Along with the first part of Friday’s doubleheader, it helped to settle another piece of the playoff picture that will not include them. The game slowly, and then quickly, slipped out of reach, as it has several times during the year.

Win Probability Chart
BC Lions @ Edmonton Elks

BC pretty much had this at the half.#CFL #GoElks#BCLions pic.twitter.com/WZW2z11mCA

— CFL Stats (@CFL_Stats) October 22, 2022

Here are some thoughts on the green and gold’s finale.

30 minute cook time

As you may recall, the Lions feasted on the Elks in the first half of all three of their meetings this season. Here’s the summary:

Week 1 – eight drives; six touchdowns, two two-and-outs. 42-6 score.

Week 9 – six drives; four touchdowns, one field goal, one turnover on downs on third-and-seven. 37-7 score.

Week 20 – five drives; three touchdowns, one field goal, one punt via procedure on third-and-one. Not counted: B.C. running out 21 seconds before halftime. 24-7 score.

Total – 19 drives; 13 touchdowns, two field goals, four drives not allowing points.

This week included both the longest and shortest drives, with a 5-yard and 98-yard touchdown. Factor in swapping Nathan Rourke for Vernon Adams, and it’s hard to claim improvement within this sample.

The majority of what I comment on regarding the Elks’ staffing choices comes from a concern that there isn’t enough reason to believe this current group is capable of climbing out of the hole they’ve built, especially given the various decisions made throughout the season. The Simpsons reference “No, no, dig up stupid!” comes to mind.

It’s not impossible that they can turn it around but currently, I’m not seeing a likely path.

The fun part

It was exciting to see Tre Ford get more field time. He showed tantalizing flashes but still looked like the raw U-Sports quarterback rookie that he is. His final stat line was 22-of-36 (61 percent) for 242 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. Ford also rushed eight times for 72 yards.

He started very nicely. Due to the Lions’ dominating possession, Ford only threw four passes in the first quarter, but three of them were complete and one was a very nice arc to where only Dillon Mitchell could catch it.

Introducing the Ford Fade (trademark pending)#Elks #YEG #ElksCharge #CFLpic.twitter.com/7tUfOhY45Y

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 22, 2022

His incompletion was a hugely impressive contorted throw against the grain to Mitchell 40 yards deep, but it was a little short of where it needed to get to and T.J. Lee was just able to get a paw in and break it out of Mitchell’s hands. Props to Ford for keeping his eyes downfield rather than scrambling at an early opportunity, as young and mobile quarterbacks often do.

Ford came very close to adding more passing touchdowns on four separate occasions. One was in the third quarter, where Garry Peters kept a firm grip of Mitchell’s left hand, so pass interference brought the Elks to the one-yard line. One was in the mid-fourth quarter when Ford overthrew an extremely open Derel Walker at the Lions’ ten-yard line. Walker may have had a walk-in, but it seemed that the quarterback and receiver weren’t quite on the same page.

The third was with two minutes left, where a brilliant effort to evade defenders ended with the ball seemingly rolling somewhat off of Ford’s hand and failing to reach a wide-open Walker in the back of the endzone. It was intercepted by Marcus Sayles instead.

Last was the final offensive play of the season, where Ford threw a strike directly into Kai Locksley’s hands, but it slipped straight through.

That is all to say, there were tons of positives. As expected, there were also some negatives.

The not-quite-as-fun part

Ford had a few recurring mistakes throughout the night. Top of the list was ball security.

Like a thief in the night!@MSay1es4 picks it off and sets the @BCLions in great position!#CFLGameDay pic.twitter.com/ZVyj6n3e6D

— CFL (@CFL) October 22, 2022

His first interception came from lofting the ball over a rushing defender’s reach but also out of Mitchell’s reach. A similar idea had worked earlier in the game, but this time there was another defender too close and too much air under it, and Sayles accepted the gift. Working to the short side of the field seems like it would make that harder to fit in precisely.

Ford also fumbled once rushing, as Jordan Williams had a firm grip on his left arm, making it easier to punch the ball out from his right arm. A couple of times he got a bit lackadaisical and left throws in risky places.

Another common error was checking down too often. There were a few times when Ford seemed to rush through his throwing process a bit, but my focus is on Kevin Brown ending up with eight catches on nine targets. The young passer was too mature for his own good.

Those passes tend not to move the ball all that efficiently. The most egregious case was throwing sideways to Brown on a third and ten, which, predictably, was stopped short of the marker. It was a lapse in situational awareness, though two other moments stood out in that regard.

With less than a minute before halftime, I thought Ford did an excellent job managing the clock — moving quicker than several seasoned CFL veterans — but unfortunately, they didn’t make the necessary yardage gains to get into scoring range.

Then at the very end of the game, he took two seconds to spike the ball with five seconds left. One of the things I picked up in my rewatch was Chris Jones rapidly repeating “clock it” into his microphone, instructing his quarterback to spike it.

TSN’s visuals were messed up at the time, but it was second-and-two. I’m not sure why Jones didn’t use a timeout — I assume the broadcast missed something earlier because he should have had one left — but it wasn’t a perfect moment for a spike, seeing as it left them in third down. That’s the key difference from Taylor Cornelius doing so last week, though without it they likely would only have had time for a single play anyways. Instead, they settled in for one more good try, and technically they could have gotten a first down with a second left as well.

One other thing Ford has to learn is that everyone else on the field is a great athlete too, and going over them is difficult. He tried a couple of times without success.

I find it deeply encouraging that these seem like the mistakes of inexperience, rather than inability.

Help a guy out

Ford could’ve used some extra help from his receivers several times. There was Locksley’s endzone drop, but another pass went straight through fellow rookie receiver Lucky Jackson. A third seemed well-placed in front of Manny Arceneaux, but the veteran couldn’t quite get to it, possibly because of a little tug from the trailing defender.

Mitchell led the receivers with five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown. He was used more out of the backfield, which is a novelty for this season. Walker got up to 56 yards with three late catches, including a third-and-15 conversion over the middle.

Brown had his least productive game on the ground by far, with seven carries for 20 yards and a fumble. The new offensive line combo wasn’t able to pave the way like Brown is used to, though they seemed decent in pass protection — or at the very least, Ford made it work.

D-ficient

Very little stood out well on the defensive side of the ball. The unit never managed to sack Adams. Nobody had amazing tackle numbers.

Brief highlights include Jamie Harry making one good pass breakup at the sideline. The same can be said for Donovan Olumba on a deep pass in the centre of the field. Olumba also came up with the biggest play, intercepting Adams on a miscommunication with Jacob Scarfone. He was a late bright spot in a dark season.

Adams had a highly efficient first half, going 9-of-10 for 127 yards and a touchdown. A quiet second half saw him finish with 214 yards. Edmonton rushed three often, as is their tendency, but it didn’t much help them cover.

James Butler was the star of the evening, getting up to 95 yards and a touchdown in the first half and ending at 141 yards. He was also helped along by a spectacular number of missed tackles. Jones said after the game that, “In the first quarter, it looked like me out there tackling.” It ends a disastrous season of defending the run for the Elks, who will finish last in the league by a mile at 119 yards allowed per game.

The Elks struggled badly to get off the field for three quarters, though they concluded by forcing three straight two-and-outs.

The little things

Coach Jones lost his last challenge of the year, hoping for an incompletion to be changed to an interception. Personally, I couldn’t tell even on replay whether it should have been a turnover or incomplete.

I do disagree with Glen Suitor’s defence that Jones “didn’t know what the [camera] angles showed,” because even if the coach was 100 percent certain it was a turnover from his personal close-up view, challenges aren’t about being right; they’re about getting the call overturned.

If they wanted to win it, he ought to have someone in his ear saying, “Yes, we see it on replay, and we’re confident they’ll change the ruling.” Otherwise, it’s not much more than an impulse challenge, though, given the state of the game, it would be an understandable attempt. Enock Makonzo deserves credit for doing a perfect job preventing Adams from rolling away from his blitz and forcing the errant throw.

Jones’s late-game third-down philosophy was also strange. Down 31-14 in the fourth quarter, he punted on a third and five just inside Elks territory, and shortly after was going to punt on third and six from midfield when a Lions penalty gave them a first down instead. Yet four plays later he went for it on third and ten from B.C.’s 33-yard line — well within field goal range.

It’s good he eventually went for it and did so for the remainder of the game, but there didn’t seem to be sound reasoning behind it. 17 points down is clear “nothing to lose” territory.

Tactics

I’ve commented on Edmonton’s short kickoffs before. On Friday, their opening kickoff was dropped by an unprepared return man, and the Elks recovered. Better yet, they turned it into a touchdown in four plays, led by a 28-yard Ford scamper.

A last positive

Sergio Castillo had a perfect night, making both converts.

The sunset

Jon Ryan has announced his retirement from professional football. He had a long career between the NFL and CFL, and I wish him the best in his next chapter.

Next

The Elks have a bye in Week 21, after which they’ll be watching the playoffs from home. Thank you all for reading the recaps this year, and cheers to dreams of better days ahead.

The post Quietly into the sunset: 11 thoughts on the Elks dropping their season finale to the Lions appeared first on 3DownNation.

The Edmonton Elks have done it again, folks — they’ve shattered the hearts of their fans.

They had a 16-3 halftime lead, but let their opponents chip it away in the third quarter before crumpling in the wild fourth. The Toronto Argonauts walked away from Commonwealth Stadium with a 28-23 win, clear East Division frontrunners.

Win Probability Chart
Toronto Argonauts @ Edmonton Elks
Week 19

EDM had control of most of the game, until they didn't.#CFL#Argos#GoElks pic.twitter.com/fs5hYnWVmf

— CFL Stats (@CFL_Stats) October 16, 2022

Leads

I dug through the data during halftime to find Edmonton’s biggest leads this year. They’ve had a two-score lead three other times this season: Week 3, when they were up 13-3 on Calgary and lost 30-23; Week 11, when they came back from 12-3 down to win 30-12 in Ottawa; and Week 15, when they lost a 23-14 lead in Saskatchewan before Sergio Castillo secured a 26-24 win in the last minute.

Add to that being 16-3 up on the Argos, who took a page from the Elks’ book and won a game after being down double digits.

Say what now?

After Edmonton took a 10-3 lead, Toronto threw a bizarre illegal forward pass on the kickoff return. It wasn’t anywhere close to being a lateral, but my curiosity was aroused by it being ruled a fumble, which Edmonton recovered and turned into a field goal.

Well, that’s probably not how they drew it up… #CFL #Argos #Elks
pic.twitter.com/FtxQgTY3Jv

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 16, 2022

Normally an incomplete forward pass is ruled a dead ball but apparently the same does not hold true on illegal passes. My few minutes of digging in the rulebook didn’t find an answer, but it would make sense.

I also wonder if Toronto had a cross-field lateral prepared, as an attempt to take advantage of Edmonton’s habit of intentionally short kickoffs. I could see it succeeding, but the Argos’ execution definitely needs work.

The opposite of Thanksgiving

Taylor Cornelius started off cleanly, albeit not all that effectively. A first-throw strike to Derel Walker in the middle of the field was good, as was hitting Danny Vandervoort for a precise touchdown to start the second quarter.

Cornelius is wheeling and dealing!

Edmonton find the end zone first #CFLGameday | @GoElks pic.twitter.com/E0qmSedSi7

— CFL (@CFL) October 15, 2022

There were still some simple mistakes, like holding on to the ball for too long and taking a sack. His first-half stat line was 13-of-18 for 100 yards and a touchdown — they were at 5.6 yards per play, which is only decent compared to Toronto’s 4.7.

