The Edmonton Eskimos have decided to part ways with the top Canadian in the Canadian Football League for 2011.
On Tuesday, the Eskimos traded running back Jerome Messam for a sixth round draft pick in the 2013 Canadian draft.
In 2011, Messam became the first Canadian since Sean Millington of the British Columbia Lions in 2000 to rush for 1,000 yards in season.
However a knee injury against the Calgary Stampeders in the 2011 Western Division Semi-Final meant Messam was not 100% in 2012. After Messam was cut the Miami Dolphins, he rejoined a crowded Eskimos’ backfield that had Cory Boyd and Hugh Charles in the mix.
The Edmonton Eskimos backfield just got crowded again. On Tuesday the Eskimos announced that running back Hugh Charles was cleared to play in the Eastern Division semi-final game against the Toronto Argonauts at Rogers Centre Sunday.
Charles injured his knee in the Eskimos’ 39-19 loss to the British Columbia Lions on October 19.
Charles, who is in his second year in Edmonton after being traded from the Saskatchewan Roughriders last year, led the Eskimos with 887 yards rushing and six rushing touchdowns this season.
Now Eskimos head coach will have to decide between Charles, who is 100% according to the medical staff, Jerome Messam, who led the Eskimos in rushing last year and won the Most Outstanding Canadian award, and Cory Boyd, who had a solid game last week versus Calgary (66 yards rushing and a touchdown) and led the CFL in rushing yards when he was released by the Toronto Argonauts this past August.
Who would you start at running back if you were Kavis Reed? Let us know at www.anysportanytime.ca.
The Edmonton Eskimos have a chance of clinching a playoff spot on Sunday when they play the Montreal Alouettes. At 7-9 they sit in last place in the Western Division, but will qualify for the postseason in the crossover into the East because they will have a better record than the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
The Eskimos will not have running back Hugh Charles in their lineup. Charles suffered a knee injury in the Eskimos’ 39-19 loss to the B.C. Lions last Friday. The Eskimos then brought back Cory Boyd this past week to backup Jerome Messam.
The Montreal Alouettes may be the best team in the Eastern Division of the Canadian Football League but got some significant bad news on Tuesday when it was reported that Brandon Whitaker is out for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee.
Whitaker suffered the injury Sunday, during Montreal’s 28-17 win at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
The Alouettes are now in need of a running back and I know the perfect team they can make a trade with– the Edmonton Eskimos who have three running backs–Jerome Messam, Hugh Charles and Cory Boyd.
Edmonton Eskimos General Manager Eric Tillman may soon have to make a major decision. That is what to do with three high profile running backs.
On Saturday the Eskimos learned the news that running back Jerome Messam was released by the Miami Dolphins. Messam will once again be property of the Eskimos if he doesn’t get picked up by another team in the next ten days.
If Messam joins the Eskimos, there is no way Eric Tillman should keep Messam, Hugh Charles and Cory Boyd who was recently acquired from the Toronto Argonauts. Three high profile running backs could give the Eskimos leverage in their need to find a quarterback to replace the struggling Steven Jyles.
The Edmonton Eskimos won’t have their top quarterback from last year. Now they won’t have their top running back either.
On Saturday night according to TSN, Jerome Messam, the Canadian Football League’s top Canadian from 2011, has signed with the Miami Dolphins.
Messam was third in the CFL in rushing last season with 1057 yards, only trailing Brandon Whitaker of the Montreal Alouettes and Cory Boyd of the Toronto Argonauts.
With Messam leading the Eskimos’ offensive attack, Edmonton secured its first home playoff game since 2003.
Just how dominant was Messam and how important was he to their offensive game plan? Well, he had 780 more yards than Hugh Charles, who finished second in rushing with 277 yards.
The Dolphins meanwhile will probably use Messam as a backup to former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush. (Or at least he once won the Heisman Trophy before having his name crossed off for accepting gifts, a violation of the NCAA policy.)
Earlier in the off-season, Edmonton traded Ricky Ray to the Toronto Argonauts.
