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Last week’s safari was a success.
After coming home with a B.C. Lions’ pelt to close out the season last week, the Edmonton Eskimos can say they’ve now beaten every team in the league this year.
But they’re not about to let it go to their heads as they prepare for the playoffs.
“We’ve shown the ability to play well against whoever we’re playing and not to play well against whoever we’re playing,” said Eskimos head coach Richie Hall. “Maybe if our record was different, but when it’s all said and done we’re 9-9. We’re an average football team, so for us to be successful we have to go out there and we have to play well. If we don’t play well, then we can’t expect good results.
“A lot of times during this season we didn’t play well and what did we get? Losses.”
But having a win over every possible playoff opponent already has at least shown it can be done.
“I don’t think anybody’s thinking about that,” said slotback Kamau Peterson. “Even before we beat B.C. we felt like we could beat everybody even though we hadn’t. Our confidence is going to be high because the last couple weeks we started to put together 60-minute games and shown what we can do when we do that.”
Hitting the playoffs on a two-game winning streak has provided more momentum than anything.
“It’s not even so much about beating everybody in the league, it’s just about playing good ball toward the end of the season,” said defensive back Kelly Malveaux. “You want to start peaking at the right time.”
It’s now or never.
“Playing two good games back to back, definitely our confidence is up,” said safety Scott Gordon. “We wouldn’t want to go into the playoffs any other way. You can see it even on the practice field, guys are flying around getting the ball.
"We believe in each other and I feel that confidence is at an all-time high for the season.”
