Apparently losing football games is the way to go, if you want to be the starting quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos. With all due respect to head coach Kavis Reed and veteran Kerry Joseph, the fact this club is even considering using Joseph as the starting QB over Steven Jyles, is simply flabbergasting.

PHOTO CREDIT - Esks.com

Edmonton - September 11, 2012 - Apparently losing football games is the way to go, if you want to be the starting quarterback for the Edmonton Eskimos. With all due respect to head coach Kavis Reed and veteran Kerry Joseph, the fact this club is even considering using Joseph as the starting QB for the remainder of the season, is simply flabbergasting.

While Steven Jyles may not be everyone's cup of tea, fact is, the guy has found ways to win football games, as the Eskimos starter. If not for his late fumble in Winnipeg, Jyles would be sitting with a 6-2 mark at the helm of Edmonton's offence, whereas Joseph has gone 0-2 in his two starts since replacing the injured Jyles. Not only has he gone winless but the Esks offence are coming off what was frankly, as bad a performance as any in recent memory. So what gives?

It's no big deal for Joseph to start this week against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, as Jyles is still not 100%, but why even hint that the soon to be thirty-nine year old, could be the starter moving forward? What exactly has he done to possibly earn the number one role and conversely, what has Jyles done to lose his starting job?

At the end of the day, it's about winning football games and that's exactly what Steven Jyles has done...as ugly as it might be to watch. While neither of these two are the long term answer in Edmonton, playing the guy in his "prime" should be a no brainer.

The fact Reed told reporters on Monday afternoon that, “The way Kerry has been playing, we owe it to this franchise to continue with Kerry Joseph right now, given that Steven is not completely healthy”, was not overly surprising. However, when he decided to add the following bombshell, “To be quite honest, we had a chat with Steven, if Kerry continues on the way he is, we may look at that as the option for us", is more than a little alarming.

Perhaps they should turn their attention towards figuring out what to do with their ineffective offensive line and straightening out their overcrowded backfield, instead of pinning their hopes on a forty year old backup quarterback. Figure out how to get the ball in the hands of Jerome Messam and Cory Boyd and running an efficient offence, instead of playing mind games with your quarterbacks.

If this franchise honestly believes they can get to where they want to be with Kerry Joseph leading the charge, more power to them. Having said that, as good a coach as Kavis Reed is and as good a General Manager as Eric Tillman has proven to be, neither should be part of this franchise after this season, if that is their course of action.

If they don't have confidence in Jyles being their guy, that's completely understandable. Than go out and find someone who can do the job or let the season play out with Matt Nichols at the helm. At least something productive could come of that. Going with Kerry Joseph accomplishes absolutely nothing.