Only once all season did the Edmonton Eskimos put together all three phases of the game.
Now it's twice. And now it's nice.
Now the Eskimos, who were staring at matching the 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965 run of missing the West Division playoffs four years in a row, are back in.
Putting it all together on offence, defence and special teams for the first time since they did it back on July 30 to beat the Montreal Alouettes 33-19, the Eskimos won the pre-playoff playoff game against the B.C. Lions the old fashioned way.
They won it in the trenches.
And they won it big.
Edmonton won it so big -- not just on the scoreboard at 45-13 -- but in terms of curing their condition of a lack of confidence.
They not only provided themselves with their first playoff position in the West since they won they Grey Cup in 2005, they gave themselves hope for the playoffs when they get there.
It's one thing to get to the playoffs. It's another to be able to tell yourself that if you do that again when you get there, then you can win there.
With one of the most dominant displays by an Eskimos' offensive line this decade, everything else fell into place.
Rich Hall's hogs, which last week in the mud in Edmonton kept quarterback Ricky Ray's uniform clean, opened up massive holes for Arkee Whitlock to run for 53 yards on seven carries in the first quarter. He had a 100-yard game in the bag early in the third, en route to his third 100-yard game in the last five after the Eskimos had only two in the previous two and a half years.
And what a contrast between Whitlock's first game of the season, one of the most disastrous debuts in Eskimos history, to go from zero to a possible rookie of the year.
It's not news that if you give Ricky Ray protection and a running game to get out of one dimension offences, he'll beat you every time.
But the Eskimos managed to finish the regular season with a 9-9 record because the group which, from start to finish, has been the worst defence in the league --with 23 different starters and a myriad of massive mistakes like two defensive backs running into each other to give up a 67-yards to give the Lions a last minute win the last time these two teams played -- finally came together.
With rookie Greg Peach coming up big in the game, the defensive line not only put both quarterbacks Casey Printers and Buck Pierce out of the game but from front to back also looked like they'd actually been introduced to each other before.
And to get a 62-yard kickoff return from Skyler Green. Bonus.
The Eskimos, who had only won two of their last six -- both against the absolutely awful Argos -- now take a two-game winning streak into the playoffs. Edmonton hasn't won three games in a row since they won the West semi, the West final and the Grey Cup all on the road for the first time in their history to win that 2005 Grey Cup.
You knew going in that there was going to be another must-see game for Eskimos fans this weekend regardless the way this worked out.
It was either going to be tonight with the Calgary Stampeders in Regina to face the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who are attempting to play host to the West Final for the first time since 1976. Or tomorrow afternoon with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in Winnipeg attempting to stay alive in their last chance to continue their streak of winning a Grey Cup in every decade.
With the win last night, the Calgary-Saskatchewan game will decide where the Eskimos go next weekend, leaving the Lions to await their playoff fate as the cross-over club if Hamilton wins.
Last night marked the end of the second worst decade, at least from a regular season point of view, in Eskimos history.
- 1950s -- 105-49-2 (.679)
- 1960s -- 65-90-5 (.422)
- 1970s -- 97-55-8 (.631)
- 1980s -- 116-50-2 (.696)
- 1990s -- 108-72-0 (.600)
- 2000s -- 96-83-1 (.536)
Somehow it seemed worse than that, especially considering that the Eskimos could conceivably end up with their fourth Grey Cup appearance of the decade and their third Grey Cup win.
No matter how good the Eskimos looked last night, there will be no lineups for inoculations for Grey Cup fever just yet.
But they have your attention again.
TERRY.JONES@SUNMEDIA.CA
