of a future here; however, STP has announced a few concert dates for this summer and fall, presumably with him), the results haven't been half-bad. Here's an example of one of their new songs, played live in Biloxi, MS on Nov. 1, 2013:

That's way different from Weiland-era STP, but it's impressive in its own right, and it would be great to see more of it if Bennington elects to do more with them. We'll see if the Eskimos can similarly produce something unique. They do have some solid pieces to work with, including Reilly, receiver Fred Stamps and linebacker J.C. Sherritt. Perhaps even more importantly, the offensive line, their greatest weakness in 2013, has looked very good so far in the preseason. If they can keep Reilly upright and healthy and let him distribute the ball to their playmakers, their offence may be effective, and Jones' defensive expertise could combine with the personnel they have to produce solid results. We'll see if that's real or just promises of what they seemed to be, though:

Prediction: 9-9, fourth in West, crossover to East, loss in East semi-final.

You can follow Andrew or the 55-Yard Line account on Twitter to keep up with new posts. Stay tuned for more previews, plus our season preview live chat at noon Eastern on Thursday.