ESKIMOS OPEN CFL SEASON WITH NARROW WIN OVER BLUE BOMBERS

The Edmonton Eskimos got their 2009 Canadian Football League season off to a winning start on Thursday night, as they nipped the visiting Winnipeg Blue Bombers 19-17.  It was the CFL debut for both coaches—Richie Hall for the Esks’ and Mike Kelly for the Bombers and an ugly game all around.  Hall had to be pleased with a victory in his Canadian coaching debut, but both teams clearly have much work to do. 
While Edmonton took the straight up victory, Winnipeg gave their financial backers a win as they easily covered as +8’ road underdogs.  The Eskimos have been a notoriously unreliable favorite in recent years, and the ATS loss dropped their record laying points over the past three years to a woeful 5-10.  The head to head ATS series has been almost dead even, and the Winnipeg pointspread victory gives them a 16-15 ATS edge since 1996.  The combined 36 points scored dipped well UNDER the posted total of 51’ and broke a string of two straight OVER games at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
Despite the victory, Edmonton may have lost a starting running back as key off season pickup Jesse Lumsden was hit hard near the end of the first quarter and taken to the hospital for shoulder X-rays.  While the initial evaluation was inconclusive he’ll be reevaluated on Friday including a MRI.  Coach Kelly’s postgame comments were far from encouraging:
"My heart goes out to him. There's a lot of life in Jesse. We don't know the extent of his injury right now. I know he is disappointed. I saw his reaction at half-time, he was very frustrated when he came off the field. It's a tough time for him right now. He's very disappointed. He's doing the best under the circumstances."
Winnipeg had a chance to tie the game late, but kicker Alexis Serna missed from 47 yards out with the Eskimos holding a 19-16 lead.  His effort sailed wide, giving the Bombers a ‘single’ worth one point which was small consolation.  Ironically, Serna had initially nailed the 47 yard kick only to have the play blown dead due to a late Edmonton time out.  He blamed the miss on the 2nd attempt to a loss of focus:
"I made the first one. So I just told myself to hit it like the first one. You just lose focus sometimes. You make some, you miss some."
Bombers’ QB Stefan LeFors noted that the ‘near miss’ made a disappointing season opening effort even harder to accept:
"To come that close at the end and to have a chance to send it to overtime and then not being able to, that's tough to swallow. In the first half I think we killed ourselves by putting too much pressure on our defence but they did a great job holding them down and keeping us in it. Too many stalled drives. That's not going to cut it."
The Eskimos head to Montreal to play the Alouettes next Thursday. The Blue Bombers return to Winnipeg for their home opener against Calgary on Friday (7/10).