It was August 10, 2023, when the Elks made the switch to Tre Ford as the starting QB last year. They won four games as a result, including one in Saskatchewan on September 15.
Saturday, with Ford taking the reigns once again, Edmonton returned to Regina and collected their first win of 2024. It was a convincing one at that, beating the Roughriders 42-31.
Here are my thoughts on the game
Running, running, and more running
Based on the season-long statistics, this game featured the best run defence in Saskatchewan against the worst rushing team in the league. The game did not play out that way.
With the injury to Kevin Brown, Javon Leake assumed the starting role and the University of Maryland running back had himself a night — 12 carries for 169 yards and a hat trick in touchdowns. He also caught all three passes thrown his way for another 26 yards.
The dominant speed, clocked at up to 35.8 Km/hour in the TSN enhanced feed, was even more than what the Elks thought they were getting when they signed the free agent back in February. Two of his touchdowns were from mid-field, 51 and 61 yards respectively, and both came in the fourth quarter. His patience before hitting the holes that opened up was something not seen so far this season. For a team that has averaged 67 yards on the ground per game, this was a giant leap forward.
Justin Rankin, who returned to the team two weeks ago after being a late cut at training camp, also got into the game. He was the rotational back for Leake to get some rest and added in 60 yards on the ground and 14 through the air. For his first CFL action, he did well to push through the line and take hits straight on.
For as hard as I have been on the offensive line, they had success on this night in opening holes for Leake and Rankin. In particular, left tackle Martez Ivey stood out to me for washing defenders inside and executing downfield blocks to spring the backs. Centre Mark Korte was also dealing with a lot of Micah Johnson and still found ways to get things open. The absence of Anthony Lanier II for the Riders played a role, but the O-line held up against what they had in front of them.
Tre-mendous start
Fans have been waiting to see Tre Ford return to the field all year. After his three-touchdown performance in relief last week, he was announced as the starter before practice even began for this game. He did not disappoint.
The hype all week was that we would get to see Ford run around and open up the defence. What we saw instead was a great balance of passing and running, with the Waterloo product doing surprisingly little of the former. He had an 82 percent completion rate, mostly from the pocket, with 18 passes caught and two for over 30 yards.
His biggest play was the fourth-longest by a Canadian quarterback in CFL history — a pass that travelled almost 60 yards in the air and landed perfectly in the hands of Tevin Jones in full flight. Jones got revenge on his old team by running the rest of the field for the 93-yard touchdown. Anyone who says that Ford is not that great a passer, I recommend you go watch this play. It was a monster throw and dead accurate. He connected with Jones again for a 19-yard touchdown in the fourth. The passing is not a concern.
Ford did run for 46 yards, but only when he needed to and not as often as many would have thought. A net offence of 515 yards, against a good defence, shows the growth is there as an all-around quarterback.
The biggest thing that Ford brought was a boost to the other parts of the offence. The O-line had a bit less to deal with, as all of Saskatchewan’s defenders needed to be aware of where Tre was on the field. It helped open holes for the running game and it helped give him more time to see throws downfield. And, yes, when the pressure cranked up, he was able to keep them honest and run for some yards. It wasn’t perfect, but it sure felt as if the team had more options to move the ball. Good things happen with balance in the attack.
Not a great start
The Green and Gold special teams started the game on a poor note, with Mario Alford taking the opening kickoff 101 yards for the major. The kickoff coverage seemed to be moving in slow motion as Super Mario ran by. It didn’t exactly inspire a lot of confidence and left the new starting quarterback in a hole — good thing that didn’t matter in the end.
The kicking, however, was very good overall. Boris Bede was 100 percent on his two kicks for the second week in a row. Jake Julien continued his all-star season by dropping three punts inside the 10-yard line, including one that bounced out at the one. I never looked forward to punting before but now I do.
Defensive contributions
With the offence staying on the field more, the defence was able to catch a breather in between drives and that helped the contributions. Three sacks, a tackle for a loss, five knockdowns, and an interception — a productive night even with 31 points scored for the Green and White.
Nyles Morgan led the way again, adding 11 tackles to his league-leading 45. Shawn Oakman contributed 2 tackles, including a sack in his second game with the team. Loucheiz Purifoy had five tackles, including one for a loss and one sack. The leaders on this team are showing the way.
Devodric Bynum was brought off the practice roster to fill in at the cornerback position for injured Marcus Lewis. He did admirably with two pass knockdowns but did find himself chasing a couple of times. The biggest issue was a late penalty for taunting that kept Saskatchewan on the field. Jason Shivers immediately pulled him aside to coach up that moment. With Lewis on the six-game, Bynum will be needed to hold down that wide corner spot for a few more weeks.
Home for BC
Edmonton comes back home for a tilt against the B.C. Lions next Sunday. The Lions have lost two in a row and will be coming in without Vernon Adams Jr. It will be a massive test to build on this win for the Green and Gold.
“We finally got off the stoop,” interim head coach Jarious Jackson said. “We finally got out of the starting blocks and we just have to build on this. We have to start stacking them from here. At this point in time, we are still two games behind the next guys in the West. We are going to just keep fighting and see where it takes us in the end.”
I hope the second win comes sooner than the wait we had for the first.
