Eskimos roast Alouettes to extend win streak

Mike Reilly has joined some select company in Edmonton Eskimos history.

A 346-yard effort on 25 completions not only helped the Eskimos post a third straight win with a 40-20 victory over the Montreal Alouettes on Sunday afternoon, but it put Reilly past the 5,000 passing yards mark for the season.

Only Warren Moon (1983), Ricky Ray (2005 and 2008) and his current head coach Jason Maas (2004) have hit that milestone while wearing Eskimos green and gold.

"Our offence has been in development all year but we started from the beginning knowing we would have a dangerous passing attack, with our schemes combined with the weapons we have at the wide receiver position," Reilly said. "We knew we'd be able to throw the ball.

"The thing that I'm excited about more than the passing yards is what our running game has been able to do the last month or so. That makes things so much easier for us offensively. It takes a lot of pressure off our guys up front and it keeps the defence on their toes."

Reilly threw touchdown passes to Brandon Zylstra and Chris Getzlaf and ran one in himself for Edmonton (8-7), and John White ran in two TDs while gaining 145 yards on 19 carries against an unusually porous Montreal defence. Sean Whyte added two field goals.

Reilly chasing singe-season record

The Eskimos' single-season passing record is 5,663 yards by Ray in 2008 and Reilly has three games left to try to break it. Edmonton is going into a bye week, so his pursuit starts Oct. 22 on the road against the B.C. Lions.

"It's pretty sweet for Mike," said Maas. "He's deserving of that honour, but it also says a lot about your offensive line and your offence as a unit.

"It's not just him throwing it. Mike is what makes it all run. It's a cool thing to be part of that club and obviously he has a chance to get something no other Eskimo has and that's 6,000 yards. That's pretty cool."

Brandon Rutley and Samuel Giguere had TDs for Montreal (4-10), now 1-1 since Jacques Chapdelaine replaced general manager Jim Popp as head coach two weeks ago. The Alouettes have not won back-to-back games this season, while 40 points is the most they've conceded.

Rakeem Cato completed 20 passes for 268 yards, but was not as sharp as he was while throwing four TD passes in a win against Toronto in Chapdelaine's debut as head coach.

"Not being able to sustain offensive series is a situation where, the way we're built right now, it's a lot of pressure on one young man [Cato]," said Chapdelaine. "If the young man cannot produce for different reasons, it's not like I can turn around to a Travis Lulay — you know, a veteran — or something like that.

"We've got young quarterbacks now. It would have been unfair to take Rakeem out to put another guy in. It's not like Rakeem had a bad day."

Maas, Reilly refuse to wear TV mics

Edmonton Eskimos coach Jason Maas and quarterback Mike Reilly refused to wear television microphones because they didn't want any distractions.

And they are prepared to live with the consequences, if there are any.

The head coaches and quarterbacks of both clubs were supposed to be mic'd up for the TV telecast. Montreal coach Jacques Chapdelaine and quarterback Rakeem Cato wore them.

"They can't hold a gun to your head to make you do it so we just decided not to do it," said Maas. "It's what's right for our football club, not what's right for the other people, that's the bottom line.

"We just decided between Mike and I not to do it and we'll live with the consequences."

The CFL released a statement that said it will review the matter this week.

"We are aware that Eskimos' head coach Jason Maas and quarterback Mike Reilly did not wear live microphones," it said. "Any decision on discipline will be made later this week when we review all potential football related discipline."

Reilly said he checked with the CFL Players Association and was told it was his choice whether to wear the microphone or not.

"I never signed any contract to put on a microphone during a game," he said. "If I felt comfortable doing it I would have been more than happy to do it."

"I'm here to win games and I don't think I would have played a very good game if I had other concerns. It's hard enough to play this position when you have a clear head and you're only thinking about football."

As for any league discipline, Reilly said: "They'll deal with it however they deal with it and that's what's going to happen. You can't change anything about it now. We played the game, we got the win and that's all I care about."

However, Montreal coach Jacques Chapdelaine felt it gave the Eskimos an unfair advantage. He understood from the league that it was mandatory and wondered if, when the Eskimos refused to wear them, the Alouettes should also have been given that choice.