EDMONTON — Andre Talbot has a message to send, but it’s not personal.
The Toronto-born slotback who grew up with Argonaut posters on his wall and played for the CFL team for nine years, will face them as the enemy for the first time at Commonwealth Stadium on Friday (TSN, 8 p.m.).
“No matter who I’m playing, I’m going to go out there with a chip on my shoulder, knowing I’ve got to prove (myself) every week to everybody,” said Talbot after practice Wednesday with the Edmonton Eskimos.
“I think when I first step on the field to see the Double Blue it will be a little surreal, but it’s not something I’m overthinking.
“I’ll probably say hello to a few guys, slap high-fives a couple of times, but once the whistle blows, it’s game on.”
It hasn’t really been game on for awhile for the 32-year-old, who was traded by the Argos to Edmonton last February in a deal that saw defensive lineman Eric Taylor go east.
Talbot caught just two passes in his first four games with Edmonton before a breakout game last Friday against the B.C. Lions capped by the game winning catch with under five minutes left.
The 28-25 win broke a winless 0-4 start for the Esks.
“It was great. That’s why I was so thrilled last week, because I was able to contribute to our first win,” said Talbot.
“We’ve started off slow, but we think we’re going to turn it around.”
Talbot caught six passes for 75 yards against B.C. to be named the team’s offensive player of the game. Teammates say it was his Houdini-esque now-you-see-him, now-you-don’t fake on the game winning drive that sealed the deal.
It happened when the Eskimos were second and goal from the nine, but down 25-21.
The Lions were in a zero blitz, where almost every defender was going after the quarterback, leaving the secondary man-on-man with the receivers with no help from the safety.
Watching game film of B.C. that week, Eskimos backup quarterback Jason Maas noticed the Lions secondary was overly aggressive when pressuring receivers in that situation.
“Generally the ball has to come out rather quickly, so they’re going to bite on the (receiver’s) first move,” Maas said.
The Eskimos, meanwhile, had shown on film that they liked to throw the quick slant in those situations. Maas suggested when the time was right, the receiver should sell the slant, but then head upfield.
That call came with 4:20 left in a driving rain.
Positioned in the slot to quarterback Ricky Ray’s right, Talbot drove off the line and faked to the inside to freeze B.C. safety Tad Crawford. He then slipped past him and under the goalpost crossbar as Ray ducked the blitz and floated the ball into his waiting arms.
“Crawford jumped the route pretty hard, and that’s all (Talbot) needed,” said a smiling Eskimos head coach Richie Hall. “It was a big play.”
It was also a shot in the arm for a player who had career years in Toronto in 2007 and 2008, becoming a fan favourite, before seeing it all come apart in 2009.
Talbot missed the first two games with a bad back last season, returned, caught one pass for four yards then tore up his right ankle ligaments, tendon and cartilage.
Season over.
He was forced to stand on the sidelines and watch his team disintegrate to a 3-15 record.
His ankle, meanwhile, was taking forever to heal.
“It was a lot of hard work getting over the injury. I was even contemplating retirement at points, the way the ankle was feeling,” he said.
When he was traded, some of the bitterness leaked out. He labelled the Toronto organization directionless and oppressive. Time to go to Edmonton, he said. “They seem to be heading in the right direction.”
Ouch.
The formerly bottom-feeding Boatmen are now 3-2 under coach Jim Barker while the Eskimos will have to scramble to match last year’s 9-9 record. On the weekend, the team sacked general manager Danny Maciocia.
Talbot said despite the team’s record, he’s where he wants to be. Position coach Jason Tucker expects that as more defenders double-team star receivers Fred Stamps and Kelly Campbell, the coaches will call more often on Talbot.
“That’s fine,” said Talbot. “I’ve got no problem with being patient.”
The trade, he said, “gave me the boost I needed to put in the extra effort to push my ankle, get over the injuries and have that rejuvenated spirit to reclaim my career and get it back on track.”