At first, it was mostly the misses that were disappointing. Twice Cornelius took aim toward Dillon Mitchell but couldn’t quite get it within the receiver’s reach. One of those may instead have been an overthrow on the run to a very wide-open Walker.

He also wasted 17 seconds pre-snap and 11 seconds during a second-and-five play from midfield with a minute left before halftime. Had they converted, that would have been time dearly missed.

The most critical miss was underthrowing Vandervoort on a deep ball where the receiver had a full step on Jamal Peters. Would VanderVoort have outrun Peters to the endzone? Perhaps or perhaps not, but he couldn’t have asked for a better position to do so. It continues the trend, again, of Cornelius underthrowing potential game-breaking touchdowns.

Of course, he ran for a first down on the following play, so no harm done. (I don’t usually write sarcastically, but that is definitely sarcasm.)

And then some more damaging mistakes crept in. The worst was ending a crucial and promising fourth-quarter drive with a reckless interception against the blitz. You’d like to think of first-and-ten from the opposing 28-yard line as close to guaranteed points, but that was not the case for Edmonton. Later in the quarter, he faced another blitz and was unable to either get the ball away quickly or evade pressure, which resulted in a sack and a two-and-out. I noticed a couple of other times he seemed panicked against pressure as well.

Also worthy of discussion is his 30-yard rush which ended with him taking a huge hit. Cornelius acknowledged after the game that he bears some responsibility to protect himself and step out of bounds a yard or two earlier, but ‘leadership’ doesn’t help so much when you can’t be on the field.

To sum up the offence’s production, a few plays into the fourth quarter, the Elks were at 134 rushing yards — mostly thanks to Kevin Brown and his offensive line — to 118 passing yards. That’s not a reliable formula for success in the CFL. Normally I would point out how much better passing is at turning yards into points than rushing is, but on Saturday night they were probably doing the right thing with how poor the air game was.

With 30 seconds left in the game, Cornelius had 141 passing yards.

The final drive was a great encapsulation of his game: major improvisation where he chucked one up and connected with Walker for 44 yards, followed by a pass into two Argos defenders that should be intercepted nine times out of ten, followed by scrambling for a bit into a no-hope overthrow of his target in the endzone.

Going 18-of-30, this was his first performance completing 60 percent of his passes or better since the Labour Day Rematch. It’s only the fourth time in 12 games this year that Cornelius has done so. And he also hasn’t hit the magic 300 yards in any single game, with a high of 292.

Tre

For a couple of weeks now, I’ve been hoping to see more of rookie Canadian quarterback Tre Ford, seeing as these last games are little more than open tryouts for the Elks. However, I’ve been clear that it would be best for it to be a predetermined entrance, be it for a full game or just a second half, to avoid exactly what we saw on Saturday: Ford getting thrown unexpectedly into the fire, and something terrible happening.

Earlier in the season, Ford talked about needing to be better at knowing his hot routes against blitzes and, to his credit, he was decisive in getting rid of the ball against a serious rush on his lone pass Saturday. Unfortunately, his throw caught a blitzer’s arm and Royce Metchie was able to take advantage with an interception off the deflection.

Based on both season circumstances and play — and now possibly health — I see little reason not to ‘rest’ Cornelius in the final game. If the coaching staff wants to argue Ford isn’t ready, that would merely blow apart their decision to start him back in Week 4.

Enough

I still think about Week 3, when the Elks were up 17-13 in Calgary in the late third quarter. Nick Arbuckle didn’t see Cameron Judge creeping underneath and threw an interception, after which the Elks’ defence allowed a 28-yard touchdown on the very first play.

Arbuckle took almost all the heat for the team’s failure and saw himself benched the following week.

Fast forward to this week, Ford has to come into the game with a 23-15 lead, and the dominant conversation is about Cornelius’s exit. Disaster strikes and what happens? The defence follows an interception by putting up less resistance than a wet paper bag, allowing the Argos to score in three plays: 16 yards, 12 yards, and finally 35 yards to DaVaris Daniels.

Jamie Harry vs DaVaris Daniels… Yep, that’s a mismatch. #CFL #Argos #PullTogether
pic.twitter.com/EFgtGPqLZf

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 16, 2022

That was a ‘controller disconnected’ moment if I’ve ever seen one. A two-and-out later, Edmonton let Toronto do it all over again. There’s a common denominator here, and it isn’t the green and gold’s quarterback.

I’ll be blunt: the Elks need to pull off a huge upset next week for there to be any reason at all to retain the services of Chris Jones. Without the sheepish argument that “we were getting better at the end, we won a game,” there is nothing here. Start over.

D-ceptive

While Toronto only managed a miserly 34 passing yards and 80 net yards in the first half, it’s hard to give Edmonton’s defence that much credit when McLeod Bethel-Thompson was having such an off-night.

I made a note to look back at all his incompletions again after the game and of the nine he threw, all but two of them were to wide-open receivers — including a trio of potential massive plays in the first half. The level of openness ranged from ‘had a full step’ to ‘had several full steps’. Jamie Harry was the defensive back most taken advantage of, while the only time I noticed Donovan Olumba was breaking up Toronto’s two-point attempt. That’s a good sign for Olumba, and it was the only such breakup of the Elks’ night.

Bethel-Thompson started hitting receivers more and more as the game went on, with 112 yards in the third quarter and 127 yards in the fourth quarter en route to finishing 19-of-28 (68 percent) for 273 yards. Despite their disastrous first half, the Argos finished with 8.6 yards per play and a 10.9 second-half average.

The defence only had one sack, and it came courtesy of defensive back Treston Decoud who got home before backup running back Javon Leake realized he had to block that edge. Starter A.J. Ouellette made no such mistakes and had 91 yards on just nine carries.

The little things, and the big finish

The head coaches had active nights, although nothing compared to the third-down madness of Friday’s doubleheader.

Ryan Dinwiddie started things off by losing another challenge. It was in a very low-leverage situation in the first quarter, and he was trying to get what was very much a borderline call.

The fourth quarter saw two simple, yet egregious, mistakes on converts. Chris Jones was first, as the Elks scored a touchdown to take a 22-15 lead but chose to kick the single. There is only a small difference between a seven-point lead and an eight-point lead, but a huge difference between those and a nine-point lead. The only possible excuse for not trying for a two-score lead was that Cornelius had just been hurt, but it should still have been attempted.

Dinwiddie obviously did the right thing attempting to tie the game at 23-21 down, but he failed by also kicking the single point with a 27-23 lead. This time, there is zero difference between a four-point lead and a five-point lead when the opponent needs a touchdown, but if you can make it a six-point lead then at least they would have to make a convert after scoring. You may think it’s a small thing, but coaches fight for much smaller edges than that all the time.

Of course, the last minute was hectic. We’ll pick up as Toronto’s play ended with 36 seconds left. Jones didn’t call a timeout until the 32-second mark, wasting four seconds. But then something curious happened; truly, the way the seas parted, I can’t tell if the Elks were letting Ouellette score on his 25-yard game-winning touchdown or if their defence is so bad that that’s just what it looks like.

What’s more embarrassing: 16 straight home losses or leaving A.J. Ouellette untouched on a 25-yard game-winning touchdown run?

Asking for a friend…#CFL #Elks #Argos #PullTogether
pic.twitter.com/juR0QCbkKx

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 16, 2022

By allowing the touchdown, Edmonton kept enough time on the clock for themselves to go back the other way. Had they tackled the runner short of the first down mark, they’d have had about three or four seconds after a field goal. Any later and the Argos would kneel once and kick an extremely high-percentage game-winner on the final play. For the same reason, it likely would have been smarter for Ouellette to go down anywhere after getting the first down.

The Elks, as it turns out, almost managed a much-needed miracle but ‘close’ wasn’t enough.

I will give Cornelius credit for rushing up to spike after their big play, with nine seconds on the clock. We rarely see it in the CFL — though I recall Cornelius himself has done similar before — but it’s smart in very specific scenarios because, while the clock isn’t running in real-time, it still starts on the whistle. You sacrifice an unneeded down and one second instead of, at best, the two to three seconds it takes to get the snap off, at which point you would have about six seconds and a lot of chaos.

Needing 29 yards — and thus a fairly lengthy play — means there’s a good chance you only get one shot in six seconds, whereas at eight you should be able to squeeze in two if the quarterback doesn’t mess around for too long. It’s subtle, but every second counts.

As for the final two plays the Elks ran, having only two receivers in the endzone is peculiar. Most disturbingly, Mitchell didn’t get any closer to the endzone than the 20-yard line. Yes, both times the Elks decided to have their best receiver be the checkdown option on the far side when checking down wasn’t an option.

Positives

The Elks had a running game, a kicker, and Derel Walker.

Brown finished with 19 carries for 121 yards and his first career rushing touchdown. Castillo made all three of his field goals, from 50, 37, and 47 yards out, plus two converts. Walker caught all seven of his targets for 114 yards.

Christian Saulsberry also broke through once — a 38-yard punt return early in the fourth quarter — though he could only get the final shallow kickoff to the 37-yard line while burning seven seconds. The special teams did recover a second Argos fumble on a kick return too.

Next

Thankfully, there is only one game left, with the Elks hosting the Lions next Friday at 7:30 p.m. As excited as we all get for June, sometimes November and December are equally welcome.

The post Sometimes you just have to laugh: 10 thoughts on the Elks’ shattering loss to Toronto appeared first on 3DownNation.

If you haven’t already caught on to today’s theme, well, it’s about as serious as the green and gold football team.

For a group purportedly on the rise, this game was inarguably regression. Or as I stated in the weekly writer picks: “Next question.”

QB1

There once was a tall man of Corn,

His play left us all feeling forlorn,

Under 50-percent,

Please, just let it end,

4-12: playoff hopes are no more.

~

137 passing yards is very slight,

Cause for seeking a flag coloured white,

A 59-yard TD,

Thrown where it needed to be,

Was the one shining moment all night.

Big Play Mitch gets six#GoElks #Elks #CFLpic.twitter.com/G3J94KiWCI

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 9, 2022

QB3

The Bombers’ offence did all that it pleased,

Their quarterbacks – indeed, not one, but three,

Dru Brown and Dakota Prukop threw a touchdown apiece,

Zach Collaros led the way, hammering crease after crease,

In the rusted-out armour of the Elks’ spacious D,

I sit here, sadly envying their accuracy.

~

15-of-19 – plus three out of four – beats 11-of-24,

367 yards between them, allow me to implore:

To avoid this late-season being for naught but collapse,

A little bit more of Tre Ford, perhaps?

203 yards

The Elks allowed 203 yards in just the first quarter, paired with a 12.7 yards-per-play.

At 298 yards in the mid-second frame, the average was 13.0, and needless to say, Edmonton was a no-show on the day.

Nine-for-nine on second downs, Collaros finally threw an incompletion on pass number eleven.

To the defence, such a reprieve must have felt like sunny heaven.

Aside from causing a strange interception, blitzing way more than usual wasn’t particularly effective.

The individual effort may be there, but the unit and team failed totally as a collective.

342 total yards at the half. 503 yards at the end of the game.

The Bombers visibly let up. The antlered beasts had been tamed.

Albeit with one late burst of flames.

