It was another tough pill to swallow for Edmonton Elks fans, this time a 20-16 loss to the Ottawa Redblacks.
After hanging with the top four teams in the league to start the season, the Elks have now dropped both games in the home-and-home series with Ottawa. For the second straight season, the Green and Gold have started “oh for” in the first six games.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Things that went right — literally
On the positive side, Edmonton did not lose by a walk-off field goal for a fourth consecutive game. However, field goals, or a lack thereof, did play a role in the latest loss.
After the Elks were praised in the offseason for bringing in the most accurate kicker from last season, Boris Bede has struggled so far in what has been called “the year of the kicker”. Five of the nine kickers in the league are over 90 percent on field goals so far, with only two below 82 percent. Bede had the lowest in the league at 77 percent going into Week 7 and Friday night did not improve that stat.
The Elks kicker went just four-for-seven on field goal attempts, dropping his average for the year to an abysmal 62 percent. Only one of those misses generated a conceded single point, leaving eight points off the board. Edmonton lost by six.
If only this team had a kicker like Sergio Castillo… oh, wait. Or maybe better if we had Sean Whyte… oh, wait. After not finding a way to pay those two gentlemen, Chris Jones delivered the bag to Boris Bede. That has not worked as well as expected.
Offensive ugliness
Speaking of those seven field goal attempts, they were necessary due to the absolute lack of ball movement by the Elks. 12 rushing plays yielded a total of 40 yards and McLeod Bethel-Thompson was 27-of-39 passing (69 percent) for 206 yards through the air. It was his worst performance so far this season.
The offensive line struggled with Ottawa’s front seven bringing pressure consistently. MBT had to rush a lot of his throws while getting hit and picked himself up off the turf more times than I care to think about. The big boys up front are still not opening holes for Kevin Brown to do his thing and run up the field either. He is having to break to the outside when his strength is up the middle and the linebackers are flowing to those spots before he gets a head of steam.
In a bizarre move, new interim head coach Jarious Jackson brought in Tre Ford on the third series of the game. Bethel-Thompson was two-of-three passing at that point and had put a field goal on the board. Ford went two-and-out on both series he played. He was not on the field for the rest of the game.
“I was trying to get Tre in,” Jackson said post-game. “We know he’s a little rusty so I wanted to stick with that. At the same time, it kind of threw McLeod off. I felt like we pressed a little bit here and there but those guys will get used to it. This is the first time we had to do it.”
I want to see Ford in games with a full package that compliments him but this seemed like a disruptive way to insert him. It was not good for either quarterback as neither could get into a rhythm. I don’t think they need to start Ford right now as MBT has been far from the problem, but Jackson has difficult times ahead if he wants to balance them both and still set each up for success. Hopefully being a rotational quarterback in his playing career can help Jarious to navigate this the right way.
Defence steps up
For all the talk about how bad they were in the last game, the Edmonton defence stepped up to the challenge in this one. Dominique Rhymes had a 36-yard catch over Darius Bratton less than three minutes into the game and that was only Elks-plosion play allowed. Some could argue there was offensive pass interference on that play as well but it was not called. After having three plays over 60 yards in the first meeting, this was a drastic improvement.
New defensive line coach Almondo Sewell seems to have sparked some big plays. There was significantly more pressure throughout this game and the line contributed two of the three sacks on the night. I really liked what Shawn Oakman brought in his second game, he was disruptive despite recording just two tackles. Elliott Brown had his best game in green and gold with five tackles and numerous pressures. Mondo knows what it is like to play with a guy like that on the edge and will get him to a new level.
The secondary contributed with two interceptions and two knockdowns. Bratton bounced back from the early miscue to get one of those picks. Loucheiz Purifoy was all over the field and delivered a couple of big hits to go with his knockdown.
The linebackers contributed 11 tackles, a forced fumble, and a tackle for a loss. They seem to be growing as a unit and could be more effective as the season progresses. Nyles Morgan stands out again, leading the team in defensive plays, and is developing that leadership role by getting guys in place. They were a positive on another tough evening.
Losing streak, again
Edmonton is now up to 10 straight losses dating back to last season — the third-longest losing streak in club history. They are still less than a year out from setting the longest streak with 13 losses in a row from October 2022 to August 2023.
The next three games are home against Hamilton, away at Saskatchewan, and home against B.C. Their best chance to avoid tying that record will come in Week 8 against the Ticats. If that doesn’t happen, the Elks may not only be looking at tying that inauspicious record but surpassing it.
With Geroy Simon taking on the role of interim general manager after the departure of Chris Jones, there is not much he can do to help support this team in the short term. There may be tweaks as was reported by Dave Campbell of 630 CHED and the longer week ahead may generate a few of those. I’d suggest special teams and offensive line as a good starting point.
Big Injuries
Three big injuries happened in Friday night’s tilt. Elks’ defensive lineman Sam Acheampong suffered a lower-body injury after he was rolled up on at the goalline and needed the cart to get off the field. Safety Scott Hutter had a lower-body injury too, though his appeared to be non-contact while covering a kick. Redblacks’ defensive back Tobias Harris also needed the cart after a leg injury on a kick return in the fourth quarter.
Edmonton’s right guard Hunter Steward also left the game with an upper-body injury, though it’s unclear how extensive that injury is. With the way the O-line had played to that point, I did not notice much of a difference after his departure.
Bethel-Thompson went to the mics after the game to, again, voice his displeasure with the schedule.
“How many season-ending injuries did we and that team have tonight?” he asked Claire Hanna on TSN, before launching into a long rant. He also said that he knew he would be fined for it but had to stick up for his brothers.
Edmonton has three short weeks this year with only four days rest between games. This was the second time with the first coming between their Week 3 game in Toronto and their Week 4 game against B.C. Both of the other times they play the same team, Ottawa in this instance and Calgary in the annual Labour Day series. It is a tough one with the league wanting to go more towards four nights of football with only nine teams.
Is MBT right that the short weeks could be causing injuries? Possibly, but this is not the only league to have short turnarounds. Is it better when it is the same two teams facing each other? At least there is no competitive disadvantage.
Could this one have been pushed to a Saturday doubleheader instead of a Friday? Maybe. Do I think he will get a heavy fine for taking it to an interview? Definitely. I do not envy the schedule makers on how they find a way to make the whole thing work to start with.
Next Up
Edmonton comes home to meet the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday, July 28. In what will be the “toilet bowl” of the league, the two teams will see who can get out of their own way and put one in the win column.
Just to be clear, those are on the left side of the win-loss column so no more going wide right.
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Andrew Hoskins is a lifelong Edmonton resident and the host of the Turf District Podcast.
