2008 Edmonton Eskimos season
General managerDanny Maciocia
Head coachDanny Maciocia
Home fieldCommonwealth Stadium
Results
Record10–8
Division place4th, West
Playoff finishLost East Final
Team MOPRicky Ray, QB
Team MOCKamau Peterson, WR
Team MORTristan Jackson, KR/DB
Uniform

The 2008 Edmonton Eskimos season was the 51st season for the team in the Canadian Football League and their 60th overall. The Eskimos finished fourth in the West Division, but made the playoffs because of the "crossover" rule. Edmonton became the first West team to win the East Semi-Final. The Eskimos attempted to win their 14th Grey Cup championship, but they lost the East Final to the Montreal Alouettes.

Offseason

CFL Draft

In the 2008 CFL Draft, 48 players were chosen from among 752 eligible players[1] from Canadian universities across the country, as well as Canadian players playing in the NCAA. The first two rounds were broadcast on TSN.ca with host Rod Black.

Round Pick Player Position School/club team
2 11 (via Calgary) Greg Wojt OL Central Michigan
3 19 (via Calgary) Tim St. Pierre LB Saint Mary's
3 23 (via BC Lions via Winnipeg) Justin Cooper DL Manitoba
4 25 (via Hamilton) Sammy Okpro DB Concordia
4 26 Jonathan Hood DB St.FX
5 34 Dante Luciani REC Laurier

Transactions

Date Type Incoming Outgoing Team
February 8, 2008 Trade Fred Perry (DE)
*2nd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Fernand Kashama (DE) 		Steven Jyles (QB)
2nd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Jonathan St-Pierre (OL) 		Saskatchewan Roughriders
February 13, 2008 Trade Brock Ralph (WR) Michael Botterill (LB)
Chris Thompson (LB) 		Hamilton Tiger-Cats
February 15, 2008 Trade Jordan Younger (DB) Tyler Ebell (RB)
T. J. Acree (WR) 		Toronto Argonauts
March 20, 2008 Trade Rob Pikula (K/P)
3rd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Justin Cooper (DL) 		3rd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Justin Shaw (DL) British Columbia Lions
April 30, 2008 Trade John Comiskey (OL)
Kevin Challenger (WR)
2nd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Greg Wojt (OL)
3rd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Tim St. Pierre (OL) 		1st-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Dimitri Tsoumpas (OL)
2nd-round pick in 2008 CFL Draft – Fernand Kashama (DE) 		Calgary Stampeders
May 27, 2008[2] Trade Duncan O'Mahony (P) 4th-round pick in 2009 CFL Draft – Spencer Armstrong (WR) Calgary Stampeders
May 31, 2008 Trade Noel Prefontaine (K/P) **1st-round pick in 2009 CFL Draft – James Yurichuk (LB)
2nd-round pick in 2010 CFL Draft – Grant Shaw (DB/K) 		Toronto Argonauts

Preseason

Schedule

# Date Visitor Score Home OT Attendance Record Pts
A June 13 Edmonton Eskimos 14–39 Calgary Stampeders 27,580 0–1 0
B June 19 Saskatchewan Roughriders 7–37 Edmonton Eskimos 33,508 1–1 2

Regular season

Roster

2008 Edmonton Eskimos roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Receivers

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Inactive list

Practice roster

Italics indicate import player.
Roster updated 2008-10-11
Depth Chart • Transactions
46 active, 10 inactive, 7 PS.

