Edmonton Eskimos' quarterback Mike Reilly, left, gets a pass away under pressure from Winnipeg Blue Bombers' Henoc Muamba during first half CFL action in Winnipeg on Friday, September 20, 2013.JOHN WOODS/The Canadian Press
Mike Reilly was happy and relieved it was Edmonton Eskimos' turn to be on the right side of a close game.
The Eskimos quarterback threw for 418 yards and one touchdown as his team dug its way out of a big hole to defeat the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 35-27 in overtime Friday.
Hugh Charles ran nine yards for the winning TD and Shamawd Chambers hauled in the two-point convert pass.
"We've had our fair share of games where they've been just like this and we've been on the other end," said Reilly, who didn't tally any rushing yards after running for 113 yards in a 25-7 win over the Bombers last weekend.
"I don't think that anything would break this team, but another one of those would be tough to swallow."
Edmonton, which has lost five games this season by five or fewer points, lifted its record to 3-9, leaving the 2-10 Bombers in the CFL basement in front of 28,859 fans at Investors Group Field who booed at the end of the game.
Winnipeg had led 27-11 early in the third quarter before the Eskimos started chipping away to force overtime after a wild tipped pass late in regulation.
After being down 27-14 going into the fourth quarter, Edmonton backup quarterback Kerry Joseph made it 27-24 with 5:48 left when he plunged in for a one-yard TD.
Winnipeg's next possession included an Eskimos penalty that kept a drive alive, but Bombers kicker Sandro DeAngelis went wide left on a 35-yard field-goal attempt and Edmonton cornerback Joe Burnett brought it out to the one-yard line.
Reilly almost had a pass picked off and then missed on another forcing the Eskimos to punt. Winnipeg got possession at midfield, but also ended up punting with 1:29 left.
Edmonton started from its own 29-yard line and a flukey play kept the drive alive.
On third down with 10 yards to go, Reilly started scrambling and threw a long pass that bounced off Bomber defensive back Demond Washington's fingers into the hands of Eskimos receiver Fred Stamps for a 51-yard gain.
"I just know Mikey, he put a lot of muscle behind it and it slipped through a lot of guys' hands and it came into mine," said Stamps, who led all receivers with eight catches for 157 yards.
"Our quarterback will give us opportunity. I guess the football gods were looking down on us on that one."
Edmonton was called for an illegal block and the ball moved back to Winnipeg's 40-yard line. Reilly then completed a 30-yard pass to receiver Chambers.
Reilly went back to a wide-open Chambers in the end zone, but the receiver dropped the ball and Edmonton settled for a 17-yard field goal from Hugh O'Neill to send the game into overtime tied 27-27.
Edmonton's overtime possession was also helped when Bomber Cauchy Muamba was called for a face mask.
Winnipeg head coach Tim Burke thought Washington was trying to intercept the pass to Stamps and that was the wrong play at the wrong time.
"A veteran guy would have knocked the ball down and we would have won," Burke said.
It also didn't help they had some injuries, a missed field goal,bad penalties and starting QB Max Hall left the game late in the fourth quarter with what Burke suspected might be an injury to the rib area.
Hall was 18-of-27 for 253 yards with two interceptions and one TD.
"We definitely had a chance to win this game and did everything we could to lose it at the end," Burke said.
Veteran Bombers receiver Terrence Edwards, who caught his first TD of the year on a 12-yard pass from Hall, agreed with his coach.
"We just gave it away, that's as simple as I can put it," Edwards said.
Adarius Bowman had a 12-yard TD reception for the Eskimos. O'Neill also made field goals from 22, 35 and 46 yards, but went wide left from 17 yards out for a single.
Winnipeg backup QB Jason Boltus ran one yard for a TD, while Jovon Johnson, playing safety for the first time since November 2011 instead of his usual cornerback spot, ran 49 yards on a fumble return for his TD 32 seconds into the third quarter to make the score 27-11.
DeAngelis added field goals from 27 and 32 yards.
The Bombers led 14-0 after the first quarter and mounted a 20-0 lead until O' Neill connected on his field goal at 8:07 of the second quarter.
Edmonton took advantage of a turnover after linebacker JC Sherritt Hall intercepted Hall, which led to Bowman's TD and a 20-11 halftime score.