Eskimos clinch first with 40-22 win over Montreal, knocking Als out of playoffs

The Edmonton Eskimos settled the CFL West Division's playoff picture Sunday, beating the Montreal Alouettes 40-22 to clinch first place for themselves and eliminate the Alouettes from the postseason. The 6-11 Alouettes now can't finish ahead of the 7-10 B.C. Lions, which they would have needed to do to clinch the first-ever East to West crossover. It was an impressive effort down the stretch from Montreal, and that was the case again in this game, but they made too many mistakes and Edmonton was just too good. The Eskimos picked up their eighth-straight victory and did so with relative ease, improving to 14-4. They now get plenty of time off before Nov. 22's West Final, and they will have a few things to tune up, but they already look to be in pretty good shape.

Edmonton was reasonably strong overall in this one, even if they didn't completely pull away until the end. The Alouettes kept it close until the fourth quarter, and even led 22-19 into the final frame, but the Eskimos recorded a 21-point quarter to secure a comfortable victory. Quarterback Mike Reilly was fantastic on the day, completing 29 of 35 passes (82.9 per cent) for 308 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. Interestingly enough, his main target on the year, Adarius Bowman, was largely covered, and finished the day with only two catches for 12 yards. That opened up space for others, and Derel Walker particularly shone, making 11 catches for 127 yards and three touchdowns. With an aerial attack like that and a decent rushing game (Akeem Shavers and Chad Simpson combined for 91 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries), the Edmonton offence seems pretty effective.

The Eskimos' defence was also generally impressive Sunday, especially in forcing turnovers. Linebacker Deon Lacey led the way with seven tackles and two forced fumbles, while defensive end Odell Willis had a sack and a forced fumble and linebacker Dexter McCoil had four tackles and an interception. They recorded two sacks of Montreal quarterback Kevin Glenn and pressured him into some bad decisions, holding him to 236 passing yards (albeit with three touchdowns). However, Edmonton will have to be better against the run, and against short passes to backs; running back Tyrell Sutton picked up 135 rushing yards on 14 carries and added 50 receiving yards on six catches. Still, this wasn't a bad overall showing from them at all.

For Montreal, who played this game without general manager and head coach Jim Popp (who missed it thanks to vertigo; defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe stepped in), this loss and their playoff elimination was generally about the mistakes. They had three fumbles on the day, with two of them lost, and Glenn also threw an interception. They turned in a solid showing, and competed well with a strong Eskimos' team on the road, but they just made too many errors and weren't impressive enough to recover from them.

Montreal had some potential this season, but didn't realize it thoroughly enough to get to the postseason; they'll now have a final game and a long offseason to think about what went wrong. Meanwhile, Edmonton was the stronger team Sunday, and they should be in good shape heading into the playoffs; they'll now have 21 days to get healthy and tune up even further ahead of the West Final. It was cool to see Eskimos' players head into the stands and high-five fans after the game, and there was plenty of reason for them to celebrate. There's lots of work ahead to prepare for the playoffs, but for now, spirits in Edmonton are riding high.