Eskimos’ Game Plan: Attack The Quarterback

30/06/2009 01:16

The Edmonton Eskimos want to get after it defensively.

General manager and director of football operations Danny Maciocia made it crystal clear to his scouting staff that the No. 1 priority during the off-season was to find some talent coming off the edge.

"Danny put a challenge out to us to find guys who can get to the quarterback and, so far, I think we've addressed that," Eskimos head scout Ed Hervey said about the 2009 version of the Green and Gold.

They've addressed it with the addition of Greg Peach and solidified it with the acquisition of Kai Ellis.

"When Danny said we need to find some natural defensive ends, I thought Peach fits that mould," added Hervey, who is credited with finding the Eastern Washington product, thanks to some help from former Eskimo Torey Hunter.

"We had talked about him a little bit, but didn't have enough film. I kept tabs with Torey, and kept asking, 'How did he do this week?'

"I asked Torey to package up a highlight tape because I wanted him to have a good presentation for Danny and the staff to watch. I felt like he could play, but you have to convince. I didn't want to sell him on hearsay and notes. We wanted to make sure, that if we were going to offer him a contract, at least we have a good feel for his abilities."

Peach's stats jumped off the pages. In three years, he had 35-1/2 sacks, including 18 this past season as the six-foot-three, 255-pounder was named the Buck Buchanan award winner as the Division I football championship subdivision's top defensive player of the year.

In 2008, he finished with 72 defensive tackles (35 solo),23-1/2 tackles for a loss and one fumble recovery in 11 starts.

"Some people always talk about the division, that it's a subdivision of the BCS guys. But football players are football players. You're going to find good football players at all levels," said Hervey.

"The key is, look for the top-tiered guys at that level and see how they fit in. Do they fit into the CFL game? Yeah, the NFL is going to look at them, but how soon can you get them if the NFL isn't interested? I'm not sure if Greg Peach will ever play defensive end in the NFL, but for the CFL, he is the perfect size."

He's also a pretty nice fit.

"Greg Peach, I give full credit to Ed Hervey for this one," said Maciocia. "He plays like his hair is on fire and we offered him a contract a short period after we watched his film.

"He had some opportunities as far as a priority free agent after the NFL draft. I know that Denver had shown some interest, but he chose to come up here and, hopefully, make a name for himself. He had an outstanding camp and those two pre-season games. He's a force to be reckoned with on the boundaries."

With Ellis in the mix, after a trade with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers for Siddeeq Shabazz, the Esks have a nice set of bookends.

"Kai Ellis is the real deal coming off the edge. That front four is going to create a lot of havoc for us," said Maciocia.

"To some degree, it's a revamped defensive line. But one major emphasis for us was increasing our speed and productivity off the edges and we feel we have that with Ellis and Peach," added head coach Richie Hall. "And with (Dario) Romero inside and Eric Taylor, we have some big loads. Your football team starts on the lines, both offensive and defensive and we feel very good in our ground attack, both offensively and defensively."

The proof begins Thursday in the season opener against Winnipeg at Commonwealth Stadium

"I think, in Peach, there is a lot of upside," said Hervey. "We have a pretty good opponent coming up against Winnipeg, but I think that with our front pressure, we can relieve a lot of inexperiences that you can have in the secondary. It's been proven in this league that if you can get to the quarterback, you can disrupt a lot of things.

"We're expecting a lot of things out of Peach, Ellis, Romero and Taylor up front. We're expecting big things out of coach Hall's and Jim Daley's defence this year, period."

SWIVEL HIPS SAYS:

The Eskimos’ defensive line was an area of real weakness for the team last year. I expect this year’s defensive line to be much improved with the additions of Peach, Ellis and Sterling, among others.