Stop us if you have heard this before but Dalton Schoen just scored another touchdown@dschoen5#Bombers #ForTheW #CFLpic.twitter.com/iAlhjejEVk

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) October 9, 2022

ROY – Rookie of the year

Seven catches, 162 yards, three touchdowns,

ROY is also known to mean king,

After Dalton Schoen’s performance,

All he needs is a shiny, diamond ring.

Great expectations

You’d like to see them at least learn from their mistakes,

On second and one; unfortunately, these aren’t outtakes,

Fallen for it before, it’s no great invention,

Would the defence kindly pay attention?

Mastermind: 59, 49, 46, 56, 48

46 (or more) points allowed for the fifth time this year,

Nary more left than a sad chuckle,

The guru may say yet, with a look quite severe:

“Point the finger at Nick Arbuckle.”

Trust the process

In the East Final last season, Dane Evans went 16-of-16 for 249 yards against Chris Jones’s Argos defence. The year is no longer 2015.

After multiple years of lousy results, what does reputation actually mean?

A field goal from the nine-yard line down 28-8;

Congratulations on making a three-score game a three-score game!

What sense was there in an unwinnable challenge late;

If there’s one thing well-earned, it is shame.

Not to overlook handing off with 31 seconds left in the half,

To a guy who had, at most, one healthy calf.

Sorrow

Kevin Brown’s injury caused much pain,

Not least of all to disinterest’s bane,

The offence was reduced again to a single dimension,

Beyond Dillon Mitchell, hardly anyone deserves a mention,

Six catches for 107 yards is terrific,

The gap to number two was wider than the Pacific.

Toil and trouble

While Chris Osei-Kusi had a single catch,

Derel Walker is the focus, at a yardage match;

19 yards for them both, Walker’s from three catches,

But on eight targets – among the peak of mismatches,

Is he and his quarterback, who keeps leading away,

From sad Walker’s preferred spot: the field of play.

Juice

Sergio Castillo made his one field goal,

But it’s the little one who continues to roll,

Christian Saulsberry, with a 40-yard best,

A fumble was one blemish, though strong was the rest.

Hope

“Hope” is the thing with feathers,

For the Elks, it’s three newcomers who can fly:

Mitchell, Saulsberry, Brown,

Budding stars, none of them are quick to go down,

Sweet as Thanksgiving Day apple pie,

Leave it in their hands – the rounded leather.

Next

Two more games, then the season is done;

The Argos are in Edmonton next Saturday.

No more absurd than third-and-one from the gun;

Hope you enjoyed, though I’m no Hemmingway.

The football being bad means finding other ways to have fun;

What is life without whimsy, eh?

Next week the Elks will have to fight not to be outdone;

By the Golden Bears and Dinos earlier in the day.

The post Not with a bang but a whimper: 12 poetic thoughts on the Elks’ early winter appeared first on 3DownNation.

In the end, the second-half scoring summary was a simple one: one pick-six and two-point convert for the Alouettes, and zero points for the Elks.

“You can’t make this up” was spoken by many an Elks fan as the team fell by a final score of 25-18 and dropped their 15th consecutive game at home.

Elks took seven drives inside the Montreal 35. Wound up with three FGs, one TD, and three turnovers. Found a way to lose again.

— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) October 1, 2022

Impressive

I’m coming in hot with the double meaning today.

First of all, it truly took an impressive collapse for the Elks to lose that game. They had a firm grip on it for most of the second half, holding an 18-17 lead until well into the fourth quarter as the Alouettes made mistake after mistake.

Then a Taylor Cornelius attempt was knocked up into the air by a defensive lineman, Tyrice Beverette took hold, and crossed the Elks’ goal line 100 yards later for the go-ahead points.

Edmonton drove right back inside the Montreal ten-yard line with help from back-to-back Alouette penalties, before three straight Kevin Brown runs failed to punch it in and resulted in a turnover on downs.

The Alouettes earned a bit of field position back, but a good return meant the Elks had another chance from Montreal’s 42-yard line. On the second play, a Cornelius pass slipped through Danny VanderVoort’s hands and was intercepted, after which the Als quickly ended the game.

However, there is a second part that needs to be acknowledged; that was genuinely a top three — or at worst top four — performance by the Elks this season. I apologize if that’s a depressing thought, but there were some good things.

Given the two weeks of strangely high optimism that followed their win over a self-destructing Riders team — the Elks are only two games removed from giving up 56 points to Calgary, after all — Edmonton lived up to expectations. They stayed in it against another not-great team and maximized the heartbreak.

Luck is worth something

The series of fortunate bounces that Edmonton experienced in the second quarter was quite something.

Cornelius threw a bad interception but got bailed out by roughing the passer. The Elks allowed Montreal’s fake punt to convert a third-and-two, but the Alouettes quickly fumbled and let Edmonton go the other way. Montreal’s next drive also saw a quick fumble and one pass interference later, the Elks scored their first touchdown to take the lead.

Montreal swiftly moved into Edmonton territory and threw a 34-yard touchdown to Reggie White with two seconds left in the half but, as commentator Matt Dunigan put it, Elks defensive back Jamie Harry “folded like a wet cardboard box.” The contact was exaggerated, yet the major was still wiped out by offensive pass interference.

As a result, Edmonton held a one-point, 18-17 lead at halftime, after being down 14-4. They were seeking not just their fifth win of the season, but their fifth win featuring a comeback from a double-digit deficit.

Unripe

Cornelius did what Cornelius does. This was, however, one of his worst games of the year.

He officially threw two interceptions. One of them — Vandervoort’s drop — was clearly not his fault and the other was punished about as strongly as a mistake can be.

Cornelius got as many as three other big breaks on turnovers, however. His very first pass needed to be knocked down by Derel Walker so it wouldn’t be picked off, though I loved the energy of an immediate deep shot; he had another interception negated by a roughing the passer; and late in the game, he threw a very dangerous pass on an undercut route that was dropped by the defender.

He hit the cycle on inaccurate throws — everything from high, to wide, to in the dirt — and once again completed fewer than 60 percent of his passes. 16-of-28 was only good for 57 percent and a respectable 273 yards.

HE GOT IT!#CFLGameday | @K_Law2nice | @GoElks pic.twitter.com/OhuHDXvxaR

— CFL (@CFL) October 1, 2022

Cornelius’s flashiest highlights were a pair of deep completions to Kenny Lawler and Dillon Mitchell, as well as one early play where he bought time before throwing cross-field to Vincent Forbes-Mombleau for a 34-yard gain. The two best plays might have been back-to-back second-down conversions, to Mitchell and then Derel Walker, late in the third quarter. They were uncommon cases of Cornelius making routine plays with the big effect of digging Edmonton out of a field position hole.

I remain concerned about either the Elks’ play designs or their personnel. While improvisation is a useful talent for a quarterback, especially in the CFL, plays like their second of the game on Saturday should not be such a frequent occurrence. With plenty of time to survey the field against a well-blocked rush, Cornelius managed no better than to shuffle around for a while before running for eight yards. Could no receiver get open or were they overlooked?

Cornelius needs to improve dramatically to be worth his guaranteed money in 2024. For me to believe in him, he needs to be way more accurate, and the offence he leads needs to move — and score — more reliably. Of course, his surroundings are relevant to that conversation, but playing for a bad team does not absolve him of responsibility.

O-perational

The Elks’ offence as a whole was flawed but generally competent. Ignoring their big mistakes for a moment, they matched the Alouettes in the first half with 7.5 yards-per-play to Montreal’s 7.7 — just four fewer total yards in the same 27 plays. Edmonton kept it up to a 6.9 final mark, with average production across the board.

Seeing Kevin Brown and Lawler get hurt on back-to-back plays was disheartening. Lawler hadn’t been very involved but it looks like he’ll be going right back on the injured list, which sucks. Brown looked every bit of his energetic self up to that point but was much less effective after halftime, possibly owing to his injury. He had six carries for 55 yards in the first half, then only 20 yards on eight carries after the break.

The Elks have been moving the ball somewhat better in the last couple of weeks but are still very much lacking precision, especially compared to their opponent. The quarterback matchup was a solid microcosm of the season.

The primary matchup

Watching Mitchell and former Elk Nafees Lyon go head-to-head for most of the night was fantastic.

Mitchell was entirely shut down until just before halftime when he drew a pass interference call in the endzone. He had two catches for six yards at that point, before breaking out in the second half to finish with six catches for 98 yards. A chunk of that was against other defenders, but Mitchell had one massive won rep when he made a 44-yard catch on Lyon to set up Edmonton’s second late scoring chance.

DILLON. MITCHELL. #CFLGameday | @GoElks pic.twitter.com/5ogfDHhl0w

— CFL (@CFL) October 1, 2022

Unfortunately, it’s hard to see these matchups consistently with the live camera angle, though there were times you could see Lyon’s excellent coverage on replays. It remains true that he should not have been traded.

Beast mode

Jake Ceresna was a dominant force on Saturday. Not only did he have two sacks, but he also forced fumbles on back-to-back Alouettes plays to keep Edmonton in the game. Without those two plays, it likely would have gotten out of hand early, seeing as Edmonton was already down ten points and the Als were driving into Elks’ territory.

Mayhem!!#CFLGameday pic.twitter.com/QJDd7XCHDu

— CFL (@CFL) October 1, 2022

He had a noticeable impact away from the scoresheet too, most notably when Montreal’s right tackle and right guard both slid to block him, allowing Matthew Thomas a free rush for a sack.

Ceresna should be the unanimous nominee for Elks’ Most Outstanding Defensive Player.

D-ceiving

While they made some big plays, the defence’s outing was distinctly mixed. Four sacks and holding Trevor Harris to 180 yards is good; letting him complete 14-of-17 passes is not. Allowing 67 yards on 12 Walter Fletcher carries is middling, as is a 5.7 yards-per-play against, which dropped during Montreal’s clock-killing sequence and was well below their halftime number.

It was obviously a different game plan than the team ran against Saskatchewan. The Elks sent fairly frequent pressure, though the number of rushers didn’t seem to make much difference to leaving receivers wide open.

Not too many individual players stood out. Harry perfectly cut under a swing pass, but failed to close his hands on what would have been a quick pick-six for Edmonton. Ed Gainey’s grip on Geno Lewis’s right arm couldn’t stop Lewis from making a touchdown catch with his left.

GENO ONE HANDER!! #CFLGameday | @MTLAlouettes | @GENOALLDAY7 pic.twitter.com/qTHTcksSvT

— CFL (@CFL) October 1, 2022

For only allowing 268 net yards, somehow the performance felt underwhelming.

The little things

Neither head coach demonstrated strong game management in Week 17.

Starting with Danny Maciocia, Montreal had a third-and-two from Edmonton’s 48-yard line where he should have left the offence on the field. Third and less than five inside an opponent’s territory is the prototypical moment for aggression. He at least called a fake punt that was successful, so credit for not actually kicking.

He later elected to hand off on a second-and-six and compounded it by choosing to attempt a 56-yard field goal rather than go for a third-and-four from the Elks’ 48-yard line. Doing all that and complaining that the kicker missed is a ridiculous look.

Los Angeles Chargers head coach Brandon Staley has talked about how he knows well before it gets to the final down what circumstances he needs to have to go for it. That allows him to set up the gamble with certain play calls on prior downs, which Maciocia did the opposite of. In this case, if they weren’t going to go for it then the Alouettes absolutely should have attempted a pass to get beyond the sticks, when a run was unlikely to.

The Alouettes somewhat surprisingly chose to punt from their six-yard line in the fourth quarter. It was the correct choice, and Edmonton only started from midfield — ultimately seeing the worst possible outcome with Montreal’s interception and return.

