Eskimos survive against Lions, but almost shoot themselves in foot

Saturday night's clash between the Edmonton Eskimos and B.C. Lions looked like a mismatch. The Eskimos entered this one at 11-4, with a five-game winning streak, and in strong contention for first place in the West Division, while the Lions came in at 5-9, hot on the heels of an embarrassing loss to Winnipeg, and in a fight for their playoff lives. Yet, it was Edmonton who needed a last-second Sean Whyte field goal to force overtime. The Eskimos pulled off a 26-23 double-overtime win in the end, and that's a much-needed result, but they'll have to be a lot better than this if they want to go far in the playoffs.

The biggest issues for Edmonton Saturday were turnovers and touchdowns. Quarterback Mike Reilly threw for an impressive 332 yards and a touchdown with a not-bad 60 per cent completion rate, and he made some gorgeous big throws, but he also tossed three interceptions. Running back Shakir Bell had a great day, rushing 13 times for 91 yards and catching two passes for 17 yards, but he wasn't able to get into the end zone. Beyond that, many Edmonton drives stalled in the red zone, forcing them to settle for so many field goals (kicker Sean Whyte, who started his career with the Lions, made six of seven attempts against his old team in this one, but he also had a fumble). Part of that was the lack of depth the Eskimos' receiving offence showed in this game; slotback Adarius Bowman had a phenomenal game, hauling in 11 catches for 198 yards and a touchdown, and wide receiver Derel Walker had six catches for 89 yards, but no one else had over two catches. Edmonton's offence had some great plays and some good moments in this one, but they'll need to commit less turnovers and punch the ball in more for consistent success.

Some of this was about improvement from the Lions, and they do deserve credit. An overtime loss to one of the league's top teams on the road is nothing to be ashamed of, and B.C. had plenty of chances to win this outright. That's a good sign for them and an indication that their playoff hopes might not be done. (Their record is also an indication of that; both they and Winnipeg have five wins, but the Lions have a game in hand still, and while Montreal could cross over from the East with a better record than both, the Alouettes also only have five wins ahead of their own game Sunday.) Still, this was more about Edmonton's stumbles than B.C.'s success, as Lions' quarterback Jonathan Jennings only threw for 229 yards, B.C. had no ground game whatsoever (25 net rushing yards, with 24 of them coming from Jennings on three scrambles and running backs Andrew Harris and Chris Rainey held to two yards on six carries and a loss of one on one carry respectively), and the Lions managed to give this away with a late fumble into the Eskimos' end zone that Edmonton linebacker Deon Lacey recovered. There were some good signs for B.C. here, but there were more concerning ones for the Eskimos. They got the win they needed, but will need to do more going forward.