Let’s back up to 2005 for a minute.
The last time the Eskimos made the West Division playoffs they relied on backup quarterback Jason Maas to come in relief of Ricky Ray and kick-start a struggling offence not once, but twice to reach the Grey Cup.
“When I think back on my career so far in Edmonton that’s probably the most memorable part of my career here,” said Maas, who went to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Montreal Alouettes before returning to Edmonton in 2008. “As a player you long to repeat that kind of performance, but more as a team. I just want to win another Grey Cup and that’s the whole reason I came back to Edmonton.”
But his surroundings aren’t the only familiar connection Maas draws with the Eskimos last Grey Cup run.
“It has a lot of resemblance to the 2005 season because we started in Calgary in the semifinals so it’s familiar territory for us” said Maas, who only had 29 pass attempts in game situations this year.
It may not sound like a lot but it’s almost 10 times the repetitions he had in the ’05 regular season.
“I didn’t play a whole lot,” he said. “That’s something that I always as a backup can look back on and say, ‘I don’t need a lot of time to prepare during the week, I don’t need a lot of time in games. I feel like as long as I pay attention to the game plan, understand what I need to do, put in the work during the week.
“If I get called upon, I need to go in there and do my job.”
Like he did on the way to a 33-26 upset over the heavily favoured Stameders in the ’05 semifinals and 28-23 win over the B.C. Lions to reach the championship game.
But that was as far as his road went.
“I’ve never taken a snap in a Grey Cup and that’s the reason I play my whole career, is to play in a Grey Cup,” Maas said. “My biggest motivation in my off-season training is I want to play in a Grey Cup.
“I want to win, though, more than anything. I don’t care if I play a whole snap in the season or in the playoffs because I feel when you win, you win as a team. You don’t win as an individual.”
His role on this team is something Maas has accepted, despite not preparing like a typical backup and having five years of experience as a starter in the league.
“I envision myself as a backup,” Maas said. “I feel like Ricky’s the best quarterback I’ve ever been around. A.C. (Alouettes quarterback Anthony Calvillo) was right up there. I didn’t get to play with A.C. but for four games watching him play, but he was very impressive to watch play.
“Bottom line, it comes down to the guys around you too. When you go in the game, they have to pick up their level of ability because the backup is in and I feel like a lot of times that’s what has happened when I do go in.”