Season standings

West Division
Team GP W L T PF PA Pts
Calgary Stampeders 18 13 5 0 595 420 26 Details
Saskatchewan Roughriders 18 12 6 0 500 471 24 Details
BC Lions 18 11 7 0 559 479 22 Details
Edmonton Eskimos 18 10 8 0 512 536 20 Details

Season schedule

Week Date Visitor Score Home OT Attendance Record Pts
1 June 28 Edmonton Eskimos 13–34 Saskatchewan Roughriders 28,800 0–1–0 0
2 July 3 Calgary Stampeders 31–34 Edmonton Eskimos 32,706 1–1–0 2
3 July 10 Toronto Argonauts 28–47 Edmonton Eskimos 31,707 2–1–0 4
4 July 20 Edmonton Eskimos 31–35 Toronto Argonauts 28,522 2–2–0 4
5 July 25 Edmonton Eskimos 19–13 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 21,402 3–2–0 6
6 July 31 BC Lions 24–35 Edmonton Eskimos 35,008 4–2–0 8
7 August 8 Edmonton Eskimos 34–40 BC Lions 30,863 4–3–0 8
8 Bye 4–3–0 8
9 August 21 Saskatchewan Roughriders 10–27 Edmonton Eskimos 48,808 5–3–0 10
10 September 1 Edmonton Eskimos 37–16 Calgary Stampeders 35,650 6–3–0 12
11 September 5 Calgary Stampeders 38–33 Edmonton Eskimos 46,014 6–4–0 12
12 September 13 Hamilton Tiger-Cats 33–38 Edmonton Eskimos 37,500 7–4–0 14
13 September 21 Edmonton Eskimos 4–40 Montreal Alouettes 20,202 7–5–0 14
14 September 26 Edmonton Eskimos 23–30 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 29,794 7–6–0 14
15 October 4 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 22–36 Edmonton Eskimos 40,453 8–6–0 16
16 October 10 Edmonton Eskimos 27–20 BC Lions 34,778 9–6–0 18
17 October 17 BC Lions 43–28 Edmonton Eskimos 34,342 9–7–0 18
18 October 25 Edmonton Eskimos 9–55 Saskatchewan Roughriders 30,945 9–8–0 18
19 October 31 Montreal Alouettes 14–37 Edmonton Eskimos 29,911 10–8–0 20

Total attendance: 336,449
Average attendance: 37,383 (62.8%)

Ron Lancaster

On Thursday, September 18, Ron Lancaster, 69, died from an apparent heart attack, less than two months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.[3] Despite working in television, Lancaster returned to football as the Eskimos' head coach in 1991.[4] During his seven-season tenure as Edmonton's head coach, the Eskimos won the 1993 Grey Cup.[4] Lancaster resigned as the Eskimos' head coach after the 1997 season to become the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' head coach and director of football operations.

Player stats

= Indicates team leader

Passing

Player GP Att Comp % Yds LG TDs INT Rating
Ricky Ray (QB) 18 605 422 69.8 5,661 66 26 17 101.8
Jason Maas (QB) 3 44 26 59.1 340 80 0 1 74.1
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 1 1 1 100.0 19 19 0 0 158.3
Stefan LeFors (QB) 17 4 1 25.0 9 9 0 1 71.9

[5]

Rushing

Player GP Att Yds LG Avg. TD Fumbles
A. J. Harris (RB) 11 99 557 36 5.6 6 1
Calvin McCarty (RB) 18 88 490 34 5.6 4 4
Ricky Ray (QB) 18 75 258 15 3.4 5 13
Ronald McClendon (RB) 2 13 64 19 4.9 1 0
Damien Anderson (RB) 2 17 57 16 3.4 0 1
Jason Maas (QB) 3 3 30 16 10.0 0 1
Mathieu Bertrand (FB) 17 13 28 4 2.2 4 0
Tristan Jackson (CB) 17 2 18 13 9.0 0 3
Kamau Peterson (SB) 18 1 13 13 13.0 0 0
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 1 10 10 10.0 0 0
Kelly Campbell (WR) 15 1 6 6 6.0 0 0
Stefan LeFors (QB) 1 1 2 2 2.0 0 0
Kamau Peterson (SB) 18 0 0 0 0.0 0 3
Tyler Clutts (DE) 18 0 0 0 0.0 0 1
Jason Goss (HB) 17 0 0 0 0.0 0 3
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 0 0 0 0.0 0 3
Kelly Campbell (WR) 15 0 0 0 0.0 0 3
Andrew Nowacki (WR) 13 0 0 0 0.0 0 1