This week on 15 Minute of Fame: the BC Lions take the 99th Grey Cup, Sidney Crosby makes his return to the NHL, Montreal’s Max Pacioretty could be in line for a suspension, Edmonton’s Taylor Hall goes down with an injury and Sam Gagner starts to turn it around. As well, the NBA reaches a tentative deal with its players to save the season.
In the GABBYs: 15MOF hits 4K, Jerome Messam, Paul Deutsch, Brian Ching, SM-liiga and Ndamukong Suh. This week’s Punchline is Samoan rugby coach Mathew Vaea.
The Canadian Football League handed out its annual awards last night, and Travis Lulay, the quarterback of the British Columbia Lions, was named the Most Valuable Player.
Lulay led the CFL with 32 touchdown passes. Even though he had fewer passing yards to Anthony Calvillo of the Montreal Alouettes (5251 to 4815), and a lower passer rating (95.8 to 98.2 for Calvillo and 99.3 to Ricky Ray of the Edmonton Eskimos), Lulay led the Lions to a 11-7 record, best in the CFL, and a dominating 43-1 win over the Alouettes in the final week of the regular season.
An Edmonton Eskimo also received some hardware Thursday night in Vancouver. Running back Jerome Messam was named Top Canadian after becoming the first Canadian since 2000 to run for 1,000 yards. Messam was third in rushing with 1,057 yards.
Other award winners were Josh Bourke of the Montreal Alouettes who was named the most outstanding lineman, Jovon Johnson of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers who was named the most outstanding defensive player, kicker Paul McCallum of the British Columbia Lions who was named the most outstanding special teams player, wide receiver Chris Williams of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats who was named the most outstanding rookie.
The Edmonton Eskimos won’t have their number one running back Sunday in the Canadian Football League’s Western Final.
Already playing with a lower body injury, Messam twisted his leg when he was it in the second half by Calgary Stampeder defensive back Demetrice Morley.
Messam ended up tearing the meniscus in his left knee.
The Eskimos will now rely on backup running back Hugh Charles, Canadian fullback Calvin McCarty and even quarterback Ricky Ray to run against the British Columbia Lions at B.C. Place Stadium on Sunday.
Charles was traded to Edmonton by the Saskatchewan Roughriders on October 12, 2011 for a conditional draft pick in the 2014 CFL Canadian Draft.
The news might be considered rather devastating for the Eskimos, but remember the Lions defensive line since the loss of Cameron Wake to the Miami Dolphins has been susceptible against the run. Last season, Ray ran a career high 135 yards on 12 carries in a 31-28 overtime win in B.C.
But I’m not sure how much of a factor McCarty will be. In three games against the Lions this year he only had six carries for ten yards. Charles was better, running six times for 33 yards.
The Edmonton Eskimos have advanced to the Western Final following a 33-19 victory over the Calgary Stampeders Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium.
Ricky Ray had 245 yards passing and one touchdown pass to Jason Barnes. Adarius Bowman also had a strong game with 93 yards receiving.
On defense, Damaso Munoz had seven tackles, but it was his fumble recovery for a touchdown that was the clear turning point.
Down 8-3 in the second quarter, Stampeders’ quarterback Drew Tate just dropped the football and it was picked up by Munoz who marched into the end zone for 77 yards.
The Eskimos would score two more touchdowns before the half– a Jerome Messam run and a four yard pass from Ray to Barnes.
But it was the Eskimos’ defense as a collective unit that came up big in this one. With the Eskimos generating minimal second half offense, the defense came up big and did not let Henry Burris come up with a big play that might have been damaging.
With the win, the Eskimos now play the British Columbia Lions in the Western Final next Sunday in Vancouver.
In the Eastern Semi-Final, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats defeated the Montreal Alouettes 52-44 in an amazing shootout that went to overtime. Anthony Calvillo threw for 513 yards and lost. Hamilton will now play Winnipeg in the Eastern Final.
On Sunday, the Calgary Stampeders (11-7) will go on the road to take on the Edmonton Eskimos (11-7) in the CFL Western Division Semi-Final.
The Eskimos won the season series 2-1, but the Stampeders won their only matchup at Commonwealth Stadium, 30-20 in Edmonton on September 9.
