It was a year of injuries and streaks for the Edmonton Eskimos.
They started at a torrid pace, winning their first seven regular season games, then losing the next six, and finishing up the season by winning the last five games.
630 CHED’s Morley Scott is taking a look back at the season.
He said it was “crazy” to see them so far ahead at the start of the season, and then fall almost dead-even halfway through.
“At one point they beat Ottawa and were 7-0 and they had more wins than the entire Eastern Division, then all of a sudden you’re wondering if they’re going to make the playoffs,” Scott said. “It was weird. You can’t imagine a team that wins seven in a row to miss the playoffs, but then you can’t imagine a team that loses six in a row making the playoffs.”
It was also the first year for new General Manager Brock Sunderland.
Scott said Sunderland was thrown into the fire and handled it well.
“I like the fact that he was smart enough to let it be while he learned,” Scott said. “He couldn’t make a lot of changes in that first month, when he took over before training camp. He just let it play out. It’s a good organization, it’s run by a good head coach, and there wasn’t a lot to change. But then the injuries happened.”
Scott said that was Sunderland’s strong suit, signing and replacing players as they were injured.
For 2018, Scott said Sunderland has a full off-season, and expects him to be able to put his own plan in place for the team.
Looking ahead to the draft, Scott said he expects the Eskimos to look at signing a defensive end or a safety.
“I think one thing we will probably see the Eskimos do this year is draft a defensive end, or at least go out and get a Canadian defensive end. I think that Kwaku Boateng is going to be a starter this year. I think they’ll flip the ratio on the defensive line and make him a starter. So if you have a Canadian starter that means you need a Canadian backup.”
On the whole, Scott expects the Eskimos to have another winning season, and said they should make the playoffs again.
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