*Edmonton Vs Saskatchewan 3 *
October 28, 2008

If you can call this one a game at all, it certainly wasn't much of one. We came out flat as a team, and I can say that I led the charge in that department. After I found out that we would play in 60-80km per hour winds, I made it a point not to let the wind dictate how I played. I made the conscious effort not to adjust my hand placement from normal in effort to not let the elements affect me. Needless to say, I learned that it was the wrong decision. In winds that extreme, the affect on the ball is significant and adjustments must be made in order to secure it. As a result, I stalled out drives and opportunities for my team to score points with 3 drops. The three drops in that game equaled my total for the entire year! Post game, I felt compelled to apologize to my teammates for letting them down. I strive for perfection in my job day in and day out, and my teammates have come to expect a certain level of excellence from me. To not be able to meet that standard in any game would have the same effect. The magnitude of this game really doesn't change that in my mind, simply because I weigh the games equally. I'm fully aware that most people place a certain level of importance on certain games based on standings, rivalries, etc. which is fine – I'm just not that way personally. I view all 18 games equally, and the playoffs as a completely separate season. For me to go start to finish in any game and have to soak in the fact that I didn't put my best foot forward is not an easy pill to swallow.

Many will say that the two games prior to this were the ones that mattered. They were against Western opponents, winning either would have kept us in the Western side of the playoffs, and they were both rival games. While those games did not at all end up in our favor (to put it mildly), the final game of the season presents an opportunity for us to send a message to the top team of the East, and the host of this year's Grey cup. Equally as important is the fact that this same team absolutely dismantled us in Montreal earlier in the year. While we may not get an opportunity to make amends for the poor display that we put up this past weekend in Regina until next year, we will get this chance at least to pay back Montreal.

For me, pride is what I love about the Eskimos – this organizational history is chalk full of it. Putting on that uniform every day is truly a pleasure and an honor, and knowing what those before me laid out on the field is part of what drives me. This game marks the end of our regular season, and for the past seven years that would have been the end of my CFL year. This is the first time in a long time that I'm not just playing for pride in the last game of the season. The playoffs await us whether those outside of our locker room believe that we should be there ornot. In terestingly enough, pride will rear its head as a predominant factor in this game because we owe them. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way.

KP

*Edmonton Vs BC # 3, 4*
October 18, 2008

This was to be a big test for us, to go to B.C. place and try to get a win and then come back to Commonwealth to win the home and home series. In order to go into that environment and come out with success, a team must play inspired football and be close to mistake free. We were those things on that day, and gave the Lions all that they could handle in what was a dominant performance for most of the game. I was disappointed with how the score ended up however, as I find that we tend to call off the dogs some in the second half of games if we're up. It almost seems as if we're content with living off of the success that we've had early in the game, and hoping that they don't catch up. I feel like we've had this same trend in most games that we've had a sizeable lead in throughout the season, and it frustrates me to no end. The team that wins the grey cup this year will be one that has a killer instinct – I can guarantee you that much.

Offensively, we are by far at our best when our attack is more balanced. In the first of this series we rushed for sizeable yardage and in turn passed for considerable yardage. While I understand that we boast the best quarterback in the league, and some of the best receivers in the country as well, our passing game just works so much smoother when we're good on the ground. The lineman are inspired, the receivers can beat their defenders even easier because a good run game promotes man-to-man coverage, and the backs are involved which aids in their total game. Not to mention the pressure that it takes off of Ricky – I must admit that I was surprised to see how little we ran the ball in the back end of this series. I entered the game thinking that with the field in the condition that it is at this time of year, we would be lucky as receivers to pass the ball 25 times in that game. As it turns out, B.C. was thinking more along those lines and ended up controlling the game, just as we had in their house – by playing through the run and to the pass. Their proficiency to reel off chunks of yardage in the run game all night forced us to play more man-to-man coverage than perhaps we would have, which they were able to exploit at times for big plays through the air, which is almost identical to our game plan the week before ironically enough.

Ultimately when you've got two good teams that both need the win, and are evenly matched in terms of talent – often times the game will come down to turnovers. This last game being no exception, we turned the ball over twice, both of which the Lions were able to score off of. Was that the difference? Probably…but who really knows. I know for sure that those turnovers don't
help our cause at all, and that turning the ball over is something that has plagued us for at least the last 5 or 6 games – costing us a few of them.

At the risk of sounding crazy, I'm not as concerned about losing the season series as most people are. I understand the value of home field in the playoffs, and I'm thoroughly disappointed in the missed opportunity that we squandered. However, in my mind I resigned myself to the worst case scenario on the same day that I found out that we were guaranteed a playoff spot. I tend to prepare for the worst, and expect the best in all things – so us having to go somewhere to win a game, isn't a bad situation. We've had trouble with back to back games...the playoffs is one and done. We just need to get hot, stay healthy, and play clean. Time to regroup, and go back to work. These two games are important for momentum sake, and confidence if
nothing else. (c)

Kp8