|
Thursday's lopsided tilt against the Montreal Alouettes might have left Edmonton Eskimos fans scrambling for their team depth chart to peruse the options available at running back.
Arkee Whitlock ended up costing his team some points and possessions, but don't expect to see his No. 36 hung up and him hung out to dry on the practice squad anytime soon.
"No, we're not looking elsewhere," said head coach Richie Hall. "Just like you can't give up on a person for one play, you can't give up on a person for one game and you can't give up on your team for one game out of the season.
"It's something that happened, you learn from it, and then we move on to make us a better player and make us a better team."
Starter Jesse Lumsden is out for at least eight more games while rehabbing a dislocated shoulder suffered in Week 1. Waiting in the wings is Ciatrick Fason, who was released in training camp but called back after Lumsden went down.
Fason was a teammate of Whitlock's with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings. But unlike Whitlock, Fason made it past the practice roster and suited up for two seasons.
Had the Eskimos been playing at home, the crowd surely would have called for the sure-handed Calvin McCarty, who made a name for himself last year by turning 70 catches out of the Eskimos' backfield into 583 yards.
"I don't know what people thought or didn't think. In hindsight, it's always easy to say we could have used him more," said Eskimos offensive co-ordinator Rick Worman. "But we have Arkee in there and he showed some great flashes during the B.C. preseason game, so obviously our hope is for the same results."
And they will come, said head coach Richie Hall.
"We've all had those kinds of games," he said. "It's just unfortunate it was his first game, but he's a good football player. He will make plays by the end of the year."
