Eskimos win battle of struggling offences on last-second FG, 4 missed Bomber FGs

As one Edmonton Eskimos' fan noted on Twitter, their 23-21 road win over the Winnipeg Blue Bombers Saturday might have been "the best bad football game in the history of bad football games." That's continuing this weekend's theme, as the Calgary-Hamilton struggleoff in the wind Friday would also be a strong contender, but Saturday's game managed to find new and remarkable ways to provide bad football. At least it had a thrilling ending, though; with the Bombers down 21-20 in the final two minutes, kicker Lirim Hajrullahu finally made his first field goal on the night from 45 yards (he'd previously missed from 45, 44, 43 and 40), but the Eskimos then drove down the field and Sean Whyte continued his perfect night, drilling a 53-yard field goal (his third successful FG of the evening) on the game's final play to give Edmonton a much-needed road win and improve their record to 10-4 on the season.

Whyte, a relatively new addition to the Eskimos who joined them after the Montreal Alouettes cut him midseason, was great Saturday, but much of the rest of his team wasn't. They'll need to be significantly better to challenge for first in the West or to do anything in the playoffs. Meanwhile, even making it to the postseason is looking like a long shot for the 4-10 Blue Bombers, who are behind both the 5-8 Alouettes and the 4-8 B.C. Lions. If they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, they'll need substantial improvement too. Thus, while Saturday's game represented important points for Edmonton and a vital missed opportunity for Winnipeg, the larger takeaway may well be how far both teams have to go.

The biggest issue for both sides Saturday might have been the offences, as neither looked particularly impressive. Yes, Bombers' quarterback Matt Nichols got some revenge on his old team, throwing for 320 yards and a touchdown, and yes, Eskimos' pivot Mike Reilly threw for 298 yards of his own (with a touchdown and two interceptions), but neither offence was able to finish drives. For Winnipeg, a big part of that was about the lack of success in the ground game; Nichols led the team with 23 rushing yards on one scramble, while running back Cameron Marshall had just 17 on seven carries and Chevon Walker lost five yards on three carries. The Edmonton ground game was better, with Chad Simpson (a former Bomber) picking up 65 yards on nine carries, Reilly adding 36 yards on seven carries and Jordan Lynch chipping in five more on one scramble, but the Eskimos couldn't finish drives either, even when they had great field position (such as on the opening kickoff, which bounced off the facemask of Winnipeg returner Troy Stoudemire and was recovered by Edmonton linebacker Korey Jones at the Bombers' 25, but only led to a field goal). They had to settle for Whyte field goals from 18 and 26 yards out before his long game-winner. Fortunately, Whyte made all of those and Hajrullahu couldn't make his.

For Winnipeg, Nichols' play is a bright sign, but the absence of the ground game and the special-teams miscues show there's a lot of work ahead. Time's running out, too, as the Bombers have just four games left, against B.C., Ottawa, Ottawa and Toronto. For Edmonton, things are a little rosier on the standings front, as they're 10-4 versus 4-10 and comfortably entrenched in second place in the West. They're also only one game back of 11-3 Calgary for first, and their offence at least produced plenty of yards Saturday. Still, this is a game they would have lost without incredible inaccuracy from Hajrullahu and a remarkable late field goal from Whyte. They'll need to play much better if they want to do anything in the postseason.