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SOURCE: EDMONTON JOURNALEDMONTON - Following Friday’s CFL home game against the B.C. Lions, the Edmonton Eskimos don’t play again until Labour Day in their annual showdown against the Calgary Stampeders, so as far as head coach Kavis Reed is concerned, it’s now a one-game season.
“That’s the way we’re approaching it,” he said. “This is a game that I feel is pivotal for us in terms of the season, as to how we respond to an adverse situation.
“I want to know what this team is made of.”
After losing to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Montreal Alouettes, the Eskimos have a two-game losing streak on the go.
Quarterback Ricky Ray, for one, does not intend to spent the bye week stewing over a three-game skid.
“This is a big game for us,” said Ray. “We’re 5-2 and in first place and if we go out this week and get a win, we’re going to 6-2 heading into the Labour Day game. As bad as these last two weeks have been, we’re still in a good spot because of the start.
“We just have to get back on track.”
Protection Plan
With Junius Coston out with a knee injury, and the protection for Ray in need of some bolstering, the Eskimos offensive line was revamped on Monday.
Brian Ramsey was working with the first team after spending a game on the sidelines. Greg Wojt, who also left the game against the Alouettes with a knee injury, was also back in the mix.
“(The offensive line) is not the sole reason why things aren’t going well,” said Reed, who spent the last four days looking at both protection and run-game footage.
“Our running backs have to do a better job of helping with protection, we have to be more fundamentally sound in terms of blocking schemes. There are things we have to do overall to help ourselves as a running team and as a team protecting the quarterback.”
The Eskimos produced just 20 points in their two losses and came out of Montreal on the negative side of the rushing statistic (minus three yards on four rushing plays). As a team, they also forfeited 66 yards on penalties.
“Offensively, we haven’t played very well the last two games. When you watch the film, it’s a combination of a lot of things,” said Ray. “We’re making mistakes we didn’t make in the first five weeks.“It starts with the guys up front. They have to be able to control the line of scrimmage and from there it’s about us making plays,” Ray continued.
“That’s the thing we said we didn’t want to do with the 5-0 start — is to get relaxed and complacent. Offensively, we just have to get back to the basics where we’re executing the way we know how.”
Welcome wagon
In the last several days, the Eskimos have signed receivers Prechae Rodriguez and Dobson Collins as well as offensive lineman Devin Tyler.
Collins, inked to a deal on Monday, played in six games with the B.C. Lions this season, pulling in 14 passes for 217 yards before he was released last week. The six-foot-two, 189-pound 24-year-old is a product of Gardner-Webb University.
Tyler, a mountain of a man at six-foot-seven, 300 pounds, played at Temple University before getting a look with the NFL’s Baltimore Ravens and Arizona Cardinals. He had attended the Saskatchewan Roughriders camp.
Rodriguez, too, has CFL experience after spending two seasons with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and another 10 games with the Roughriders in 2010.
Barnes on the sidelines
Receiver Jason Barnes, who left the Montreal game with cracked ribs, said on Monday he didn’t even give last year’s injury a passing thought.
His 2010 campaign was cut painfully short when he left a game with an damaged spleen as well as an injured kidney and lung.
“I knew it wasn’t anything serious. It’s just disappointing when we have all these receivers out and I go down,” Barnes said. “It’s frustrating. We got off to such a good start, then we just get hit with the injury bug. At least I can tell it’s not going to be a long injury. This was on the other side and I didn’t have that deep pain.”
SHORT YARDAGE: Receiver Adarius Bowman, who began running a few days ago, worked with the scout team, but has not been cleared for any contact ... Defensive lineman Ted Laurent did not prSOURCE: EDMONTON JOURNALactice and defensive back Rob Williams pulled out before the end of the session.
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