Lastly, handing off for three and then zero yards with two-and-a-half minutes left was questionable. Attempting a pass on second-and-seven with a pretty hot quarterback would have been playing to win rather than not to lose.

pic.twitter.com/RN94gECd8W

— Derek Taylor (@DTonOB) October 1, 2022

Flipping to Jones, Edmonton’s first drive converted a third-and-two from their 52-yard line. Props to them for the aggression, which led to a field goal.

It seems like he finished another game with a timeout in his pocket. Jones elected not to use one just outside the three-minute warning and waited until the last possible moment before using one inside three minutes. For the former, there’s an argument he expected a stop on second-and-ten at Montreal’s two-yard line and figured that it would leave just the wrong amount of time for the Elks to score the tying touchdown while leaving the Alouettes enough to go back and win, though that would be rather unconventional.

The biggest Elks question goes to offensive coordinator Stephen McAdoo. It was shocking that, on four plays from inside Montreal’s ten-yard line, the Elks didn’t give Cornelius a single opportunity to run. And it was deeply ironic that Harris, of all quarterbacks, got the call to run in Montreal’s two-point convert.

Personally, I would’ve handed off from the four-yard line on the first attempt, though I wonder about Brown’s health and ability to smash through. As for the second go, if you get zero or negative yards on two straight hand-offs, the blocking or blocking scheme is a bigger problem than the play call.

Having made fun of the Elks two weeks ago in an identical first-and-goal scenario for calling a quarterback draw that lost a yard — because obviously, nobody saw it coming — I’m not necessarily suggesting they should have done that again. At minimum, you have Cornelius roll out at least once and look for an opportunity. That’s always been when he’s at his best.

Other positives: the special teams?!

– Sergio Castillo was perfect, with field goals from 26, 32, and 36 yards, plus one convert.

– Christian Saulsberry looked as dynamic a returner as the Elks have had in a long time. His night started with a 51-yard missed field goal return and included, among other things, a 35-yard punt return to set up Edmonton’s last chance.

– It seemed like Jon Ryan had a solid night punting.

– Montreal wasn’t allowed a single big return, maxing out at 17 yards with an average well below that.

Next

Edmonton visits Winnipeg to take on the Blue Bombers next Saturday. Their margin for error is now negligible: if the Riders beat Hamilton on Friday — or win any other game — or the Elks lose, their vague playoff hopes will be officially quenched.

The post Maximized heartbreak: 11 thoughts on the Elks’ most impressive loss of the season appeared first on 3DownNation.

All four of the team’s wins this season have required a double-digit comeback. Friday night was the smallest at ten points and also started the earliest.

Castillo. Clutch. pic.twitter.com/h0XQaaR2Ij

— Dustin Nielson (@nielsonTSN1260) September 17, 2022

Sergio Castillo had a hero moment, kicking a wobbly 47-yard field goal with 28 seconds left to put Edmonton ahead 26-24 — Castillo himself said after the game that he mis-hit it and thought it was going to hook wide left. As a result, the Elks held onto both the lead and their faint playoff hopes, as they now sit two wins back of the Riders with four games left each, having lost the tiebreak already.

Chris Jones’s comment after the game? “We did just enough to barely win the game.”

It would have been darkly funny if they’d managed to lose their own 23-14 lead, but this is not the time to complain about a win. If the Riders didn’t want it, the Elks will take it.

Is it that simple?

The biggest factor in the game was Saskatchewan’s disaster of an offensive line.

It’s hard to assess how much credit Edmonton’s defensive front deserves when everyone knows how terrible Saskatchewan’s protection has been. The two biggest indictments on Friday: Frankie Hickson managed a paltry 14 yards on ten carries, and the Riders allowed eight sacks. Several of those were against a three-man rush, including a backbreaking one to start their last-gasp final drive. I’m not sure the Elks ever rushed more than four.

Curiously, Hickson did just fine against Winnipeg the last two weeks, putting up 85- and 71-yard rushing performances. It’s not like the Bombers have a weak defensive line, while Edmonton’s run defence is not known for its sturdiness. The CFL is funny like that.

Meanwhile, Cody Fajardo did well when he was able to throw the ball. He finished 20-of-27 for 230 yards and two touchdowns while rushing six times for 47 yards. I expect there’s some selection bias baked into the passing numbers, but I also thought he looked good and was hitting tight spots when given the opportunity. Elks’ statistician Brian Desjarlais shared that all seven of his incompletions were marked as Elks’ knockdowns.

Seven different Elks scored a sack, with their best defender Jake Ceresna leading the herd with a pair.

D-istinguished members

Rookie Enock Makonzo had an active game. His night included an impressive tackle of Kian Schaffer-Baker in space, as well as one of Edmonton’s sacks — one play after whiffing on a similar opportunity. It seemed he got caught behind the goalposts on Brayden Lenius’s late touchdown, too. Only getting credit for two tackles doesn’t capture his full impact, which continued an upward trend.

Adam Konar was similarly visible, with one sack-and-fumble and also a tackle-for-loss on a Riders’ third-and-two run. He finished with five total tackles.

Matthew Thomas led the way with seven tackles. While he looked strong on takedowns, his coverage skills seemed lacking.

Lastly, Ed Gainey might just retire so he doesn’t have to deal with referees anymore. Two weeks in a row he has been dinged with a gross pass interference call. This time he stuck his arm into open space, and there was no grab of Kyran Moore, yet the call stood. A positive for him was breaking up a pass to Shaq Evans in the endzone later in the game, though I’m sure his favourite part of the evening was winning in Regina.

The only Rider receiver with more than three catches was Justin McInnis, who had four. Along with allowing just 262 net yards, that was an accomplishment by the defence against some dangerous opponents. Negatives included allowing a quick 10-0 deficit, as well as a late go-ahead Riders’ touchdown drive that was so effortless — 79 yards in 1:15 — that the Elks had plenty of time to go the other way.

Grainy

I regret to share that I was not impressed by Taylor Cornelius’s passing performance. Don’t get me wrong, there were highlights, but he is tremendously consistent in his inconsistencies.

Starting with the best, his touchdown throw to Dillon Mitchell hit the receiver perfectly in stride, and Mitchell trotted it into the endzone for a 77-yard touchdown.

Seventy seven yard

Dillon Mitchell is a man on !#CFLGameday | @GoElks pic.twitter.com/C0aaoR95Dw

— CFL (@CFL) September 17, 2022

Cornelius’ other top moment was an unbelievable 56-yard run — something that would not or could not be attempted by more than a couple of other quarterbacks.

THAT’S A 6’5” QB #CFLGameday | @GoElks pic.twitter.com/PFbu9FKQc4

— CFL (@CFL) September 17, 2022

There was more good than that but the problem is his effectiveness was carried, literally and figuratively, by his legs. He missed several passes, finishing 13-of-24 (54 percent) for 237 yards, and converted four-of-18 second downs. It’s fair to say there were drops — in particular, a pair by Derel Walker in the second half — however, neither of those two throws would earn more than half marks for their accuracy. Both times Walker had some room to work with, but was asked to make a play, which he failed to do twice.

There was also an underthrown pass to Mitchell down the left sideline which would have been a fairly simple touchdown with a better throw. That is becoming an unfortunate trademark of Cornelius. Otherwise, there were a few balls tossed only in the general direction of intended receivers. I also thought he didn’t use the play clock efficiently at the end of either half.

I’ve noted frequently that better things happen when he’s on the move. Cornelius has taken that further this season by adding yards on the ground — Friday set his career-high with 93 yards on eight runs, eclipsing his previous best of 86 yards against Saskatchewan in week 10 — but it applies to his throwing too. My concern remains that Edmonton’s play designs are failing and the quarterback has to improvise for them to have success.

Fortunately, Cornelius is a very capable improviser, however, in the second half, he stuck more in the pocket and was only 5-of-11 passing while taking two sacks. It seemed the Riders improved their containment, but it was still bizarre that he only ran once after halftime and the offence slowed down. The Elks were at an amazing 11.4 yards per play in the first half but dropped all the way to 8.6 at the end thanks to a 5.5-yard second-half average. They scored 17 points in the first half and only nine in the second half.

Edmonton lived on the big plays, and there were plenty of them — in the first 30 minutes, their three scoring drives contained a 56-yard run, a 36-yard run plus a 30-yard completion, and a 77-yard pass, respectively. In the latter 30 minutes, two scoring drives included a 41-yard completion and finally ‘just’ a 20-yard completion.

In Cornelius’s favour is connecting three times with Walker for 38 yards in crunch time to set up the winning field goal. He stood tall in the moment.

Skill

Very similar to last week, the Elks’ offence was entirely driven by Mitchell, Walker, and Kevin Brown. Walker led the receivers this week with five catches for 109 yards, 56 of which were after the catch. One incompletion to him came when he made a nice move to get open near the goalline, but the throw set him in a vulnerable position and a big hit broke up the play.

After Walker, it was Mitchell’s two catches for 87 yards, and then it dropped to Vincent Forbes-Mombleau at 14 yards — his second straight week in third place.

Brown looked awesome again, taking 14 carries for 109 yards. Hitting triple digits in his third career game matches Mitchell’s accomplishment. He and Jalin Marshall both get credit for a strong blitz pickup in the second quarter that enabled a big gain.

Weirdly, Mitchell didn’t have another catch after his second-quarter touchdown, nor did Riders receiver Shaq Evans after his own early touchdown.

The 2022 Elks are not a deep team, though having a healthy Kenny Lawler would give them an excellent start to the playmaker group thanks to their midseason additions.

[censored]

For the third week in a row, the Elks had a punt blocked. Four weeks ago, they also had a field goal blocked. It’s incredible how Edmonton’s special teams find new ways to lower the bar.

Returner Christian Saulsberry was mostly positive. His best official play was a 31-yard punt return, though he had an 80-yard kick return negated by a somewhat suspicious illegal block. He also fumbled once but recovered it.

On the flip side, the Elks prevented Saskatchewan from getting anything going on their returns. Both Edmonton kickers were doing strange things; Castillo had more deliberately short kickoffs, one of which went out-of-bounds, and Jon Ryan punted on the run multiple times, for reasons I can’t explain.

We don’t have a separate positives section today, so more on Castillo: technically he wasn’t perfect, but he made two converts and field goals from 23, 13, 43, and 47 yards. I thought his 51-yard miss was perfect, as a conclusion to a chaotic first half that also included a ‘doink’ off the upright from his counterpart, Brett Lauther.

Little things (including four-leaf clovers)

Full respect to Riders’ head coach Craig Dickenson for going for it twice on third downs. The first third-and-two from Edmonton’s 42-yard line paid off brilliantly with a 42-yard touchdown, while the second ran Hickson into nowhere.

On Edmonton’s end, there’s not much to note beyond Jones’s challenge, which was entirely reasonable. You’d like to not use it so early, but 40 yards is a lot and it wasn’t a friendly call.

On the lucky side, the Elks fumbled four times but managed not to lose any of them. One ball was knocked directly out of bounds, two were fallen on quickly, and one requires a deeper discussion in a moment. Saskatchewan had one fumble of their own, also recovered by themselves.

More than a grimace

It was not a good night for the officials, in every direction. There were flags thrown that shouldn’t have been, flags not thrown that should have been, and both teams got jobbed often, especially in the first half.

With that said, Edmonton mustered a laughable attempt at discipline. There are too many blunders to list, so I’ll stick to the highlights, deserved and undeserved.

