It was a struggle for the heavily favoured Eskimos, playing in their record 25th Grey Cup, but Reilly, despite being battered by the Ottawa defence both while passing and when he took off with the football, had enough left to engineer the points needed to hold off a courageous effort by the underdogs.
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“Last year we learned how to win those close games but we learned how to lose the big games”. The audience peaked at 5.5 million viewers late in the game as the Eskimos were scoring the winning touchdown.
It was a coach’s challenge that gave the Edmonton Eskimos the advantage they needed and because of it, the Eskimos are the 2015 Candian Football League champions, a first for the Albertan team in ten years. When Edmonton’s Kendial Lawrence fumbled the ensuing kickoff, the Redblacks turned it into another score, ending in a seven-yard Burris toss to Ernest Jackson – and six minutes in, after Chris Milo missed the convert, the Eskimos were in a 13-0 hole. Its last win was November 28, 1976, when the Rough Riders defeated Saskatchewan 23-20.
In fact, after Ottawa put up 13 points in its first two possessions, it was all Edmonton until halftime.
Reilly completed 21-of-35 pass attempts for 269 years, two touchdowns and no interceptions in Edmonton’s 26-20 win over the Ottawa Redblacks in Sunday’s CFL championship game.
Eskimos quarterback Mike Reilly was at his elusive best as a runner, too, with a total of 66 yards, and that had some impact on slowing the Redblacks pass rush.
Eskimos Q-B Mike Reilly was named M-V-P of the game and receiver Shamawd Chambers was named the Most Outstanding Canadian.
The Eskimos’ Grey Cup legacy includes Grey Cup wins in 1954, 1955, 1956, 1975, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1993, 2003, 2005 and now, in 2015.
The road to the Grey Cup hasn’t always been a smooth one for Reilly and the Eskimos.
“This (losing the Grey Cup game) sucks so bad, it’s unbelievable”. We have to thank our host committee and all of our 800 volunteers for helping us to put on the best Grey Cup ever.
Fans from all over the country were treated to a game that had everything you’d want in a championship game: back and forth action with a comeback win that ended in dramatic fashion.
The Redblacks’ Grey Cup appearance capped an unbelievable transformation for the franchise. They never got the ball back. “It’s our second one in Winnipeg and we had a marvelous time”, he said.
The thinking from those around the league is the rich Roughriders could pay Jones well north of $500,000 per season, which would make it hard for him to say no. CFL insiders also told the Sun this season that Jones and Eskimos GM Ed Hervey aren’t exactly BFFs.
The often-brash Willis then cheekily anointed Reilly with an award that had been given out earlier in the week to Redblacks quarterback Henry Burris.
“Kudos to Edmonton. They made plays and we didn’t and that’s the reason why they won the game”.
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To make it this far after only two years in the CFL is a dream come true, he said. I’ll fight to the death for that man and everyone in that locker-room will to.
