Famous last words.
"Well, I wormed my way out of that one," said Rick Worman, a.k.a. The Worm, as he was leaving the dressing room after the Eskimos thrilling last-second win over the Calgary Stampeders here two games ago in what has already taken on legendary status as one of the greatest offensive regular-season shows of all time.
Well, he didn't worm his way out of this one.
Worman is not the first Edmonton coach to be fired after a Labour Day loss in McMahon Stadium. Pete Kettela has that honour. But Worman is the first offensive co-ordinator to get gassed between games of the Labour Day double when there's 96 hours from final gun to kickoff.
'EXTRA EYES'
You could see this coming six weeks ago when Kevin Strasser suddenly showed up here as an "extra set of eyes" to work with the offence.
Worman was gone. It was just that his date of expiry was expected to be November not September.
Strasser was offered the job by rookie head coach Richie Hall when he took over. He was always his first choice.
Hall agreed to disagree with some of Worman's philosophies and rehired the man who was responsible for bringing Ricky Ray here from arena league 2 football where he was playing for $200 a game ($250 a win) and driving a Frito Lay potato chip truck. There was a very delicate coach-quarterback relationship to consider.
In the end, Ray -- who leads the league in passing yards -- wasn't consulted.
"It was a little surprising," he said. "Coach Worman and I had a good relationship."
Was he informed why the move was made?
"Not really. We'd done some good things on offence."
Ray, however, says it's not going to affect him now, or the next time his contract expires.
"As much as I like Rick, this is a team game. I'm an Eskimo and I expect to be an Eskimo the rest of my career."
Hall's biggest philosophical difference, I believe, was how easily he was able to stop Worman's offence as defensive co-ordinator in Saskatchewan.
But he gave him the job. And realized in short order that they weren't going to be compatible. The Eskimos hired Strasser the minute his college coaching situation changed in Portland, claiming it had nothing to do with Worman. It was hard to find anybody who believed it.
To do the dirty deed now, especially when it's the defence ranked dead last in the league with the offence having numbers at the top of the stats, does come with an odour.
"Richie came to me (Tuesday) with the concern. He wanted to address it," said GM Danny Maciocia.
"It was philosophical differences that have been there for a while. I thought they'd been doing a great job working through them but they surfaced again."
Maciocia swore this wasn't about what happened on Labour Day. The fact they've been shutout four times in first quarters and have the grand total of three converted touchdowns and two field goals to show for opening stanzas and only one game in which they've scored first while being outscored a combined 73-0 in the eight others before managing to get a point on the board is.
"This went beyond," said the GM.
Hall didn't get into much detail.
"I wasn't happy where we were at and where we were headed," he said. "It was not going in the direction where I wanted to be. This is Week 10 and the way I see it, we haven't made the steps to where we should be at. I don't want to get into specifics. No time is a good time. It was hard for me," added the alleged Mr. Nice Guy.
DIFFERENT DRUMMER
Strasser claimed total innocence in getting the job as offensive co-ordinator but added that now that it's his he's definitely going to do it differently, adding that the difference this week will be in play calling, not play book.
You'll be able to see it on first-and-10, he said. A handoff over the middle for a gain of two might not be the first play of every series in the first quarter tomorrow night.
"After this game there will be some changes in formation. I won't say trick play formations. But there will be a few more formations."
Strasser says he is definitely different than Worman.
"I am an aggressive play caller," he said, promising to be "more dynamic" on offence.
"Ricky Ray is the best QB in the league. He has incredible accuracy and that includes the deep ball. Since I've been here I haven't seen the ball thrown more than 35-yards."
Terrific. But about the defence ...
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
