Edmonton @ BC preview

Last Meeting ( Jun 29, 2018 ) BC 22, Edmonton 41

The visiting Edmonton Eskimos look to extend their winning streak to four games when they face the BC Lions on Thursday. The Eskimos were able to grind out a 26-19 victory against Saskatchewan Roughriders to stay within striking distance of the first-place Calgary Stampeders and hope to continue their winning ways by knocking off the Lions for the fifth consecutive time.

Edmonton has won six straight games against West Division rivals, including a 41-22 victory against BC in Week 3, and can pull within two points of the unbeaten Stampeders with another victory. BC dropped its fourth consecutive road game following a 27-18 defeat to Calgary in Week 8 to remain in the West Division basement. The Lions have lost 10 of their last 14 games against division rivals since the start of the 2017 season and hope to avoid falling further out of the playoff picture by beating the Eskimos for the first time since a 26-23 victory on Aug.6, 2015. "We can't wallow on this loss," BC quarterback Travis Lulay told reporters. "We have to make a focused effort to be better."

TV: 10 p.m. ET, TSN, ESPN2

ABOUT THE ESKIMOS (5-2): Mike Reilly threw for a season-low 257 yards and a touchdown against Saskatchewan, but moved past Bernie Foley (24,264) for 20th place on the CFL's all-time passing list with 24,383. "I missed a fair amount of throws that I normally hit and that made the game tougher than it could have been," Reilly admitted to reporters. "It was a game where our mental toughness was tested and we made the plays we had to." Derel Walker had a big night as he caught six passes for 154 yards and a touchdown against the Roughriders while Duke Williams was limited to two catches for 41 yards to see his streak of consecutive 100-yard receiving games end at five in a row.

ABOUT THE LIONS (2-4): Jeremiah Johnson rushed for 50 yards and a touchdown against the Stampeders after missing the previous game with an ankle issue while backup running backs Chris Rainey (ankle) and Brandon Rutley (knee) sat out because of injury. Bryan Burnham hauled in seven passes for 76 yards and his first touchdown of the season while Manny Arceneaux finished with three receptions for 53 yards against Calgary to surpass 8,000 receiving yards for his career (8,002). Travon Van racked up 180 return yards on his season debut after missing the first five games while taking care of his ailing mother in San Diego.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Edmonton has won seven of the last eight meetings with BC.

2. Reilly leads the league in passing yards (2,320) and total touchdowns (20).

3. The Lions have failed to score more than 20 points in three of their last four games.

PREDICTION: Lions 30, Eskimos 27