The Edmonton Elks had a very solid first half with a record of 6-3. They are tied with Saskatchewan for first in the West, but Saskatchewan does have a game in hand. The Elks haven’t had a winning record since 2017, but in his second tour of duty as GM, and in his second season, Ed Hervey has dramatically improved his roster, and the Elks are competitive once again.
Head coach Mark Kilam is in his second season, as his defensive coordinator JC Sherritt, and the defence has vastly improved. Even after a rough loss last week in Montreal, the defence still ranks third in the CFL, but they are first in takeaways, which leads to victories more than other statistics.
It was a good first half, but they start their second half tomorrow against the Toronto Argonauts, and Edmonton can’t afford to ruin a good start. Toronto is a team they should beat, especially at home.
The EE can’t afford a three-game losing streak. Here are the keys to a victory on Saturday.
- Get Justin Rankin the ball. A lot. It was embarrassing to see Rankin only have seven carries last week in Montreal. He rushed for 62 yards and averaged an outstanding 8.9 yards per carry, yet offensive coordinator, Jordan Maksymic, opted to ignore his best play maker most of the game. That can’t happen again.
- Maksymic needs to become more of a player play caller than a system play caller. He seems focused more on the play, rather than the skill set of his players. Systems are great, and important, but players win games much more than systems do. He needs to be more creative, spread out the offence more often on run calls, by incorporating pitches and tosses to Rankin more frequently. Rankin is the most dangerous player in the CFL. He must get 18-20 touches a game. There is no excuse for him touching the ball seven times. If needed, the Elks need someone tracking his touches, and if he hasn’t touched the ball enough, call plays to ensure he gets the ball.
- Tackle better. The special teams have been on a downward trajectory for the past five weeks, and missed tackles have become too frequent. The defence had their worst tackling game of the season in Montreal. The coaches saw this and on Wednesday they had multiple tackling stations set up in practice. The Elks have been very physical all season, a main reason they lead the league in takeaways, and the defence will be fired up to show that was a one-off.
- Special teams must improve. Kicker Vincent Blanchard and punter Jake Julien have been excellent, but the cover and return teams are struggling. The Elks lead the CFL with 23 penalties on special teams. They need to be more disciplined, but also their blocking and cover teams need to improve. I’ve heard Kilam had more influence on the systems in practice this week, which should help. That was his specialty for years when he was the ST coordinator in Calgary.
- Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly is on pace to pass for over 6000 passing yards. The Argos rely on the pass more than any team in the CFL. Samuel Hicks, their main running back, only has 60 carries while Kelly has 273 pass attempts. Kelly takes a lot of shots downfield, and he isn’t afraid to throw 50/50 balls which is why he leads the CFL with 13 interceptions. He threw four interceptions in their victory over Calgary last weekend, and when asked about his high interception rate he said, “I will never be a check-down Charlie.” He will keep throwing and the Elks secondary need to make him pay.
STATS PACKAGES…
- The Argos have eight sacks over their last two games; they are 4-1 when recording multiple sacks in a game.
- Janarion Grant’s 64-yard punt-return TD last week was the 12th of his career and moved him into second place all-time behind the great Henry “Gizmo” Williams who had 26. Grant is the most exciting and consistent returner I’ve seen since Williams.
- The Elks have allowed 36.7 points per game over their past three contests. The offence could help them by having a few long drives.
- Cody Fajardo became the 12th player to reach the 100-passing TDs-50-rushing major plateau last week.
- Fajardo says he isn’t great at passing downfield, yet this season he leads the league in 20-yard+ depth pass completion rate at 56.8%.
- Austin Mack is averaging 5.7 catches, 120 yards and one TD in his last three games.
- Tyrell Ford is tied for the league lead with five interceptions and all of them have come in the past five games. He dropped a few early in the year or he could be at seven or eight.
- The Elks are 6-0 when leading after three quarters.