The Elks got dinged for an early roughing the passer, but the contact was neither late nor forceful. I know low hits are a sensitive topic with Saskatchewan especially but last I checked, football allows you to tackle by the legs.

J-Min Pelley took a 15-yard roughness penalty on a convert, forcing Edmonton to kick off from their 15-yard line. They were offside on the first go, so it ended up being from the ten.

Tobi Antigha took an irresponsible roughing the kicker penalty to extend a Riders’ drive. His pleas earned nothing more than a strong reaction from Coach Jones.

https://twitter.com/jonathanwhudson/status/1570983636920565762?s=20&t=L_8t89xnD2_DpNytQbnXLw

The most impressive error was sending Walker back onto the field before his injury-required three plays were up. I don’t fault him, given his attention was spent on getting quick treatment rather than the action, but obviously someone should have stopped him from going back on the field. The Elks lost out on a 20-yard Brown reception and ultimately hit the upright on a field goal attempt.

The greatest embarrassment of the night occurred when Cornelius fumbled on a sneak from the one-yard line. The ball popped out early and rested on the pile of limbs just behind him. There were four Riders in arm’s reach and one Elk reaching a single arm in towards it. Astoundingly, the referee standing right on top of where the ball was somehow didn’t assess the Riders possession — it was ruled that Cornelius miraculously recovered it from his ankles, despite linebacker Darnell Sankey emerging with it — and the command centre failed to adhere to any semblance of logic. Edmonton got a massive break that more than made up for the ones against them before that point.

The Elks earned 133 penalty yards on ten first-half flags but, either due to fortune or their coach’s halftime fury, held it to 25 yards in the second half.

Next

The Elks are on a bye week and will return to Commonwealth Stadium to face the Alouettes on Saturday, October 2nd. It’s the easiest game remaining on Edmonton’s schedule.

The post The sketchy ones count too: nine thoughts on the Elks’ win over the Riders appeared first on 3DownNation.

I’m not sure I want to ask what the franchise record is for points allowed to their provincial rival in a season. It’s hard to get doubled-up when you score 28 but the Elks managed — in fact, they’ve been outscored at Commonwealth Stadium by Calgary this year.

I don’t just mean they’ve lost twice; I mean they’ve scored 101 points in six games at home, while the Stampeders have scored 105 points in two games here. Thank you to Ka’Deem Carey, Tommy Stevens, and the disinterested Elks’ tacklers for enabling that inauspicious factoid with 40 seconds left in the game.

If you wanted, you could add a 37-7 home loss in their preseason matchup to that tally.

Chris Jones on @630CHED: "We're going to evaluate the film very closely and find out the guys that want to be here and the ones that don't."

— Reid Wilkins (@ReidWilkins) September 11, 2022

Chris Jones sure doesn’t seem happy with the effort on Saturday.

Shucks

Despite the loss, Taylor Cornelius had a fair performance. He made some nice plays, and the Elks actually posted their highest yards per play of the season at 6.6. But it was still a rather mistake-filled performance, and not free of inefficiencies.

341 net yards of offence is decent, as is 28 points without the help of significant field position, but converting 4-of-15 second-down attempts is not. It was disappointing that the drives that started with Edmonton’s two biggest plays ended in relatively short field goals.

Cornelius’s best throw was a perfect spiral to Dillon Mitchell down the left sideline. Ultimately it was a 67-yard gain, though a tiny part of me couldn’t ignore a trend I’ve noticed previously: had it not been a smidge underthrown, Mitchell would’ve been in a better position to potentially score on the play. Regardless, that’s a 9.5 out of 10 grade for the quarterback on the throw.

Another notable plus was finding Derel Walker for a combined 39 yards on back-to-back third-quarter plays. Cornelius had a ton of time on both, but I’m happy to give praise for completing routine throws at this point. That drive finished with a touchdown throw that was somewhat behind Jalin Marshall, but the receiver made a nice snag.

https://twitter.com/3DownNation/status/1568788561813729281?s=20&t=c3RpCCkxqNzKiVz_EI6VQQ

Cornelius also got punished for a costly error in a way that he hasn’t been this season, throwing a pick-six to Trumaine Washington — who also had a pick-six in last year’s Labour Day Rematch as well, albeit for the green and gold.

It’s hard to make good decisions when Cameron Judge is charging straight at you but it was nevertheless a significant error. Cornelius had one other throw that should have been intercepted by Jonathan Moxey but he got away with it.

There were a couple of times when he took sacks because he didn’t get rid of the ball quickly enough. A couple of others were clearly on the offensive line, like in the fourth quarter when Shawn Lemon swooped around Martez Ivey on the left side and scored the takedown.

Lastly, Cornelius was responsible for two time-count violations in the first quarter, which is a clumsy minus.

New guys

Running back Kevin Brown was a rare reason to be excited about watching the game and he did not disappoint. He turned 10 carries into 91 yards, including an early 33-yard romp. Brown had less action in the passing game than last week but managed a nice 15-yard play at the very end.

Dillon Mitchell was a second reason, as the two are quickly forming a youthful playmaking duo. He finished with five catches for 120 yards — the first 100-yard game in the fourth appearance of what is looking like a promising career. He actually reminds me a lot of Bryant Mitchell.

Not to be outdone, Derel Walker caught seven of eight targets for an even 100 yards. He was a very successful mid-range weapon and looked much more like the Walker of old. It didn’t seem like his targets were particularly awkward either, which obviously helps.

The problem is that outside of those three, there was nothing. No other player accounted for more than 18 yards of offence. Six others had a touch but given that they all got outgained by Stampeders’ short-yardage QB Stevens on his sneaks, only the two touchdown scorers are worth a remark. Marshall was mentioned above, while fullback Tanner Green gets props for taking a checkdown in space and charging all the way in for a 17-yard major.

D for discreditable

Where to start?

I could point at Calgary’s 8.4 yards per play. Or their 447 total yards, or their 14-of-22 second-down conversion rate.

Perhaps instead I’ll groan about another truly awful tackling performance, or roll my eyes at the space the Stampeders’ receivers had. Reggie Begelton once had about ten yards of room inside of Jeff Richards that helped him make a 45-yard reception, while another time he took a 13-yard pass, thanked Duron Carter for running into Scott Hutter, and turned it into a 54-yard gain.

https://twitter.com/CFL/status/1568768719077216256?s=20&t=RCs8RV_eQSoKR5p-bsCVVw

Better was Carter getting bluntly embarrassed by Malik Henry — see here for the clip in all its glory. Jake Maier was a very clean 20-of-26 (77 percent) for 287 yards and a touchdown, while their offence benefitted from two pass interference calls in the endzone.

It was nice to see Edmonton’s run defence get back into form. Carey only got nine carries yet earned 118 yards — a 13.1-yard average.

I wouldn’t be able to identify a single defender who I thought had a good game. Of course, it’s been noted that the Elks only have one definitely-good player in the unit but Jake Ceresna had a quiet night.

I guess we’ll do the easy thing after the defence was responsible for over 40 points: blame Nick Arbuckle.

Very special

https://twitter.com/OilersNerdAlert/status/1568765246340472833?s=20&t=-Wng12l1ZkptwcimT_9trQ

Every Elks fan gives a sad sigh when you mention their special teams.

For the second straight week, they allowed a blocked punt. This one let the Calgary rusher through even more freely and the Stampeders recovered the ball at Edmonton’s one-yard line. The Elks were left in a 21-7 hole after the first quarter.

They also weren’t great at containing Peyton Logan and Calgary’s return team, though the Elks got creative with some shorter kickoffs. Jon Ryan did have one of his better nights punting.

A small glimmer of light was Christian Saulsberry and his 40-yard kickoff return, which came in his first game of full-time return duty.

Big cheese

Not only did all three on-field units make significant errors, the head coach also had a grim showing.

To start, Jones doesn’t deserve a lot of fault for not following through with his pass interference challenge. Ed Gainey gave a tiny jersey tug at the goalline before the receiver unrelatedly tripped over himself, bringing out the flag. Nothing there was especially flag-worthy.

Gainey commented after the game that he was told he touched the receiver at the top of the route, saying “I don’t know how to play defence anymore, apparently,” in reference to the minimal contact being deemed illegal. A tired-sounding Jones later elaborated himself.

“Well, they called it DPI. It was illegal contact. They kind of made a mistake, called it pass interference,” he said. “They said it was going to be upgraded or whatever, but that play… was kind of a tone-setter. I could tell that we weren’t going to get the call… they had in mind that was going to be their call.”

Much worse from the coach was conceding a safety from his eight-yard line to start the second half. They only needed to net roughly 30 yards on a punt for it to be worth kicking, and Calgary started in Edmonton’s half anyway. They even scored a touchdown to make it nine points total allowed off of the decision.

Worst of all was one of his punt choices. Nothing says “we’re trying to win” like punting on third-and-four from the Calgary 49-yard line, down 36-13. Not only is that a perfect spot to go for it at any score — four yards isn’t a lot, a 56-yard field goal is, and punting is a waste — you’re down 23 points halfway through the third quarter. There is nothing to lose.

The CFL needs a “Cowardly Punt Index,” like the NFL has. That was a whopper.

Of course, that didn’t stop him from going for a third-and-11 down 43-20 in the mid-fourth quarter.

Quick highlights

– Sergio Castillo was perfect, with 32-yard and 24-yard field goals, plus two converts.

– I’ve liked the look of rookie Canadian receiver Vincent Forbes-Mombleau in his very limited time in the spotlight. He had an 18-yard catch on Edmonton’s first offensive snap, after which he was left in the background.

– Jalin Marshall caught both of his targets, one of which was that touchdown. You have to ask: why was he cut in the first place?

– Cornelius only ran once, and it was the 11-yard touchdown at the end. Unusual for him, though that was a nice spot for it.

https://twitter.com/ConnorHalley/status/1568753383812616193?s=20&t=UxUxQkLf9mrDXO3qBiMdxw

– One last nice, summer Saturday night at Commonwealth.

Next

Edmonton faces off with the Riders in Saskatchewan on Friday. Despite being tied in wins with third place in the East and two wins behind second, a loss will formally eliminate the Elks from playoff contention.

The post Not with a whimper, but with a bang: eight thoughts on the Elks’ getting smacked in the Labour Day Rematch appeared first on 3DownNation.

The Edmonton Elks lost to the Calgary Stampeders by a score of 26-18. The Labour Day winning streak ends at one, but for a team that was fielding half of a preseason roster, it was a respectable performance.

Harvest season

Taylor Cornelius had to do some hard work.

Parts of it he did well. Cornelius finished 22-of-33 (66.7 percent) for 257 passing yards and two touchdowns. There was plenty of his patented rolling and throwing on the run, including a heroic third-down touchdown to keep the game interesting.

https://twitter.com/3DownNation/status/1566927039651024898

His start was splendid. I noted in the early second quarter that Cornelius was seven-of-eight for 124 yards and a touchdown to Jake Maier’s three-of-seven for 47 yards. If you had told me ahead of time that those would be the two early stat lines, I wouldn’t have blinked, though I would have expected the roles to be flipped.

Cornelius did get pieces of praise that I didn’t agree with. One second-quarter throw especially: it was zipped behind Dillon Mitchell and, while it was catchable, it would have been a difficult grab. Plus, there was no reason it couldn’t have been placed to lead the receiver.

The other two most notable missed connections were a slightly-too-high pass off a wide-open Jalin Marshall’s fingertips and an overthrow of Derel Walker in the endzone. Though, he followed up the Walker miss nicely on third down.

First frost

Unfortunately, the offence was not ultimately effective. The official 4.5-yard per play average sets another season-low for the unit, and while it’s slightly held back by a large number of quarterback sneaks, it matches up with an 18-point total that includes just a field goal and a punt single on two drives that started in Calgary’s half.

In fact, despite a strong-seeming last 15 minutes, the average was 4.5 at the end of both the third and fourth quarters.

A large chunk of the offence’s issues stems from a low average depth of target. Cornelius threw the 48-yard touchdown, but beyond that rarely aimed beyond 15 yards downfield while checking down early and often. I counted and 11 of his completions — exactly half — were at or behind the line of scrimmage.

He also shares responsibility with the offensive line for six sacks. I’ve mentioned that sometimes Cornelius’ improvisation is necessary because he’s slow to release the ball. In my rewatch, it looked like both teams used a ton of three-man and four-man rushes, and Cornelius generally had time to scan the field.

Otherwise, he managed to stay interception-free, though three separate passes had good chances of being picked off, including his very first attempt. The lowest point of the game was, frankly, the entire third quarter, where the Elks had three straight two-and-outs — with four incompletions and a sack among six plays — leading up to a blocked punt.

They then got a break, as Calgary fumbled the punt after a fourth-straight two-and-out, but only managed one first down on a 25-yard completion before settling for a short field goal.

Included in Cornelius’ workload was fielding multiple poor snaps from Mark Korte, who shifted into the middle to take the place of the recently-traded David Beard. That’s not a promising sign.

The dark side

In contrast to the Elks, the Stampeders rose from a 4.8-yard average at halftime to a 6.4-yard final mark. It seemed like it took Maier a long time to figure out the wind, but that or another switch flipped at the midpoint, as he followed a 5-of-11 first half with a 13-of-15 second half.

The most important connection was with Reggie Begelton, who made a superb catch on a superb throw under pressure to give Calgary a two-score lead.

https://twitter.com/CFL/status/1566918296825380865

Both teams failed to produce 300 yards of offence, but the Elks only managed one really big play to Calgary’s several. Winning the time of possession battle 35:18 to 24:42 isn’t as important — Edmonton ran 60 plays to Calgary’s 45 — as the Elks were outgained in total and by almost two yards per play on average.

Playmakers

I’ve talked about Edmonton’s lack of offensive talent, which up to this week included fielding a roster where the average fan wouldn’t recognize a single skill-position player’s name other than Walker.

This was an early breakout game for Dillon Mitchell, first and foremost. He’d shown flashes through his first two games, but a performance of six catches for 79 yards and a touchdown indicates a high potential ceiling on offence.

https://twitter.com/3DownNation/status/1566899533015306240

Disappointingly, Cornelius and the Elks only targeted him twice in the second half, with one completion for no gain.

Jalin Marshall also had a quietly effective game. Edmonton cut him after their opening week before re-signing him recently. In his return to the field on Monday, he caught three passes for 33 yards and the late touchdown. He and Mitchell would both be in my starting five receivers at this point, even assuming full health for everyone else.

Praise also goes to rookie running back Kevin Brown, who showed badly needed electricity in his CFL debut. Players like him are exactly the reason we say it’s hard to lose a trade involving an American running back because you should be able to find quality replacements.

Brown only got five carries but put up 45 yards, while adding six catches for 51 yards and showing a tremendous resistance to being tackled. We can quibble that it’s too many targets for a running back, though early signs suggest he will make the most out of them.

Walker, meanwhile, caught three of five targets for 48 yards. It’s a surprise that he was unused for very long stretches, although a primary matchup with defensive back Jonathan Moxey is a likely contributor.

Derek Taylor shared last week that Walker has had to deal with tremendous quarterback inaccuracy in his last three seasons. Instead of the 80 percent rate he used to get, only around 60 percent of throws to him have been judged as accurate for three straight years.

Crushing familiarity

It wouldn’t be Labour Day without hitting on a few key themes.

Number one is allowing an explosive punt return as Peyton Logan took one for 46 yards in the second quarter. Before the game, I had mused that the over/under for Calgary’s longest return should be about 48.5 yards. Pretty good.

Number two is Edmonton making hilariously bad mistakes on repeat. This year’s collection included one blocked punt, two lost fumbles, and three penalties wiping out big first downs.

Much like almost every Blue Bombers game, if you wait long enough, the better team will start to take over. What was strange was how frequently the Stampeders failed to punish Edmonton’s errors early on.

Last man standing

Edmonton’s best defender was clearly Jake Ceresna, who can be identified as the only healthy member of the unit who is definitely a good player. He had two sacks — the second of which involved a particularly impressive burst — and a forced fumble.

The Elks need more defensive playmakers like him. Even with how much time I spend thinking about the team, it was difficult for me to keep track of all the shuffling, in the defensive backfield especially.

Two quick acknowledgements: I noticed J-Min Pelley had a lot of success early on driving into the heart of the pocket. Also, props to debutant linebacker Mark McLaurin for undercutting and intercepting an ill-advised Maier pass.

Well except for that one part…

Aside from the entire third quarter, the Elks’ defence was pretty good. As usual, some credit goes to the opposing offence for getting in its own way, but still: Calgary’s attack only managed 106 net yards in the first half along with seven points.

The biggest highlight was that Ka’Deem Carey was held in check. He had one big catch-and-run where two tacklers whiffed on either side of him — Adam Konar was the egregious fly-by — but only 61 yards on 13 carries. It was surprising that the Stampeders barely used Logan on offence, given how effective he’s been.

The defence allowed too much after the break, however: 15 points in one quarter, while being all but unable to break up any of Maier’s attempts.

Quick hits

-Sergio Castillo had a quiet night, making two converts and a 15-yard field goal.

-Speaking of quick hits, with a few minutes left Duron Carter got undressed so cleanly by Malik Henry on a slant that he had to take a minute to collect his clothes from around the stadium. Henry still only made four catches for 67 yards, but it was more from the wind and inaccuracies than an inability to get open.

-Turning a two-score game into a two-score game with a 15-yard field goal at 22-8 is not winning football. You need to make up a deficit, which means getting the most out of your best chances. Calgary immediately followed with a field goal of their own to restore the two-touchdown lead.

-It felt like Cornelius and the Elks wasted a lot of time getting snaps off in the dying minutes. Had they been more efficient, the last long drive may have had slightly more than the vaguest of hopes.

-If I’m not mistaken, Chris Jones ended another game with a timeout in his pocket. There was a perfect opportunity to use one just outside the three-minute warning.

Next

The traditional rematch in Edmonton is scheduled for Saturday at 6:00 p.m. local time. More of the first-half Elks will mean a fun night, while a second-half repeat will continue the sadness and a historic home losing streak.

The post Better than expected but still not enough: nine thoughts on the Edmonton Elks’ Labour Day loss appeared first on 3DownNation.

His constant roster juggling in 2022 now includes a whopping 11 trades, all of them with the East Division teams — four each with Montreal and Hamilton, two with Ottawa, and one with Toronto.

In honour of Jones’ latest blockbuster, here’s my assessment of the 11 moves, listed in chronological order. As a baseline, a ‘B-’ grade would mean the Elks got roughly fair value. 

Date: January 14
Trade partner: Montreal Alouettes
Grade: C-

OUT: DL Mike Moore

IN: OL Tony Washington, RB/KR Martese Jackson

Adding a 2015 Grey Cup champion left tackle was Jones’ first big move after hiring. The cost was hefty, but it did move a large contract off of Edmonton’s books.

In terms of talent, this was a clear downgrade, especially with the 36-year-old Washington likely to retire after the season. Jackson was cut in late June, and the Elks are still looking for their full-time kick returner.

Meanwhile, Moore has four sacks in ten games with the Alouettes and sits tenth in the CFL in quarterback pressures, with 17 through 12 weeks. As far as whether Edmonton used the dollar savings well, judging by their record, they did not.

Date: May 2
Trade partner: Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Grade: C

OUT: LB Grant McDonald, OL Kyle Saxelid, 2022 first-round Global Draft pick (Second overall — P Baily Flint)

IN: 2022 first-round CFL Draft pick (Eighth overall — QB Tre Ford), 2022 third-round CFL Draft pick (28th overall — LS Peter Adjey), 2022 first-round Global Draft pick (Ninth overall — P Ben Griffiths)

If you’re going to make a spicy trade, you might as well add to it by drafting a quarterback with one of the acquired picks.

I supported the ‘aim for the moon’ strategy of drafting Ford — who hasn’t seen much field time but has already piqued the interest of many Elks fans. However, this move took a lot of well-deserved heat for trading away two respected Nationals. Weighing the duo against the draft slots, Edmonton definitely lost value, while the global picks don’t affect the verdict much.

This deal may turn out better than expected entirely because of Ford’s potential and Adjey has been on the active roster for every game so far, even if long snappers aren’t thought of as significant players.

On the other side, Saxelid has only played two games this year in Hamilton due to injury, while McDonald has five special teams tackles in 11 games.

Date: May 3
Trade partner: Montreal Alouettes
Grade: B+

OUT: 2022 first-round CFL Draft pick (First overall — LB Tyrell Richards)

IN: 2022 first-round CFL Draft pick (Fourth overall — LB Enock Makonzo), rights to OL Carter O’Donnell

The most logical reason for this trade is that the Elks were relatively high on Makonzo compared to Richards. If they preferred Makonzo outright, then picking up any asset would be a win. Regardless, a chance at a high-impact offensive lineman is a worthy gamble.

O’Donnell suffered a season-ending injury last month with the Indianapolis Colts but there’s still no telling if he’ll end up back in his home province. If he does, fans will revise this trade to a massive win, while even if he doesn’t, it’s not a major loss.

Makonzo has started to settle in mid-season and is looking like a promising young piece. Richards has shown flashes for Montreal as well but is currently on the six-game injured list.

Date: June 5
Trade partner: Toronto Argonauts
Grade: B-

OUT: 2023 sixth-round CFL Draft pick

IN: DB Jalen Collins, OL Martez Ivey

This started a run of roster-tinkering trades, with late-round picks being swapped for players.

Edmonton needed an addition to their secondary due to a few early injuries, while the team is still not fully settled at offensive tackle. A sixth-round pick was a fair price for taking two shots at those needs.

It’s not a great look that Collins struggled with the Elks and has already been released, especially given that Jones coached him in Toronto last year. Ivey has held up okay but doesn’t seem like more than a stop-gap or long-term depth guy.

Date: June 14
Trade partner: Montreal Alouettes
Grade: D+

OUT: RB Walter Fletcher

IN: 2023 sixth-round CFL Draft pick

Fletcher has been in and out of the Alouettes lineup, in part due to injuries, but he looks good every time he touches the ball.

Getting a pick for an American running back is rarely a big loss, but Edmonton could have really used his dynamism with their running back troubles since James Wilder Jr.’s season-ending injury. They’ve already released Fletcher’s presumed replacement, Sherman Badie, and have resorted to fielding National Ante Milanovic-Litre full-time in the backfield.

Date: June 27
Trade partner: Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Grade: C+

OUT: OL Colin Kelly

IN: 2023 seventh-round CFL Draft pick

Kelly had his ups and downs in Edmonton but he’s a decent player. You might expect better than a seventh-round pick for someone who became an immediate starter on the receiving team, but it’s not far off of fair compensation in my opinion.

Date: July 11
Trade partner: Ottawa Redblacks
Grade: D

OUT: QB Nick Arbuckle

IN: 2023 fourth-round CFL Draft pick

Arbuckle came back to haunt the Elks in their loss to the Redblacks last week, where he looked like a perfectly competent passer. His numbers were not good in Edmonton but it’s impossible to overlook the overall lack of success by the green and gold offence no matter who has been under centre.

From his Calgary days to now, Arbuckle — like most quarterbacks — seems to play best in a stable environment, which includes the trust of his head coach. Edmonton couldn’t manage to offer that.

Selling low is reflected in the return, which fell below many historical quarterback trades.

Date: July 25
Trade partner: Ottawa Redblacks
Grade: C+

OUT: 2023 seventh-round CFL Draft pick

IN: REC Llevi Noel, 2023 eighth-round CFL Draft pick

By dropping down a round in next year’s draft, the Elks picked up the 31-year-old Noel. He was an excellent special teams player early in his career with the Toronto Argonauts but hasn’t recorded a single statistic in Edmonton — the exact same result he had in Ottawa.

Date: July 26
Trade partner: Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Grade: C-

OUT: 2023 eighth-round CFL Draft pick

IN: P Jon Ryan

This trade was made for ratio purposes, as the Elks cut a very promising American punter in Matt Mengel to make it work. So far, Ryan’s 41.9-yard average is second last in the league, ahead of only teammate Sergio Castillo — who punts only in emergencies.  Amusingly, he hasn’t kicked a trademark single yet this season.

The Elks took a chance with a late-round pick and it didn’t work out. Not a disaster, but not a success either.

Date: August 31
Trade partner: Montreal Alouettes
Grade: D-

OUT: DB Nafees Lyon, DL Thomas Costigan

IN: DL Avery Ellis, 2023 third-round CFL Draft pick

Costigan for Ellis is close to an even swap, with Ellis having slightly better production this year but Costigan holding more potential by virtue of being two years younger. However, Lyon had been one of the precious few bright spots for Edmonton in the last season and a half.

He hasn’t gotten as much appreciation in 2022 but Lyon still had an excellent 54 percent completion rate allowed on passes thrown at him, per Derek Taylor. Along with the injured Aaron Grymes, Jake Ceresna, and possibly Nyles Morgan, he was one of the few Elks’ defenders you could confidently say were very good players.

A third-round pick is unlikely to become an impact player and the only possible justification for the move is that the team wasn’t planning to keep Lyon past this season — which would have been foolish. Lyon and Costigan will both be rejoining the Elks’ 2021 defensive coordinator Noel Thorpe, indicating Montreal is likely thrilled with their haul.

Trading young, first-rate players is not a winning formula. Jones doesn’t seem to value a defensive back’s effectiveness much if they don’t meet his height requirements.

Date: September 2
Trade partner: Hamilton Tiger-Cats
Grade: D

OUT: OL David Beard, conditional 2023 fourth-round CFL Draft pick

IN: OL Jesse Gibbon, 2023 second-round CFL Draft pick

The 29-year-old Beard is widely thought of as one of, if not the best, centres in the league. He’s a local Edmonton product who has played here at every level — high school, university and then the CFL — and is signed through 2023 at a premium price.

The 25-year-old Gibbon began the season as Hamilton’s starting right guard before switching to centre for games two through four, and has been listed as their backup right guard for the last seven games — behind Saxelid and with Kelly on the right side. The early expectation for Edmonton is now that Gibbon will support right guard Tomas Jack-Kurdyla, with Mark Korte shifting to centre.

The Elks offensive line has had its issues, but not in the middle — Beard allowed just four quarterback pressures in ten games. Jones effectively argued that they could make the trade because they were dealing from a position of strength, including a remark that they played their best offensive game in Ottawa without Beard.

The Elks will save a lot of money here but while Gibbon could still grow into a quality, full-time starter, it’s hard to see how the savings can overcome the talent deficit. One idea is that they’re doing some early preparations for signing an expensive quarterback, though that doesn’t fully jive with drafting Ford. Beard likely has several years left in his career, and has been a tremendous leader and teammate in every sense of the word.

Adding a second round pick isn’t nothing but it once again fails to bridge the value gap. It hasn’t been reported what the conditions are on the fourth-round pick.

In conclusion

The Elks have netted two or possibly three picks in the top half of a draft while ceding a fairly significant amount of talent. Ford and O’Donnell are the best bets at adding a star; the rest is shuffling around the edges of the roster.

The reasoning goes that the road to success is long and rough. In view of building for the future, it seems likely that the ‘mad scientist’ Jones will continue dealing freely in pursuit of players who fit his vision.

The post Grading every trade of the Edmonton Elks’ second Chris Jones era appeared first on 3DownNation.

The Curse of Commonwealth continues, as the Edmonton Elks fell 25-18 to Nick Arbuckle and the Ottawa Redblacks on Saturday night.

Much like last week, the visiting team played to win in at least one half of action while the hosts struggled for long stretches. The story of Arbuckle’s vengeance started strong but faded along with the game’s entertainment value in the latter half.

Now for some thoughts.

Testing the waters

The game got off to a mild start. It was not for lack of trying, as both teams were firing downfield from the get-go.

The first notable moment came when Arbuckle stepped forward and launched a mid-air shot towards Ryan Davis, who had a step on Edmonton’s defence, but the connection missed by about a foot with the wind at their backs.

On the Elks’ first play after the ensuing punt, Kenny Lawler made a brilliant diving catch for a 54-yard gain, as Taylor Cornelius put the ball just at the edge of his range. That set up the first three points of the game.

https://twitter.com/TSN_Sports/status/1563669386967252992?s=20&t=YxJhZr3suRV0H8SlaL5H4g

Following a Redblacks’ two-and-out, Cornelius went deep again, finding a wide-open Dillon Mitchell for a 45-yard gain. It was into the wind but it continued a Cornelius trend of underthrowing likely touchdowns.

I respect Chris Jones’s choice to go for it on third-and-six rather than attempt a 43-yard field goal, but the checkdown decision from Cornelius was poor and failed to show understanding of the situation. Even if Ante Milanovic-Litre hadn’t dropped it, he was very unlikely to evade multiple defenders and achieve the first down from behind the line of scrimmage.

Ottawa took over, and Arbuckle started to cook.

He dropped an absolute dime to Nate Behar for 49 yards and followed it with a 24-yard hit to Darvin Adams, taking them to the one-yard line. Arbuckle punched in a sneak on the next play and gave the Redblacks a 6-3 lead after 15 minutes.

I do wonder whether the Redblacks gave him that chance for a personal revenge touchdown, given that Caleb Evans ran all the short-yardage plays after that.

QB1 vs. QB1

On Friday night, I happened to recall the 2021 edition of the Redblacks visiting the Elks. It was the infamous kickoff to a dreadful Elks season and it was lowlighted by the quarterback play of Matt Nichols and Trevor Harris. Nichols finished with 71 passing yards and his team with 94 total net yards, while Harris threw for 333 yards and three interceptions with zero touchdowns.

That was a tremendously low bar for 2022’s quarterbacks to clear. Arbuckle definitely managed to; if Cornelius did, it was narrowly.

Arbuckle didn’t light the world on fire, but he played a clean and fully competent game. Once he settled in, he was on point for much of the first half. A halftime stat line of 13-of-17 for 148 yards passing and the sneak touchdown is excellent. While he didn’t throw for any touchdowns, he led two other drives to the Edmonton one and two-yard lines, both finished by Caleb Evans.

The thing I noticed most was his poise against Chris Jones’ blitzes. According to my own stat tracking, he was six-of-nine for 64 yards against them. Contained in that were one drop and one clever hard count into a quick snap to catch the defence flat-footed. In all circumstances, he showed his intelligence as a quarterback.

https://twitter.com/Ben__Grant/status/1563713552354906113?s=20&t=XyVck-WrCkA4JLWxN3XRVA

By comparison, Cornelius was 6-of-17 in the first half — a 35 percent rate — for 190 yards and an ugly interception. He connected on a few deep balls to open receivers but that was about it. The turnover was from an unnecessarily forced throw and, in general, his decision-making was poor all night. As an example, his last three attempts were all checkdowns to Milanovic-Litre, totalling one-of-three for zero yards. Not close to enough when you need a touchdown within a minute.

Interestingly, Cornelius didn’t run until the second half, when he did so eight times for 39 yards and two touchdowns. One of those choices was distinctly ill-advised when on a third-and-ten he only got halfway to the first-down marker. Arbuckle, meanwhile, attempted only one run after his sneak, a zero-yard gain after exhausting his options.

Cornelius’ final stat line was 14-of-37 (38 percent) for 287 yards and an interception.

What stands out again is the yards per completion — he was bombing deep all game thanks to the luxury of time to stand in the pocket. Frequently, it was Edmonton’s offensive line getting the better of Ottawa’s defensive line and Cornelius found a lot of wide-open receivers as a result.

A couple of line breakdowns that did occur seemed to be the responsibility of first-time starter Andrew Garnett at right tackle. I’m not sure if it was performance-based, but by the end of the game Mark Korte had kicked out from guard to tackle, and Tomas Jack-Kurdyla filled in at right guard. Overall, Cornelius didn’t have to improvise very often.

That makes his stat-line more concerning, however. While deeper attempts naturally have a lower success rate, and there were a few drops, a completion percentage of 38 is truly terrible when you have time to go through your reads. Cornelius threw some no-chance balls at every depth.

This is not to say that Arbuckle will be amazing in Ottawa but a lot of people in Edmonton really disliked him based on his time here under defensive specialist Chris Jones. I suspect the Elks’ head coach is not the type to have many regrets but this would be an appropriate time for one.

Missed connections

No Elks’ receiver caught more than 50 percent of their targets on Saturday. At the bottom were Kai Locksley, who caught two of six, and Derel Walker, who caught one of six. In Walker’s defence, one was a clear throwaway and on another, he took a direct, violent headshot from Avery Williams. I don’t know how there wasn’t a flag.

Still, that makes it a three-week stretch where Walker has caught five of twenty passes from Cornelius — remarkably bad.

It was concerning enough that the receiving corps was effectively Lawler, Walker, and three random guys coming into the game. Then Lawler left somewhere in the fourth quarter, making it Walker and four random guys. But if Walker isn’t even an effective weapon… Edmonton needs to find playmakers.

I hear Jalen Tolliver is still available.

Tactics

Earlier this week, I was thinking about the simplicity of yards per play. It’s a good starting point, but far from an all-encompassing stat. Most importantly, a high number indicates setting oneself up to score but a team still has to put the ball in the endzone.

Edmonton and Ottawa were both at 7.2 yards per play at halftime, but a score of 20-3 indicates one team managed to finish while the other didn’t. Notice that the Redblacks dropped to a final number of 5.2 as they only scored three points on offence after halftime. Arbuckle was an unexciting 8-of-15 for 71 yards in the last 30 minutes, with 219 yards total.

The shift in philosophy was crystal clear and Glen Suitor even commented that Ottawa was “playing not to lose.” Indeed, their only try beyond 11 yards for 25 minutes of the second half was a 17-yard target to Darvin Adams, which was broken up with a hit that left Adams shaken up.

The Redblacks curiously decided to take two more shots with just under five minutes left, one incomplete to Adams against pressure, and a second that was called a catch for Jaelon Acklin but overturned to incomplete on a challenge. As many viewers noted, Paul LaPolice probably would have won a pass interference challenge of his own, as Nafees Lyon got a hand in Acklin’s facemask.

