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If the Edmonton Eskimos should be patted on the back with one hand after coming up with their best performance of the season in the penalty department, then they still need to be paddled on the backside with the other.

As the team that sits dead last in a Canadian Football League-high 69 penalties for 597 yards, they definitely deserve credit for committing a season-low nine penalties for 80 yards their last time out.

“It’s gone from a 15 average, to 12 to nine, so we’re going down,” said head coach Jason Maas, whose squad spent the first half of last season as the most penalized team in the league before getting a handle on things over the second half.

This year, they’ve gone right back to the role of being the bad boys of the CFL.

And while they actually gained penalty yards for the first time this year, against a Montreal Alouettes team that surrendered 108 yards on seven infractions, the flags that flew against the Eskimos still played very much a factor in their 20-10 loss.