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MIKE WHO?

How much is too much for the current crop of Eskimos to be asked about Mike Reilly this week?

In case you haven’t heard by now, the former face of the franchise is returning Friday (7 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED) to Commonwealth Stadium for the first time since marking his departure to the B.C. Lions in off-season free agency.

“Did Mike play here last year?” his replacement, Trevor Harris delivered dryly to assembled media as Day 1 of practice for the week began on Monday. “Obviously, that’s stuff for you guys to talk about. And I know people will ask me about: ‘It’s you against Mike.’

“If he plays mike linebacker that would be awesome for us, or if I played mike linebacker for us, that’d be awesome for them. But as far as I know, we won’t be on the field at the same time against each other, we’re just going to go out there and do our thing.”

EXPECTATIONS A REALITY

Phillip Lolley called it.

Coming into his debut as Edmonton Eskimos defensive co-ordinator Friday, he had prepared his players to face multiple quarterbacks against the Montreal Alouettes.

And, following a sack by defensive back Josh Johnson that sent starter Antonio Pipkin to the sidelines late in the third quarter, that’s exactly what they got.

Vernon Adams Jr. came in and mounted a 17-point comeback bid in the fourth quarter for the Alouettes, before an interception by cornerback Anthony Orange sealed a 32-25 Eskimos victory.

“The quarterbacks, like I said, are real elusive and that was our big deal,” said Lolley, who won Friday’s sack race 2-0, with Kwaku Boateng getting the other one. “When we tried to send three, it was no good, for sure. Even sending four, he was coming out of there every time. So I had to sort of just mix it.

“Even in blitzes a couple times, he had gotten loose. We couldn’t get him even though we were at him.”

In other words, exactly what he expected coming in.

“Exactly,” Lolley said. “So all my guys know now what I mean by those three guys (Alouettes quarterbacks). They’re elusive. Big men hate it because it wears them down.

“We’ve got something to build on, for sure. We’ve got some work to do, but we won the ball game. It was a great team effort.”

Email: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge