The Edmonton Elks scored touchdowns on their first two drives of the game on Sunday and held off the Ottawa Redblacks for a 39-33 win at Commonwealth Stadium. The Gatorade came out for first-year head coach Mark Kilam with 11 seconds left and fans left happy for the first time this season. Here are my thoughts on the game.
Hot start
It started on the very first drive. Less than four minutes into the game, Tre Ford found Justin Rankin on a screen pass that turned into a 45-yard touchdown. Ford had talked early in the week about how Ottawa played an aggressive defence and he would take advantage. An efficient 82-yard drive carried a spark.
Seven minutes later, the second drive finished with Kurleigh Gittens Jr. running in a second touchdown. Leading 15-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Elks were off to a hot start as Ford went eight-for-eight passing and the short game seemed to be paying off.
The defence also came to play, allowing only a field goal alongside back-to-back two-and-outs. This was the best first quarter I’ve seen from the Green and Gold in quite some time.
“We had a lot of run-pass options,” Ford said. “Throwing little short passes and flats and that’s because we knew (strong-side linebacker Adarius) Pickett likes to blitz a lot. We knew we were going to get some of those off the edge and that was one that Rankin actually scored on. I think (offensive coordinator Jordon Maksymic) put me in good spots today and just the offence in general.”
Rank the Tank
Second-year running back Justin Rankin led the way with 174 offensive yards. The roster generously lists him at five-foot-ten but he plays much bigger than his frame. As mentioned, he ran in a 45-yard screen pass in the first quarter and added a 74-yard touchdown run in the third.
The Northwest Missouri State product’s reads and cuts have gotten better and better as gets to know his new-look offensive line. With 12 carries, this was his first 100-yard rushing game of 2025.
Edmonton has deployed a two-back system with Rankin and Javon Leake each taking turns on different series. The former saw most of the reps in this one and put up an 8.8-yard average with the show of confidence. Is there more of a competition with Leake?
“Thunder and lightning,” said Rankin. “You ain’t never seen nothing like it. Leake is an unselfish guy. When I start to get hot, he says, ‘Just go, you’re rolling.’ And when he’s hot, it’s vice-versa. I don’t think there’s any selfishness in the room from all the guys and when you have depth at a certain position like that, it’s hard to stop.”
Defensive support
Sunday saw Edmonton give up another 400-plus yard game on defence but still it still felt like an improvement because many of those yards were give up in prevent mode late in the contest.
Dru Brown was back in at quarterback for the Redblacks and was riding three consecutive 400-plus-yard passing games. The second-year Ottawa starter put up a 480-yard passing game against Edmonton in Week 6 of 2024, which led to questions all week about how J.C. Sherritt’s defence could slow down Brown.
Where I noticed the biggest difference was in the secondary. The addition of rookie Chelen Garnes and moving Kordell Jackson back to halfback has stabilized the coverage. Garnes finished with nine tackles to take the top spot for any defender, a spot that’s usually reserved for last year’s rookie sensation Nick Anderson.
Robbie Smith had his best game in green and gold. The big free-agent signing has been rather quiet to this point but his four tackles were noticeable in shutting down the Ottawa run game. I’m still waiting for the pressure to come from this vaunted front four, but improving to only allowing 89 yards on the ground is a good step forward.
Devodric Bynum has also solidified his spot at cornerback. The second-year defender has had less thrown his way and, when passes come, he is delivering bone-crushing hits. Former Edmonton receiver Eugene Lewis felt one of those in the fourth quarter and the crowd seemed to feel it as well.
It was far from a perfect game but holding Ottawa’s Brown-led offence to four field goals, seven punts, two touchdowns, and a turnover on downs is an improvement. Ten of those points came when the lead was well in place. Overall, the unit appears to be improving its consistency and communication.
Quarterback shuffle
Even with some of the struggles the Elks have faced in the first three games, they have stuck with Tre Ford at QB1. Veteran backup Cody Fajardo had only seen short yardage plays this early season. The thought was that Kilam was giving Ford all the rope he needed to learn. When asked if there was any thought of swapping the two for growth or perspective, there was a definite no.
Ford started this game hot and was nine-for-nine passing through four drives and seemed to have full control. At the six-minute mark of the second quarter, though, in came Fajardo to run the offence. I was baffled.
Everyone seemed to be scanning the sidelines to see if Tre was OK. The series went three plays and a punt. Fajardo is a good quarterback who can have a huge role for this team, but the timing was suspect with the heater the University of Waterloo product was on. Ford came out on the following drive after Ottawa had scored a touchdown and it did seem some momentum was lost.
Edmonton repeated the switch near the end of the third quarter with another two-and-out being the result and the starter returning the next drive. Although I can appreciate letting both get some snaps in, this seemed forced and at odd times. Kilam did confirm this was planned beforehand, and gave the younger QB a chance to watch the defence from the sidelines. It didn’t hurt his 158.3 quarterback rating either, going 88 percent with 212 yards and two touchdowns.
“It was a weird spot, too, because our iPads were down,” Ford said. “We were getting really bad angles. It was showing just the pocket and we couldn’t see the defence. It was nice to let Cody get a feel for the game, then I was able to talk to him a little bit about it. Every time I mess up, or feel like I mess up, or do something right I just go ask Cody. He says, ‘You could have done this or done that.’ He’s nice to have out there for sure.”
Is that even allowed?
Ten years ago — that was the last time Edmonton had a punt returned for a touchdown. After having the most prolific punt returner in CFL history in Henry ‘Gizmo’ Williams, the fanbase had succumbed to the fact that this team just didn’t do that anymore — until Sunday night, that is.
Javon Leake was brought in last year for his return abilities shown with the Argonauts in 2023. The return game has shown growth each game this year and it came to a head in the second quarter when Leake ripped off a 94-yard return off Richie Leone to put the Double-E up 21-3. It was almost all for not as he jogged the last 10 yards and almost got caught. A brilliant cut to follow his blockers at the 35-yard line turned this wide open.
Clearly, Kilam’s special teams influence is starting to pay dividends.
The Elks hit the home field again on Sunday, July 13 to take on the B.C. Lions. This will be another big challenge with a top quarterback who has found success against the Green and Gold. The process with the young team seems to be coming along and I look forward to the improvements still to come.
Andrew Hoskins is a lifelong Edmonton resident and the host of the Turf District Podcast.
