Music: {allcanada} Braidwood to make first start in 2 years

EDMONTON -- Adam Braidwood will play football Friday for the Edmonton Eskimos for the first time since he tore his knee up two years ago. It was an injury that brought so much pain, he almost quit the game.

"I've got everything to prove. Our whole team does," said Braidwood after the team practised Wednesday at Commonwealth Stadium. "That's extra pressure, but I love it. I love digging myself out of a hole."

The 26-year-old defensive lineman is set to start at defensive tackle when the winless 0-4 Eskimos take on the visiting 1-3 B.C. Lions.

It's been a long road back for Braidwood, who tore up his left knee against the Saskatchewan Roughriders on Oct. 26, 2007.

Since then, he has had three surgeries on it in two years: rehabbing it, then tearing it, rehabbing then tearing -- a process that likely wasn't helped by Braidwood mixing in some mixed martial arts fighting on the side.

He was set to return in training camp 2009, when he learned the knee was torn again. The pain was excruciating. He couldn't push a shopping cart, couldn't walk his dog. A year of lonely rehab was now going to be followed by yet another.

He was 25 and ready to quit.

"I was limping around the locker-room and it hurt, and I said 'Man, I've got to go through this (rehab) again. It's going to take me a year to get ready.

"(Quarterback) Jason Maas looked at me and said, 'Yeah, but you've got to do it.' And that was it. No second thought. I kind of snapped out of it and never really thought about it again."

Braidwood, after starting the year on the Eskimos practice roster, has been elevated to the starting right tackle spot, taking over for Justin Brown, beside left tackle Dario Romero on a team desperate to stop the run if it's going to beat the Lions.

The Double-E defence is giving up an average 32.3 points against a game, tied with Saskatchewan for worst in the league. They've allowed six rushing TDs, worst in the league. Teams gain 7.7 yards per run against them, also the worst.

Coach Richie Hall says the numbers are damning, but also misleading.

"We've given up chunks of yards (but on few plays)," he said. "What we have to do defensively is prevent them from making the big play.

"That's what you want to do -- make them work for it."

Braidwood said they have the right players, but some of the imports are still adapting to the Canadian game.

"When guys are new to the CFL they don't always know how important being in the right spot is. It's such a big field. It's such a fast game. If you make one little mistake it can cost you."

Braidwood is one of three changes in the Eskimos lineup.

The offensive line was ripped for three sacks in the first quarter in last Saturday's 47-21 loss to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Right tackle Joe McGrath has been replaced by Jeremy Parquet, a six-foot-seven man-mountain from Louisiana who dressed for the Pittsburgh Steelers when they beat the Arizona Cardinals in Super Bowl 43 in January 2009.

Parquet played last year for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the fledgling United Football League.

"I'm excited man. I'm not about to sit here and tell you I'm not excited. I'm excited," said Parquet, 28.

"I didn't come here to sit and wait.

"I got two sons. One asks me `Where are you, Dad?' I say, 'I'm playing football, son.' 'Well (he replies) I don't see you on TV."'

Roderick Williams takes over for veteran Jason Goss at cornerback.

Offensively, the Eskimos are in the middle of the pack with 160 rushing yards and 283 passing yards a game. They have the ball for more than half the average contests at 32:35; only Calgary has the ball more.

But they're averaging just 18.5 points a game, worst in the CFL.

"It's turnovers, missed opportunities, leaving points on the board," said quarterback Ricky Ray, who has taken the heat for four interceptions.

"We're just going out there and waiting for someone else to make a play.

"We don't have that killer instinct right now."

It hasn't been a good week for the Eskimos. After the Blue Bombers drubbing, team president Rick LeLacheur held a news conference to announce that heads are on the chopping block.

The call-in shows have featured the annual demands from a cadre of fans to fire general manager Danny Maciocia as the main man responsible for a team that hasn't hosted a playoff game since 2004.

However Edmonton will host at least one this year, as the Grey Cup is set for Nov. 28 at Commonwealth.