[6]

Receiving

Player GP No. Yds Avg. LG TD
Kamau Peterson (SB) 18 101 1,315 13.0 66 4
Kelly Campbell (WR) 15 54 1,223 22.6 53 7
Fred Stamps (SB) 14 50 751 15.0 46 6
Calvin McCarty (RB) 18 70 583 8.3 27 1
A. J. Harris (RB) 11 37 422 11.4 39 0
Maurice Mann (SB) 7 31 420 13.5 44 4
Andrew Nowacki (WR) 13 28 369 13.2 31 2
Jason Tucker (WR) 5 14 235 16.8 36 2
Kevin Challenger (WR) 5 8 166 20.8 80 0
Brock Ralph (WR) 6 13 164 12.6 46 0
Mathieu Bertrand (FB) 17 22 161 7.3 29 0
Greg Prator (WR) 3 7 96 13.7 27 0
Ronald McClendon (RB) 2 8 67 8.4 14 0
Damien Anderson (RB) 2 7 57 8.1 15 0

[7]

Defence

Player GP TKL STT KD Sacks Ints Int Yds Int LG Int TD Fumb R. Fumb Yds Fumb LG Fumb TD Fumb F.
Agustin Barrenechea (LB) 18 68 2 1 3 2 16 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
Siddeeq Shabazz (LB) 18 63 6 0 3 1 4 4 0 1 3 3 0 2
Kenny Onatolu (LB) 14 60 8 3 3 0 0 0 0 2 3 3 0 1
Jason Goss (HB) 17 52 0 6 1 5 182 94 2 3 55 34 0 0
Jordan Younger (CB) 15 52 0 8 0 1 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jonté Buhl (CB/HB) 16 49 4 4 1 4 46 27 0 0 0 0 0 0
Shannon Garrett (DB) 18 45 1 4 1 1 30 30 0 1 25 25 1 0
Keith Williams (DB) 6 36 1 1 0 1 9 9 0 1 0 0 0 1
Lenny Williams (HB) 9 35 2 1 0 2 23 16 0 0 0 0 0 3
Dario Romero (DT) 16 30 0 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Jim Davis (DE) 14 26 0 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Montez Murphy (DE) 12 24 0 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brandon Guillory (DE) 13 21 0 2 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tyler Clutts (DE) 18 21 16 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 0 0
Fred Perry (DE) 7 17 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1
Eric Taylor (DT) 6 17 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Bradley Robinson (DB) 7 14 1 2 0 3 52 30 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tristan Jackson (CB) 17 11 1 4 0 2 123 89 1 0 0 0 0 1
Joe Anoa'i (DT) 3 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Scott Coe (LB) 12 6 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Darrell Robertson (LB) 2 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Trey Young (LB) 2 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Kamau Peterson (SB) 18 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Wale Dada (CB) 3 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Calvin Armstrong (OG) 17 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
A. J. Harris (RB) 11 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Calvin McCarty (RB) 18 3 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Patrick Kabongo (OG) 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Ricky Ray (QB) 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
John Comiskey (OG) 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Patrick Kabongo (OG) 18 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kelly Campbell (WR) 15 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Brock Ralph (WR) 6 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Justin Cooper (DE) 18 1 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Pierre-Luc Yao (RB) 18 1 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mathieu Bertrand (FB) 17 1 21 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Andrew Nowacki (WR) 13 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Fred Stamps (SB) 14 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Dan Comiskey (C) 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Maurice Mann (SB) 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Tucker (WR) 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jason Maas (QB) 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chris Ciezki (FB) 18 0 24 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 4 4 0 1
Adrian Baird (DE) 18 0 14 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2
Derrick Doggett (LB) 4 0 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Taylor Inglis (LS) 18 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tim St. Pierre (LB) 18 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mike Maurer (FB) 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
J. R. LaRose (DB) 8 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kevin Challenger (WR) 18 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

