Many frustrated fans will want the Edmonton Eskimos to do something.
Fire somebody.
Fire CEO Rick LeLacheur. Fire GM Danny Maciocia. Fire OC Kevin Strasser. Fire DC Jim Daley.
But the best thing they can do is to do nothing.
Instead of demanding change, Eskimo fans should be demanding the end of change.
The No. 1 thing that was wrong here this year was too much change. Any more massive change and they may end up on an endless spin cycle.
Chairman Doug Goss is going to recommend to the board of directors that the team stay the course despite looking very much off course throughout much of the second half of the season with the idiotic move to switch offensive coordinators and 23 different starters on defence.
LeLacheur and Goss are Grey Cup committee co-chairman. LeLacheur is also the man bringing in the new dressing room and two floors of office space and attached field house which will give the Eskimos a better set-up than many NFL teams, a $100 million plus project which will be his legacy regardless of wins and losses.
“We want to win. That's why we're here. We want to move forward to that goal and the board, I believe, thinks we're moving in the right direction. There's a lot to build on here for next year,” says Goss. “We're very confident, I believe, in coach Richie Hall and with Danny Maciocia as well. There's no better student of the Canadian game than Danny. We expect to see great dividends next year. I really believe we're on the right track.”
Maciocia says there will be more change. But not the wholesale change there was since the Eskimos won the 2005 Grey Cup.
“Right now we have about 70 players,” he said of the number of Eskimos under contract as a result of injuries and moves made putting players on and off the practice roster during the year.
“You can only take 68 to training camp.
"We're also significantly over the salary cap.
"When you're a quarter million over the cap before you give a player a raise “decisions have to be made. The dollars just don't add up.”
But Maciocia says the Eskimos are finally at the place where they can identify single areas to improve instead of change in almost all areas and coach Richie Hall says he wants his entire staff back including Strasser and Daley.
One thing about the 24-21 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in the Western semifinal. It exposed the Eskimos two greatest areas for improvement.
When you only have one receiver with more than 24 yards receiving and all the drops and failures to make the big catch on the big play passes, that's Job 1.
“Absolutely. We thought we had Kelly Campbell back,” Maciocia said of the Eskimo who took a shot at the NFL this year and could have been the difference-maker Sunday.
“Campbell is still under contract to the Edmonton Eskimos. And we have three guys on our radar comparable to Fred Stamps. We have verbal agreements with them if they don't get contracts in the NFL.”
When you have Joffrey Reynolds and Henry Burris exposing the defence in tandem with “the zone read play” with Burris running the “hang on or pull it play” and the Eskimos finding no way to stop it, you need a fix there.
“We need a guy who can come off the edge,” said Maciocia. “We also need to find a way to get to the quarterback. We were last in sacks.”
He says they may be the only Western team not playing this weekend, but could have been playing at home.
“We finished three points out of first. Think of how many points we gave away.”
Hall says that's the thing.
“As discouraging as it is, it's encouraging.
“The most consistent thing about ourselves was our inconsistency. You have to learn to lose before you learn how to win together. You have to feel the pain and feel the agony. You have to leave here asking yourself 'What can I do to get better for next year.
“We now have a good foundation. I'm encouraged with the direction we're going.
“The nucleus of the team is there now. We were a good team but we are on the verge of being a very good team. We're miles ahead of where we were a year ago.”
Well, other than the fact they were preparing for the Eastern final a year ago.”
terry.jones@sunmedia.ca
