The Edmonton Eskimos are off to a stellar start to the 2017 CFL season, sitting at 5-0 and looking for their first 6-0 start since 1961. Friday night, the Eskimos host the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on The Brick Field at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Eskimos are also battling injuries. Five more players have found their way onto the six-game injured list following last week’s 37-26 win over the B.C. Lions: kicker Sean Whyte, running back Travon Van, long-snapper Ryan King, safety Neil King, and defensive back Arjen Colquhoun.
In all, 18 players are on the Eskimos six-game injured list. Two players are on the one-game injured list: offensive lineman Joel Figueroa and receiver Duke Williams.
The Eskimos will have a number of lineup changes Friday night:
- LaDarius Perkins will make his first CFL start at running back.
- D’Anthony Bastiste will make his first start of the season at right tackle which will shift Tony Washington to left tackle.
- Hugh O’Neill will handle all of the kicking duties.
- Mercy Maston will start at corner in place of Arjen Colquhoun which will cause a ratio change.
- Chris Getzlaf will start in place of Duke Williams giving the Eskimos two Canadian receivers on offence.
- Kenny Stafford will dress and provide some depth in the receiving corps.
- Garry Peters returns to the Eskimos secondary after serving a one-game suspension while Josh Woodman makes his first CFL start at safety.
- Defensive back Cauchy Muamba — who signed back with the Eskimos this week — will play.
- Fullback Levi Steinhauer — who was also signed this week — will perform long-snapping duties.
- Linebacker Kevin Jackson will play and provide depth at the WIL linebacker spot, fellow linebacker Terrance Bullitt will come off the roster.
Some positive news on the injury front is the return of defensive tackle Da’Quan Bowers, who is off the one-game injured list, and defensive tackle Mike Moore comes out.
The following is the projected offensive and defensive starters for the Eskimos:
Offence
Quarterback: Mike Reilly
Running Back: LaDarius Perkins
Offensive Line: Tony Washington-Danny Groulx-Justin Sorensen-Matt O’Donnell-D’Anthony Batiste
Receivers: Vidal Hazelton-Bryant Mitchell-Cory Watson-Brandon Zylstra-Chris Getzlaf
Defence
Defensive Line: Marcus Howard-Euclid Cummings-Almondo Sewell-Odell Willis
Linebackers: Christophe Mulumba Tshimanga-Korey Jones-Kenny Ladler
Defensive Backs: Johnny Adams-Garry Peters-Josh Woodman-Brandyn Thompson-Mercy Maston
The Hamilton Tiger-Cats come to Edmonton with a 0-5 record and a 60-1 loss to the Calgary Stampeders hanging over them. The Tiger-Cats have been out-scored 201 to 90 this season and have scored just five offensive touchdowns. The Tiger-Cats are 4-15 in their last 19 games.
The last time these two teams met was just over two weeks ago in Hamilton, with the Eskimos winning a tight battle by a score of 31-28. The Eskimos didn’t lead in the football game until 23 second left in the second quarter.
A win by the Eskimos will put them back into first place in the Western Division by a point over the Stampeders.
630 CHED will have live coverage of Friday’s game starting with Countdown to Kick-off at 6 p.m. The opening kick-off between the Eskimos and Tiger-Cats will be at 7:30 p.m.
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