Edmonton Journal

The bright side of the loss to Tiger-Cats? No injuries

- GERRY MODDEJONGE gmoddejong­e@postmedia.com

They didn’t win their last game, but making it through without losing anyone to injury is almost a win in itself for the Edmonton Eskimos these days.

It has only happened a handful of times since general manager Brock Sunderland arrived last year, where the club can play the same 44 active players week over week, after having posted the league’s first seven-figure salary for injured players a season ago.

“It’s been a while, and it’s nice to look at your roster right now and know that if we wanted to line up like we did last week, we could,” Eskimos head coach Jason Maas said Tuesday at Commonweal­th Stadium following last week’s 38-21 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. “That’s not been the MO here for quite some time now, so it is nice to finally be able to look at it and decide on other factors rather than say it’s an injury, we need to replace him.”

This year, the Eskimos’ injury woes began right out of training camp with eight players on the long-term injury list, while five more were added after playing the season opener. But none will likely be added heading into Friday’s game against the visiting B.C. Lions (8 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED).

“It sucks that that’s a positive for you, but it is,” Maas said. “We came out unscathed, and our guys today, everyone was practising again, so we’re excited about that.

“That lends itself to continuity. That’s what you want as a football club: the best guys playing and guys continuing to play and stay in your lineup. The only thing that makes you better is staying in there and learning and experienci­ng the good and the bad of playing football.”

Two other teams weren’t nearly as fortunate last week with the Saskatchew­an Roughrider­s losing quarterbac­k Zach Collaros to a concussion, and the defending champion Toronto Argonauts without the services of veteran pivot Ricky Ray, who was taken to hospital after injuring his neck.

Even before the 38-year-old future first-ballot hall of famer was loaded onto the stretcher, his cellphone received a text from Maas that read, “Let me know if you’re OK.”

“It was surreal watching it. I mean, he’s one of my best friends,” Maas said. “It was very difficult watching him lay there and not know what’s really wrong with him. Have an idea, but not know.

“So I have yet to talk to him, but we’ve texted back and forth, and I know he’s resting now, and he says he’s going to be OK. What that means right now, I don’t know. I just know he’s going to be all right, meaning I think he’s going to be able to walk and do everything else. I’ll talk to him when we go play him out there.”

The Eskimos have back-to-back games against the Argos in weeks 4 and 5, beginning July 7 in Toronto. It is expected former Eskimos backup quarterbac­k James Franklin will move into the starting role.

But all of the Eskimos’ thoughts at the moment are on the former face of their franchise — including the current face of the franchise.

“I saw the hit on the replay. It’s just a reminder of how dangerous the game is,” said Eskimos quarterbac­k Mike Reilly. “It’s a physical, violent game. We all know that. Ricky knows that for sure.”

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