The Warrior may sound like the latest comic book character, but to Edmonton Eskimo fans he is their real life champion and leader. He is Mike Reilly. On Saturday Reilly will be at the helm of the Eskimos new up-tempo against the Ottawa Redblacks, a team he beat for the Grey Cup last November. He also received the Grey Cup MVP honors for a performance that included completing 21 of 25 passes for 269 yards and 2 touchdowns. This year Reilly heads the TSN top 50 player list and is the odds-on early favorite to win the most outstanding player award for 2016.
Mike Reilly – The Warrior
The Deal
Where would the Eskimos franchise be if former Eskimos general manager Eric Tillman had not made the worst trade in Eskimo football history? To recap Tillman traded Ricky Ray to the Toronto Argonauts for Steven Jyles, Grant Shaw and Argos number two pick in the 2012 CFL draft. This directly led to the Argos becoming Grey Cup contenders and then winning the 100th Grey Cup, while the Eskimos struggled without a number one quarterback.
It gets worse before it gets better, because Tillman then traded the pick from the Argos to the B.C. Lions to move down to the fourth pick. That pick became Austin Paztor who has never played for the Eskimos. The result was Tillman being fired less than six months later and Ed Hervey hired as the Esks general manager. Hervey’s first task was to trade for the Esks now number one quarterback by sending the Esks 2013 and 2014 second round picks for Reilly and the Lions 2013 second rounder.
While with the Lions Reilly spent time on the practice roster in 2010 and as the third string quarterback behind Jarious Jackson and Travis Lulay in 2011. In 2012 Reilly played in six games, with three starts, completing 52-of-75 passes for 682 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions. While there were flashes of high end ability with the Lions, some remained unsure of Reilly’s potential. After being traded Reilly started all 18 games, completing 305-of-512 passes for 4,207 yards, 24 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.
The Warrior Is Born
Even though his passing yards were good enough to rank second in the CFL for 2013, the Eskimos were not successful as a team going 4-14 leading to many outside of Edmonton to doubt Reilly. His critics tagged him as a running quarterback, because he had 84 carries for 709 yards. Reilly quickly garnered a reputation for not shying away from contact and to Eskimo fans and players he became “The Warrior”. While some compared him to Buck Pierce and predicted a short career, the fact was the 2013 Eskimos offensive line wasn’t good enough and Reilly ran out of necessity. The contact Reilly received was a direct result of his competitive nature and his awareness to lead by example.
In 2014 Reilly had only 15 starts, but a late-season injury had many doubting his ability to stay healthy. Yet, Reilly played through a broken foot and showed the toughness of which legends are made. In 2015, the injury bug was back for Reilly courtesy of his arch nemesis Cleyon Laing during the Eskimos first regular season game. In fact, Laing injured Reilly three out of the four times suffered by The Warrior in the last two seasons.
Upon his return, he went on a tear in 2015 winning all eight starts and ending the year with 214-of-329 passes for 2,449 yards, 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Most importantly his rushing yards were significantly down, in part by design, in part due to the improved offensive line and in part due to the previous injury.
What’s Next
Reilly’s critics point out that Reilly has not been healthy for an entire season in the last two and continue to predict his demise due to injury. However, it does help Reilly’s cause that Laing has signed in the NFL. It also helps that Reilly is paired with the quarterback whisperer Jason Maas who has install heavy pass blocking protection schemes and will work with Reilly to make him an even better pocket passer.
Having Reilly in the pocket while going through his progression may mean he takes the odd lick. Conversely, Maas is creative enough to use different looks that include moving the launch point and mixing in a running game to slow the pass rush. Coach Maas has been adamant throughout camp that he wants Reilly to remain healthy for all 18 games. Count on Maas finding a way to keep Reilly healthy.
Leadership is an interesting thing, because there are various ways to define it. Some inspire others to follow through their words and ideas, while others lead by example. Reilly leads by example mostly and lets his deeds on the field speak for him, but in 2016 Reilly has committed to becoming a different kind of warrior, the kind that is mentally tough showing more patience at times.
The patience to not take the team on his shoulders by running too often. The strength to stick to the game plan of running the defense out of gas via the no huddle high tempo offense. The ability to distribute the ball to the playmakers allowing different team members the opportunity to also lead. It is this new mind set that Maas will instill in Reilly that will have him legitimately poised to be the best at his position in the CFL in 2016.
Possible MOP?
The next step to add to Reilly’s legacy as The Warrior, beyond the recent Grey Cup, is to add a second cup in a row, and possibly a MOP award. A tall order indeed, but if he does that Reilly is in the conversation with greats like Ricky Ray, Damon Allen and Matt Dunigan while building towards a Warren Moon-like legacy. Can Reilly become the new Moon? Well he is trending that way, but time will tell.
To even be considered for MOP, The Warrior must increase his yards per game passing and to do that he needs to stay behind the line of scrimmage to deliver the ball. Luckily Reilly will be in the Maas target rich offense that uses motion to create mismatches. Consider that Henry Burris jumped by nearly 2000 passing yards between 2014 and 2015 once Mass came on the Ottawa scene. Now apply that to Reilly and one can expect approximately 6200 yards passing for Reilly in 2016. Now that’s Moon like numbers.
Weapons
Sceptical? Well consider this, both Adarius Bowman and Derel Walker based on historical stats should be close to 1150 yards each receiving this year, that’s a 2300 sub-total. Then add Nate Coehoorn for 550, Cory Watson for 850, Chris Getzlaf for 850, Bryant Mitchell / Brandon Zylstra combined for 1150 and John White / Shakir Bell / Joe McKnight / Calvin McCarty for a combined running back total of 500; all achievable numbers for a number one offense passing for 345 yards per game average, only 28 yards per game more than Ottawa last year. With the Eskimos receiving corps this is doable even with veterans like Watson and Getzlaf getting less if injured. The key is depth and having one or both of Mitchell and Zylstra getting more reps as a result.
If Reilly puts up anywhere from 5600 to 6200 yards and leads the Eskimos to another successful season being mentally tough through an entire 18 game schedule he will be the Most Outstanding Player. This will solidify him as “The Warrior” a legend that is equal to many of the great Eskimo quarterbacks.
Main Photo.
