EDMONTON

The Edmonton Eskimos got some fight back in their flight.

Or some run back in their gun.

Whatever you call it, the return of Mike Reilly gave the offence back the X factor in last week’s 33-16 win over the Montreal Alouettes.

The victory put an end to Edmonton’s first losing streak of the season, abruptly ending it at the two games Reilly missed starting because of a thumb injury on his throwing hand.

But it’s his feet that spelled the biggest difference Friday.

With backup Matt Nichols at the helm when the Calgary Stampeders swept the Labour Day series for the sixth time in the past eight seasons, the Eskimos ground game didn’t get the contribution from the quarterback it’s accustomed to.

Nichols ran a combined four times for 11 yards in those first two games, while Reilly hit that total with his first two carries since coming back. He ended up with seven for 56 yards and two rushing touchdowns to complement the 187-yard total produced by the Eskimos on the ground Friday.

Albeit, they didn’t face the league’s leading defence this time around, but the return of a fleet-footed quarterback threat certainly bolstered Edmonton’s offensive scheme and kept the Allouette defenders honest.

“I haven’t been on tape in a couple weeks, so I think maybe they forgot that I could run?” joked Reilly, who currently sits 10th overall among league rushers with 376 yards and the two touchdowns on 47 carries this season. “It still felt kind of ugly out there, so I’m sure it didn’t look all that great. But we got the yardage that we needed.”

In the air, Reilly was 22-for-32 for 271 yards, no touchdowns, no interceptions, while averaging eight yards per carry on the ground.

“My legs were definitely fresh, I hadn’t been doing much for a couple weeks,” said Reilly. “The way they were trying to load the box up, they were doing different things, playing like five D-linemen. And we were able to throw the swing pass around the outside. Then other times, they were getting into a 30 front with only two linebackers in the box, so we got five-on-five.

“We were springing some big runs.”

And not just Reilly, either. The two-man rotation of Kendial Lawrence and Tyler Thomas has taken over for starting running back John White, who missed the past five games with a hand injury.

Lawrence had a game-high 74 yards on 11 carries, while Thomas averaged 13 yards on each of his four carries, fumbling once and getting into the end zone.

But it’s the QB scrambles that can be backbreakers for an opposing defence that is doing everything else right on the play, only to have the quarterback squirt free.

“They were bringing a sixth guy into the play side, and that allowed me to pull it and take it out the back end,” Reilly said. “So there were multiple ways for us to attack them and I think we had them guessing pretty good because they kept changing up their personnels.”

Of course, Reilly chalked it all up to offensive co-ordinator Steven McAdoo’s play-calling and his offensive line’s execution.

“I thought the O-line played a great game (Saturday).”

gerry.moddejonge@sunmedia.ca

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