The Edmonton Eskimos have started well out of the gates in the 2017 CFL season, as they are the only undefeated team left in the CFL. On Thursday night, the Eskimos will look to improve to 4-0 as they visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Tim Horton’s Field.
The Eskimos won their third straight game last week with a 23-21 win over the Ottawa Redblacks on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Eskimos were led by running back Travon Van who rushed 18 times for 103 yards and added 21 receiving yards on four catches. Receiver Brandon Zylstra caught 10 passes for 108 yards. Quarterback Mike Reilly tossed his fourth touchdown pass of the season; Reilly has yet to throw an interception.
In fact, the Eskimos have turned the ball over only twice in the first three games of the season. Sean Whyte’s consecutive field goal streak ended at 25, which established a new club record; he was good on three of his four field goal attempts.
The defence is off to a strong start as they are first in the CFL in average yards allowed per game at 306. Defensive back Brandyn Thompson scored a defensive touchdown in last week’s win.
The Tiger-Cats are off to a tough start sitting at 0-3 after last week’s 41-26 loss to the B.C. Lions. The Tiger-Cats defence is allowing a staggering 436 passing yards a game in their first three games of the season.
The offence showed some signs of life producing 424 yards of offence. The Tiger-Cats have lost nine of their last 10 games including a loss to the Eskimos in the East Semi-Final.
The Eskimos will be forced to make some lineup changes. Receiver Adarius Bowman has been placed on the one-game injured list with a hamstring injury. He will be replaced by Bryant Mitchell, who will make his second-career start and first of the season.
Mitchell played in the final regular season game of 2016 catching five passes for 69 yards. Blair Smith will start WIL linebacker in place of Adam Konar who is on the six-game injured list with a calf injury. Smith was the third stringer on the depth chart at WIL linebacker behind Konar and Cory Greenwood who is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Other changes see defensive back Johnny Adams make his return and will start on the boundary corner following a one-game absence. Mercy Maston, who started last week, will move back to the practice roster. Linebacker Doug Parrish comes off the one-game injured list and will play on Thursday.
The Eskimos signed National offensive lineman Jacob Ruby and National linebacker Keith Jackson this week. Ruby has been placed on the one-game injured list while Jackson has been placed on the practice roster.
The following is the projected offensive and defensive starters for the Eskimos:
Offence
Quarterback: Mike Reilly
Running Back: Travon Van
Offensive Line: Joel Figueroa, Simeon Rottier, Justin Sorensen, Matt O’Donnell, Tony Washington
Receivers: Vidal Hazelton, Bryant Mitchell, Cory Watson, Brandon Zylstra, Duke Williams
Defence
Defensive Line: Marcus Howard, Euclid Cummings, Almondo Sewell, Odell Willis
Linebackers: Blair Smith, Korey Jones, Kenny Ladler
Defensive Backs: Johnny Adams, Garry Peters, Neil King, Brandyn Thompson, Arjen Colquhoun
630 CHED will have live coverage of Thursday’s game starting with Countdown to Kick-off at 4 p.m. The opening kick-off between the Eskimos and Tiger-Cats will be at 5:30 p.m. MT from Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton.
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