MAAS EXTINCTION?
Esks coach needs a win soon: Jones
Just win, baby.
That’s what pro sports is all about. It’s a results-oriented business.
Two games ago, Jason Maas didn’t appear to have a job security problem. The Edmonton Eskimos looked well-enough coached in all but a couple of areas, and there was no lack of statistical evidence to back that up.
Now, sooner than later, Maas has to beat somebody.
Sooner is Saturday in the eighth annual ‘Lost The Labour Day Classic, Got To Win The Labour Day Rematch’ game.
Maas has gone from a 6-3 coach with a chance to go 7-3 and move into first place with an eight-point win over Winnipeg last week in Commonwealth Stadium to falling out of a playoff position in the West on Monday in Mcmahon.
With the team that general manager Brock Sunderland gave him to coach coming out of free agency, you have to figure ending up in an East semifinal crossover game and losing — or maybe even winning and not getting to the Grey Cup — would get Maas the pink slip.
Last year when he missed the playoffs for only the Eskimos’ 12th time in 70 CFL seasons, Maas kept his job and his assistant coaches all got fired.
There are those who figure Maas has to provide a home playoff game or get to the Grey Cup to carry on. And suddenly, neither looks like a particularly good bet.
At least the odds are still good that the Eskimos won’t miss the playoffs two years in a row. Ed Hervey’s 1-9 B.C. Lions have pretty much seen to that.
Barring the 3-7 Ottawa Redblacks going on a run and eliminating the crossover option, Edmonton should go into the playoffs with a chance to salvage their season by winning their last game.
No crossover team has ever made it to the Grey Cup, much less won it.
Only one of Edmonton’s 14 Grey Cup championship teams has won it without a home playoff game: the 2005 team with then-backup quarterback Maas playing a big part in relief in both playoff games before Ricky Ray became Grey Cup MVP.
The trouble with the 2019 Eskimos is that the statistics lie. They haven’t been able to get it done against any of the good teams.
There are four good teams in this league — the 8-3 Winnipeg Blue Bombers, the 7-3 Saskatchewan Roughriders and the 6-4 Calgary Stampeders in the West, and the 9-2 Hamilton Tiger-cats in the East.
Edmonton lost both to Winnipeg and two so far to Calgary.
That’s 0-4.
In those four failures, Sean Whyte has been required to kick 18 field goals and Trevor Harris has managed to get the ball into the end zone only three times.
Yes, there have been touchdowns called back and encouraging drives ended by penalties. But a lack of discipline has been a trademark of Maas-coached teams in his time wearing (or throwing) the headset.
Maas has been open for criticism for his offensive game plan in all four losses against the good teams and has a rotten record when it comes to third-down gambles.
The season, of course, hasn’t been lost. But it’s a lot harder to salvage now. Funny how losing on Labour Day usually works that way, although the handful of players that remain from the Eskimos’ most recent Grey Cup win in 2015 will be telling teammates about losing on Labour Day and running the table on the rest of the season.
The Eskimos have Saturday’s third meeting against the Stampeders and home-and-home games remaining against both Saskatchewan and Hamilton to come.
Last year in the replay game, the Eskimos returned from their latest Labour Day loss to co-author the highest-scoring game, with 90 points involved, ever produced between the two teams. Edmonton won it 48-42. But only twice in the previous seven years have the Eskimos managed to get the split.
I know this may be going against the flow of social media opinion here, but I blame the players more than the head coach.
To me, it’s all in how you view what’s been happening in the red zone. That is the microcosm of this Eskimos season.
Edmonton is 14-for-32 inside the 20-yard line. They’re eighth in the league in the red zone.
Harris, normally a near-perfect passer, has been anything but in those situations. And how many drops have his receivers had? It seems like it’s somebody different on every play down there, in skill positions or not, makes a mistake.
Yes, there’s all sorts of room to question play selection. But in those situations, big-time players come up with big-time plays.
On Saturday, I submit, we’re going to find out a lot of things about a lot of Eskimos. And we may find out how bad they want to play for their head coach.
The season, of course, hasn’t been lost. But it’s a lot harder to salvage now. Funny how losing on Labour Day usually works that way ...