As for Edmonton, it’s hard to say if their “chuck-it” strategy was intended coming in or a quarterback’s decision based on having so many opportunities to aim at an open man. Cornelius was four-of-ten on passes over 20 yards, with multiple throws costing his team opportunities. Recall Winnipeg at Edmonton in Week 7 for a winning version of that formula, when Zach Collaros was 7-of-16 for 188 yards.

It’s also discouraging to note ten throws to Milanovic-Litre. That is far too many for any running back. The run game with him wasn’t any better either — seven carries for 18 yards.

Tactics/little things

Despite Ottawa being known to run aggressive short-yardage plays, the Elks’ defence got caught sleeping and gave up a 33-yard Evans to Behar strike on a second-and-one.

One consistently executed plan was avoiding freshly signed returner DeVonte Dedmon at all costs. Edmonton’s punts were as close to the sidelines as they could get and they even willingly sacrificed air yards on kickoffs, resulting in defensive lineman Kene Onyeka returning multiple kicks. It seemed reasonably effective but we don’t need coaches finding more ways to suck the excitement out of games.

Finally, it seemed like both teams did a poor job of managing the clock in the endgame. Ottawa did worse, failing to make use of several opportunities to use the full play clock, while Edmonton lapsed into laxness despite needing to score.

The little things

Jones won two challenges, one for pass interference and another for an incompletion. I mentioned his early third down call into the wind. He correctly went for the two-point convert first, down 25-16.

An underrated plus was Cornelius spiking the ball with nine seconds left in the first half. I’ve mused about that lots before and it was the perfect scenario — 20 yards is a good range for taking one endzone shot and if it fails, you’re kicking the field goal anyways. Normally spending a down isn’t worth it but with that little time left, it’s fine and beats using a timeout.

Unfortunately, Jones did concede a safety once rather than punt. It worked okay this time, but one would think Jon Ryan with a tailwind should mean Ottawa doesn’t start far into Elks’ territory.

Jones also finished with a timeout in his pocket, having chosen not to use one with the Redblacks punting around the four-minute mark. That was one case where the Redblacks only used about eight seconds on the play clock, rather than the full 18 or 19 they should have.

Other Positives

https://twitter.com/3DownNation/status/1563692550531166208?s=20&t=fYS5hQl2GFykVQXFMk-qsw

– Lawler made not one, but two incredible catches and finished with a bizarre stat-line of three receptions for 146 yards.

– The defence held up in the second half. Rookie Enock Makonzo was among the most active players, with seven tackles, a sack, and a forced fumble.

– The Elks only took six penalties for 38 yards, and only two of those had a notable effect.

– Dillon Mitchell broke one big 33-yard return that stood this week, though Dedmon still had the better night despite having very few opportunities.

– Sergio Castillo made a 33-yard field goal and a convert. No fault to him for the blocked field goal, as Davon Coleman broke through the protection almost untouched.

Next

It’s Labour Day. You may remember the Elks beat the Stampeders in the 2021 edition, on the back of Trevor Harris torching McMahon. They’ll be facing Jake Maier for the second year in a row but Edmonton is in tough to stay within double digits, much less go back-to-back.

The post Edmonton succumbs to the Ghost of Elks Past & eight other thoughts on losing to Ottawa appeared first on 3DownNation.

Here are some thoughts on the game.

Comeback factor

All three Elks wins have required a ‘comeback’ of some variety but this was the smallest and earliest, as they trailed 12-3 before Kai Locksley scored inside the three-minute warning of the first half. That started a run of 27 unanswered points to further embarrass the suffering Redblacks, who could barely put up resistance to Edmonton’s second-half offence.

Three straight touchdown drives of 69, 75, and 80 yards — taking roughly 19 minutes combined — sealed the game for the Elks. I don’t know if it was a specific directive from Coach Jones but they did an incredible job of milking every second off the clock on the last one. It was well-executed, even if it was painful to watch.

The performance wasn’t all pretty but it’s the first time the Elks have been on the right side of a no-doubter.

About that first half…

Nobody wants to think about it much, so a few quick stats and comments to sum up.

To start off the game, Edmonton threw two passes in their first eight plays. Ottawa threw two in their first ten, resulting in 52 passing yards between the two teams in the first quarter. By comparison, Lions quarterback Nathan Rourke took less than ten minutes to get to 104 yards in the second part of the CFL’s Friday night doubleheader.

The Elks scored once thanks to a nice 20-yard completion to Derel Walker, plus a couple of penalties and yet another pass interference drawn by Kenny Lawler. Meanwhile, Ottawa’s entire offence was Caleb Evans rushing — he had 82 yards and a touchdown in the half — plus one big play where defensive back Treston Decoud was in great coverage position on Darvin Adams but couldn’t manage to get a hand up to the ball, thus allowing a 50-yard completion.

https://twitter.com/FarhanLaljiTSN/status/1560785679155695617?s=20&t=QMi2QPns16tpL0YIszZkfA

Thankfully the second half offered a little bit more excitement.

Pop-Corn

Taylor Cornelius started one-of-seven for 18 yards and was only three-of-nine for 45 yards at halftime. That meant a dreadful 4.1 yards per play off of 94 total net yards. He was following the pattern I noted last week of rarely throwing from the pocket and not being accurate even when he did.

The contrast between Edmonton’s first and second-half offences was jarring.

The Elks came out in the third quarter and Cornelius was actually making plays from the pocket. He found a series of open receivers and the immediate result was 69 and 75-yard touchdown drives. The biggest highlight was a routine-looking strike to Lawler in space.

https://twitter.com/3DownNation/status/1560793332334243843?s=20&t=P496bPiUP3yrlYY0v8pCZA

Cornelius didn’t have to do much on the third, clock-killing drive, so he was 13-of-18 for 163 yards and two touchdowns in the second half. It wasn’t against a good defence but that’s very respectable production. Mash it with the first half and he finished with a 59-percent completion rate and 209 yards  — still decent for barely throwing in the final 15 minutes — while, most importantly, staying turnover-free.

He only ran once after taking the lead — to convert a second-and-ten — after scrambling four times up to that point. I thought Cornelius chose his spots quite wisely.

He still missed a lot of throws and was helped out by receivers on a couple of occasions, including Walker’s touchdown. Within the span of three plays in the third quarter, he slightly overthrew Walker down the right sideline and overcorrected to underthrow him in virtually the same spot. That meant two misses when his receiver had a step of room.

Promising signs, but as always more consistency is needed.

Heck of a switch-flip

If the offence can do what they did Friday on command, they should do it more often.

A lot of the attention and credit went to the Elks’ offensive line, though I personally didn’t think they were that bad in the first half — aside from when the Redblacks got an early sack with two-man pressure when right tackle Martez Ivey failed to do more than wave at the defender who spun past him.

On review, I noticed multiple good plays from Edmonton in the second half that used a sixth or even seventh man in protection. For example, Steven Nielsen came in as an extra lineman on the Lawler touchdown, which you can re-watch above.

When there isn’t extra help, I think a useful directive to Cornelius might be to ramp up the decisiveness a little bit. As I’ve mentioned before, the question is whether the trade-off might be more turnovers.

O-perable

The Elks offence gets a passing grade, but it wasn’t with flying colours. They did enough on those three second-half drives to win. Edmonton pushed their yards per play from 4.1 up to around 6.1 before slow-playing their way to a 5.6 final mark. On the whole, it was still lacking.

It’s concerning that Cornelius keeps having trouble connecting with Walker, despite his touchdown. After a one-of-six outing last week, Walker caught three of his eight targets for 36 yards against the Redblacks. Lawler needs more consistent support from his fellow receivers; nobody else earned more than three targets nor more than two catches.

Edmonton’s running game continues to be very tame, as well. They averaged roughly four yards a carry, with Ante Milanovic-Litre doing most of the work — he had 13 carries for 53 yards and a touchdown. They need to get above a five-yard average to satisfy their head coach and even higher to be genuinely effective.

D-bateable

Edmonton’s defence was frustrating at times but in general, they stood up well against Ottawa’s offence. The question is how much of their success was from the Redblacks’ own incompetence.

Evans was held to 111 passing yards and the Ottawa offence had just 12 first downs before he got replaced late in the fourth quarter. Interestingly, he didn’t run at all in six third-quarter plays; his ground game was the one thing that gave the Elks fits.

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There were plenty of missed tackles throughout the game but the Redblacks never consistently got going, though they did deserve more than 12 points given a rough kicking night from Lewis Ward. In general, the Elks managed to avoid significant breakdowns.

It seemed like Ottawa bounced between five and six yards per play, and they finished at 5.3. That’s comparable to Edmonton, but clearly lacking the sequence of productive passing plays and much-needed touchdown drives that the green and gold put together several times. The Redblacks’ six second-half plays with Evans earned a total of six yards, plus a ten-yard illegal contact bonus on a play they took a sack.

Evans only had three attempts beyond seven yards downfield: 48 yards to Adams, plus 12 and 16 yards to Nate Behar. He didn’t seem to have the patience to hold out for more, though it’s also surprising there wasn’t more insistence on it from Ottawa’s coaches coming out of a bye week.

The lack of a real passing threat makes a defence’s job a lot easier, and the Elks have not demonstrated sound coverage often this season. They had a good read on their opponent and his slow decisions on Friday.

I know that guy

Former Elk Nick Arbuckle went 7-of-13 for 85 yards in six minutes of garbage time. Included in that is one risky throw against a blitz and a gross drop by Adams on a well-placed ball that would’ve converted a third-and-23. Redblacks fans can expect more of the accuracy and good timing he’s shown hints of in two relief appearances.

Paul LaPolice can no longer deny that Arbuckle deserves more playing time at a time in the schedule where the drama is maximized.

Two complaints

I didn’t like the command centre picking up a first-quarter offside flag against Edmonton.

We frequently see that that type of flag being thrown can impact the play, especially a quarterback’s decision if they think they have a free shot, so it doesn’t make sense to pretend it didn’t happen. If Evans had thrown a deep attempt and been intercepted, the consequences of the nixed flag would have been much higher than they were after missing a two-yard checkdown.

The league also needs to get a handle on the amount of time wasted between plays. Every so often, there’s an egregious case, such as in the fourth quarter on Friday. The Elks ran a four-second sneak with 8:02 left and the next play wasn’t snapped until 7:07. That’s about 50 seconds of run-off in between and Locksley called for the snap with nine seconds still on the play clock.

Other Positives

– Sergio Castillo missed one convert but made three more, as well as a 52-yard field goal.

– Lawler deserves an extra bit of praise. He caught five of seven targets for 81 yards and a touchdown, plus drew the previously mentioned interference flag.

– Walker had a very energetic celebration after scoring his first touchdown since September 20, 2019.

– Chris Jones once again elected to punt from his endzone and got a great result. The Elks downed returner Terry Williams at their 52-yard line and Lewis Ward ultimately missed a 47-yard field goal. Somewhat oddly, Duron Carter conceded a single — one would think you could comfortably return a miss from that distance.

– New addition Dillon Mitchell broke one big return. It didn’t count due to a penalty, but it was still enough to excite Elks fans.

Next

Ottawa is in Edmonton for a rematch next Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium. Despite this week’s result, it could go either way. We’ll see just how strong the home curse is.

The post Elks’ offence finally charges & nine other thoughts on beating the Redblacks appeared first on 3DownNation.