Friday, June 24, 2005

Renegades drop opening day decision to Eskimos

Edmonton knocks off Ottawa 41-16 at Commonwealth Stadium

Game Statistics

EDMONTON - Ricky Ray picked up right where he left off.

Edmonton's marquee quarterback and the CFL's highest paid player lived up to his billing by tossing two touchdowns and running for a pair of others for his first win since 2003 as the Edmonton Eskimos dominated the Ottawa Renegades 41-16 for a season-opening win Friday.

"It's good to be back," said Ray, who re-signed with Edmonton after one season in the NFL and picked apart the Renegades defence for 354 yards on 34 completions to the delight of 36,912 at Commonwealth Stadium. "I love playing up here."

The 25-year-old Ray wore a knee brace after hyper-extending his right knee in the pre-season and ran for one-yard scores in the second and fourth quarters.

Ray stood poised in the pocket despite constant pressure to find slotback Jason Tucker for a diving second-quarter catch in the end zone for one of two scores on his birthday as the Eskimos led 19-9 at the half.

"You don't mention that too much around here," Tucker said of his birthday. Tucker, who finished with four receptions for 46 yards, said he had never scored twice on his birthday.

"You try to keep it on the down-low, but somebody always seems to find out about it."

Tucker, who turned 29, also caught a 16-yard touchdown from Ray in the third quarter.

Edmonton head Danny Maciocia, who won his first career game as a CFL head coach with 18 new faces in Edmonton's starting lineup, had nothing but praise for Ray.

"He called a great game."

Ottawa's porous offensive line gave up seven sacks to extend their winless streak in Edmonton to 18 games dating back to 1983.

"Our execution has to be better," said Greg Marshall, the former Edmonton assistant who was passed over for the head coaching job in favour of Maciocia and landed in Ottawa as the defensive co-ordinator. "We missed a couple of plays."

Defensive lineman Rashad Jeanty had three of Edmonton's sacks on Renegades quarterback Kerry Joseph.

"We're going to get after people and play with an attitude," said Maciocia. "You saw it first-hand tonight."

Edmonton slotback Mookie Mitchell led all receivers with eight catches for 128 yards as the Eskimos put up 421 yards of total offence to Ottawa's 184.

Renegades speedy wide receiver Jason Armstead had and electrifying 87-yard punt return for a score in the second quarter and blazed for a 54-yard touchdown in the fourth, but otherwise Ottawa could only muster two singles.

"Rough one," said Joseph, who shed 20 pounds in the off-season but couldn't shed the pressure in connecting on 14 passes of 26 attempts for 182 yards. "They made the plays and we didn't."

Ottawa conceded two safeties and Edmonton got a 27-yard field goal and two 10-yard field goals from Sean Fleming to win just their second season-opening game in the last seven seasons.

Notes: Ottawa's Keaton Cromartie, a five-year pro who started at middle linebacker, suffered a concussion in the first quarter and did not return. ... Eskimos right guard Kevin Lefsrud limped off the field in the third quarter ... CFL commissioner Tom Wright took in the game ... The Renegades have a one-day $99 season ticket pass sale to be offered on the Internet Saturday.