But Redblacks co-owner Don Hunt told the Ottawa Sun that the league had given the green light, then changed its mind after Edmonton “protested very aggressively”.
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You don’t hear anyone talking about the obvious hold that occurred on Edmonton’s second offensive touchdown.
Ottawa scored on its first two drives of the game but struggled to put up points after the first quarter. Patrick Watkins, one of Edmonton’s starting cornerbacks, not only led his team in tackles, but chipped in with two more on special teams. Then again, neither were the Eskimos, who had reeled off nine straight victories after Reilly returned from torn knee ligaments. But the Eskmos, even including the terrible start, were the better team and the better-prepared team.
Jones compiled a 26-10 regular-season record over his two seasons as Edmonton’s head coach.
The game-deciding drive came with two huge pass interference penalties. Reilly, the game MVP, believes the Eskimos have the framework in place to win multiple championships.
So the Redblacks were still in the lead until Reilly threw deep for Walker and the penalty on Sermons put the ball on the Ottawa 10.
1 – Catches by Brad Sinopoli, one of Ottawa’s four 1,000-yard receivers. The former Central Washington quarterback was 21 of 35 for 269 yards and two touchdowns without an interception.
It was a dramatic finish in Winnipeg before a sellout crowd of 36,634, the second-smallest Grey Cup attendance since 1975.
Edmonton players receive $16,000 for the win while the Redblacks get $8,000 apiece.
Five plays later, the Eskimos were in the end-z0ne for their first touchdown on a 23-yard pass from Mike Reilly to Adarius Bowman, who got behind Redblacks halfback Brandyn Thompson. The game-time temperature was -5C but the 15-kilometre-an-hour wind created a windchill of -10C.
When Mike Reilly came through to join his teammates to celebrate Edmonton’s 26-20 Grey Cup win over Ottawa on Sunday, Stafford sprayed the beer over the quarterback’s head.
As for logistics, one veteran member of an out-of-town Grey Cup festival committee said Winnipeg’s transportation plan was the best she had ever seen and usually is every time the city hosts one of Canada’s biggest parties. The CFL has not had a repeat champion since the Montreal Alouettes won their second in a row in 2010…
“You learn to respect a man a different way when you see him at his lowest point and that’s where you really see character”, Chambers said. But obviously heartbroken, disappointed, all those things.
“I thought I saw (pass interference) and I saw for sure illegal contact but I couldn’t get them to tell me for sure so then the clock starts up”, said Jones, who registered his first successful challenge in the West Division final.
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Thankfully, this time around the video replay got it “right”, but for my money (and my time!) I’d prefer to have the officials make the judgment calls on the field in real time and reserve the video replays for the big screens in the end zones.
