A ray of sunshine from the Edmonton Eskimos

Jonathon Crompton

It’s a rainy, rainy Monday morning in Edmonton and with the Eskimos falling to 31-21 Saturday, there might not be much motivation to put things in gear as we trudge ahead for the week. The Eskimos were beat by the B.C. Lions and slid to 1-3 on the season. But there are a few positive things.

The Esks scored 21 points. That’s 18 more than a week ago when they fell 19-3 to the Lions. But there was something I saw and his name is Jonathan Crompton. He’s a quarterback who came in relief of Mike Reilly in the final few minutes of the fourth quarter. In his first drive, he got the hurry up offence on the go, and on his first drive, Crompton engineered a touchdown. Given the situation the performance was impressive. 

And so the question begs to be asked: could Crompton be the starting quarterback Thursday when the Eskimos visit the Allouettes in Montreal? I would really like to see that. It would be a wonderful challenge for Crompton, and it might give the Eskimos the shot in the arm they need. The team has struggled at the quarterback position, and, who knows? Crompton could be it — proving, yet again, heroes are not born, but made … even in the rain.

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Cam-burger: Eskimos show lack of respect

 He huffed and puffed, Kavis Reed did, during his post-game press conference Saturday, and blew the assembled media down. (Look at the end of the post and you will see yourself.) The Edmonton Eskimos dismal performance Saturday night against the B.C. Lions — a 17-3 loss — is another sign the once mighty Canadian Football League team is in a deep slide. And maybe that’s the reason I am cannot get very excited about the Esks these days.

Penalties. They were a huge reason why the Eskimos lost their second consecutive home game of the season. Eleven penalties for 103 yards. One hundred and three yards. Isn’t that more than the entire length of the football field? From unnecessary roughness infractions to roughing the passer, a somewhat disturbing trend is unfolding.  In three games the Eskimos have been penalized 41 times for 330 yards. No gold stars here.

Rick LeLacheur

Forget lack of discipline. It’s lack of respect, period. It’s a football team out of control with — for whatever reason — arrogance. But for what? Winning the Grey Cup last year? Nope. Not even posting a winning record last year with a 7-11 showing. Ever since Rick LeLacheur retired as president, I have felt a disconnect between the front office and the fans. Look at the number of good, qualified people who left the organization. Long-time vice-president of communications Dave Jamieson left the team just two weeks into the season last year. Trouble in paradise? Absolutely. Somewhere down the road the Eskimos have forgotten how well their grass-roots foundation of the franchise worked. The arrogance of the front office has spread on to the field. Kavis Reed has the daunting task of cleaning it all up — something, clearly, he should not have to do.

KAVIS REED'S POST-GAME COMMENTS

(Interesting note: The Eskimos removed this from their website but the CFL did not)

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