No fan can honestly say that they were expecting Edmonton to win their first four games. Finishing dead last in the western conference last year didn’t really put too much expectation on Edmonton. After an 4-14 season, they have already matched their amount of wins during the 2013 campaign.
One of the biggest downfalls during the 2013 campaign was trading their first round pick to Montreal for Brody McKnight. Edmonton was clearly in a rebuilding state moving many pieces. Even with the falls in the draft, they did manage to acquire a starting quarterback in Mike Reilly; Reilly spent time as a backup for the BC Lions.
So how exactly has Edmonton been able to win their first four games? Obviously all their problems still won’t leave with the wave of a magic wand but they have a great start. A great start which could potentially turn into a lead in the Western conference.
To me the first obvious piece has to be the quarterback play. Before Reilly really was going, Edmonton traded Ricky Ray in the 2012 off season so they were stuck with Matt Nichols. This is without mentioning the injuries of Kerry Joseph and Steven Jyles.
Is Nichols are terrible quarterback? No. Nichols was just simply mediocre. In my opinion, Edmonton only had Nichols and he simply wasn’t ready to start. For the most part and even last season, Reilly was impressive.
Riding the ship with lose parts had it’s troubles. Reilly was able to achieve better than average statistics and consequently gave him the starting job in 2014.
This season, Reilly looks more comfortable in the pocket having a plethora of slot outs such as Shamawd Chambers and Adarius Bowman. Staying healthy will be one of the biggest tasks for Edmonton moving forward.
The Eskimos first four games were basically cake walks besides week 2 against none other than Hamilton. All four games were against the bottom half of Canadian Football’ particularly referring to Ottawa and Toronto.
Not trying to take anything away, Edmonton has to prove themselves versus the big dog. The biggest dog in the entire pound right now are the Calgary Stampeders. Firing at all cylinders whether it is Bo Levi Mitchell in the air or Calgary’s defensive backs causing chaos they will be a challenge for this rather inexperienced squad.
In order to have any chance against Calgary, the defense has to show up on Thursday night. This matchup is perhaps the most anticipated game so far this season. Particularly these last two weeks it looked as if Edmonton could run any play, and either score or cause them two and outs.
Look no further than the hat trick of touchdowns between the connection: Adarius Bowman and Mike Reilly. That ends this week with Edmonton finally playing some decent competition.
I give Edmonton credit. I don’t really want to write Edmonton off but it is difficult to justify why Edmonton would win the game. Calgary’s road to week 5 has been very similar, besides the close call against Hamilton. At the end of the day, Edmonton still has many question marks.
Edmonton is still in a complete transition and still rebuilding with new head coach Chris Jones. There is nothing wrong with that. If everything connects together, Edmonton should have zero problem getting into the playoffs. Being optimistic of Edmonton, I would give them a 12-6 record. Realistically, I can probably see more of the 9-9 to 10-8 range.
Teams like this are great for Canadian Football. It is a good story and all fans are obligated to be aware of this upcoming season. With tests against Calgary and Montreal quickly approaching, Edmonton will be in a great compression. Hopefully, they prove all the critics wrong.
