For the first time that I can recall in the two-plus seasons that Kavis Reed has been the Eskimos head coach, the team practiced in the rain today.
Normally when the weather has turned during an Eskimos practice, the team books it from the field at Commonwealth Stadium over to the Field House. The team lasted until it had 15 minutes left in its rainy session before lightning drove it off of the field for the day. Reed said after that he thought it was important for his team to work on ball control in the rain.
One player who didn’t get exposed to the elements on Thursday was defensive end Marcus Howard. He sat out practice all week and wasn’t on the field at all on Thursday, which isn’t a good sign for him playing on Saturday night against the B.C. Lions. Reed wouldn’t say outright that Howard won’t play, but Brandon Lang and Almondo Sewell were very busy in Howard’s absence today.
Fred Stamps didn’t take part in practice on Thursday either, though that’s been the process with the star slotback for the past two weeks and he is expected to play on Saturday night.
I’ll be back later this afternoon with some stories from today’s practice, with Brandon Lang and Odell Willis discussing the D-line situation as they prep to face the Lions.
Update: Here’s the link to the Howard/D-line story and to a couple of notes from today’s practice.