[8]

Kickoffs

Player GP KO Att. Yds KO Avg. LG Singles
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 77 4,636 60.2 73 0
Derek Schiavone (K/P) 1 5 258 51.6 53 0

Kicking

Player GP FG FG Att. FG% LG SG XP XP Att. XP% PTS
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 35 46 76.1 54 7 48 48 100.0 160
Derek Schiavone (K/P) 1 3 3 100.0 28 0 4 4 100.0 13
Calvin McCarty (RB) 18 0 1 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 1

[9]

Punting

Player GP Punts Yds Avg. SG LG
Noel Prefontaine (K/P) 17 103 4,831 46.9 11 75
Derek Schiavone (K/P) 1 3 109 36.3 0 41

[10]

Returning

Player GP K. Ret. KR Yds KR Avg. KR TD KR LG P. Ret. PR Yds PR Avg. PR TD PR LG MFG Ret. MFG Yds MFG Avg. MFG LG MFG TD
Tristan Jackson (CB) 17 35 839 24.0 1 94 79 809 10.2 2 67 5 142 28.4 64 0
Fred Stamps (SB) 14 14 297 21.2 0 49 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Kelly Campbell (WR) 15 13 291 22.4 0 51 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Tyler Clutts (DE) 18 6 37 6.2 0 12 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Lenny Williams (HB) 9 4 99 24.8 0 39 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Bradley Robinson (DB) 7 4 59 14.8 0 24 6 33 5.5 0 9 0 0 0.0 0 0
Damien Anderson (RB) 2 3 56 18.7 0 20 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mathieu Bertrand (FB) 17 3 34 11.3 0 16 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Jason Goss (HB) 17 0 0 0.0 0 0 1 5 5.0 0 5 0 0 0.0 0 0

[11]

Awards and records

All-Star selections

[12]

Milestones

Playoffs

The Eskimos advanced to the East Division playoffs as "crossover" being that they had a better record than Toronto. By defeating Winnipeg, Edmonton became the first crossover team from the West to win an Eastern semi-final.

Week Date Visitor Score Home OT Attendance
Division Semi-Final Nov 8 Edmonton Eskimos 29–21 Winnipeg Blue Bombers 27,493
Division Final Nov 15 Edmonton Eskimos 26–36 Montreal Alouettes 38,132

East semi-final

Date and time: Saturday, November 8, 12:00 PM Central Standard Time
Venue: Canad Inns Stadium, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Edmonton Eskimos 3 18 8 0 29
Winnipeg Blue Bombers 8 7 0 6 21

East final

Date and time: Saturday, November 15, 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
Venue: Olympic Stadium, Montreal, Quebec

Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Total
Edmonton Eskimos 7 6 0 13 26
Montreal Alouettes 3 16 10 7 36

References

  1. ^ "Draft List for Year 2008" (PDF). Canadian Football League. 2008-01-28. Retrieved May 6, 2008.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Kicked to the curb
  3. ^ "CFL fans remember Ron Lancaster". CBC News. September 19, 2008. Archived from the original on September 23, 2008. Retrieved September 23, 2008.
  4. ^ a b "CFL legend Ron Lancaster dies at 69". Archived from the original on 2008-09-19. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  5. ^ a b "CFL.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-03-18. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  6. ^ "Rushing 2008 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2015-10-22. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  7. ^ "Receiving 2008 | Statistics | CFL.ca | Official Site of the Canadian Football League". Archived from the original on 2015-10-20. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
  8. ^ "CFL Statistics – Sportsnet.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  9. ^ "CFL Statistics - Sportsnet.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  10. ^ "CFL Statistics - Sportsnet.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-07-08. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  11. ^ "CFL Statistics – Sportsnet.ca". Archived from the original on 2009-06-20. Retrieved 2009-06-17.
  12. ^ "CFL.ca - 2008 East & West Division All-Stars". Archived from the original on 2008-12-06. Retrieved 2017-08-23.
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