But this is a much different Stampeders team than what was put on the field by Head Coach and General Manager John Hufnagel two months ago. Since then, Hufnagel has replaced Henry Burris with Drew Tate at the quarterback position and Joffrey Reynolds with Jon Cornish at running back.
Still I cannot ignore the fact that in the Labour Day rematch, Burris passed for 316 yards and Reynolds ran for 80 yards.
But since Tate has taken over the starting role in Calgary, the Stampeders are 3-0.
The big news in Edmonton is the health of running back Jerome Messam, who, according to TSN, is questionable with a lower-body injury that flared up during Monday’s practice. Messam became the first Canadian to rush for 1000 yards since 2000 this season. The game can be seen Sunday on TSN at 2:30pm.
By the way, my gut is telling me the Stamps will win. I feel the veteran leadership, healthier offensive line and playoff experience for the Stampeders is key and will get them through on Sunday.
A pair of Edmonton Eskimos have been named finalists for the Canadian Football League Awards.
Running back Jerome Messam has been named a finalist for the Top Canadian and linebacker J.C. Sherritt has been named a finalist for the Top Rookie in the CFL this season.
Messam, from Brampton, Ontario, finished third in the Canadian Football League this season with 1,057 rushing yards, behind Brandon Whitaker of the Montreal Alouettes (1378) and Cory Boyd of the Toronto Argonauts (1141). Messam became the first Canadian running back since Sean Millington of the British Columbia Lions in 2000 to rush for 1,000 yards in one season.
Messam will be favoured against Sean Whyte of Surrey, British Columbia– the kicker for the Montreal Alouettes.
Sherritt had 72 tackles and three sacks for the Eskimos. He’ll be the underdog against Hamilton Tiger Cats’ wide receiver Chris Williams, who led his team with 1,064 receiving yards.
Following are the other nominees with my favourites in bold:
Most Outstanding Player– QB Anthony Calvillo–Montreal Alouettes vs. QB Travis Lulay–British Columbia Lions
Most Outstanding Defensive Player–DB Jovon Johnson–Winnipeg Blue Bombers vs. LB Jerrell Freeman–Saskatchewan Roughriders
Best Special Teams Player–KR Chad Owens–Toronto Argonauts vs. K Paul McCallum–British Columbia Lions
Best Offensive Lineman–OT Josh Bourke–Montreal Alouettes vs. OL Jovan Olafioye–British Columbia Lions
This week on 15 Minutes of Fame: the Edmonton Eskimos get set to face the Calgary Stampeders in the CFL’s West Division semi-final, we break down the first month of the season for the Edmonton Oilers (and a couple of other storylines from around the NHL) and we look into the NBA labour situation.
In the GABBYs: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Ryujiro Ueda, Manny Pacquiao & Floyd Mayweather Jr., Iranian soccer, Andy Murray and the IABA. This week’s Punchline is Nickelback!
For the first time since 2004, the Edmonton Eskimos will feature in some CFL playoff action at Commonwealth Stadium in the coming weeks.
As I write this, we don’t know if it will be the West division semi-final next Sunday, or the West final the following weekend (or both), but what we do know is that they’ve got a chance to go the distance and bring home some hardware.
The Eskimos rounded out the regular season with a 23-20 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Friday night, but the score doesn’t really tell the full story. They built up a solid 10-point lead, squandered it in the fourth quarter and managed a last-minute field goal for the win.
The Esks have looked good, they’ve looked unbeatable, they’ve looked bad and they’ve looked terrible at different points this season, sometimes all in one game, but at this point it all just comes down to wins and losses. One school of thought would have fans worried heading into the playoffs, because the team should have put the game away when they had the chance. The other is smiling and enjoying the fact that they were able to make some plays and get the win, which is all that really matters.
So, can the Edmonton Eskimos be the team that lifts the Grey Cup on November 27th? (more…)
The Edmonton Eskimos have decided to part ways with the top Canadian in the Canadian Football League for 2011.
For the first time since 2004, the Edmonton Eskimos will feature in some CFL playoff action at Commonwealth Stadium in the coming weeks.
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