The Edmonton Elks have officially reached the midway point of the 2024 season and things are starting to turn around following a poor start. The team got its second win in a row on Sunday, this one coming at home against the B.C. Lions by a score of 33-16. Below are my thoughts on the game.
Quarterback tandem
The crowd of 18,447 was one of the biggest of the year at Commonwealth Stadium with many new fans surely coming to see the phenom Tre Ford after his magic against the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.
The native of Niagara Falls, Ont. did not disappoint as he went six-for-six on his pass attempts, many of which came on the run. His longest throw was a 40-yard bomb into the end zone that Dillon Mitchell could have had, though he was interfered with by Emmanuel Rugamba. Even without the catch, the play was amazing to watch. Ford finished with a quarterback rating of 152.1.
The downside of his dynamic nature showed in the dying minutes of the first half as Ford scrambled to avoid pressure from B.C. defensive linemen Tibo Debaillie and Sione Teuhema. He tried to break contain running to his left but linebacker Ryder Varga was there and Teuhema caught him from behind, landing on top of him. The ball was under Ford’s midsection when the tackle was made and he appeared to come up favouring his ribs.
Ford was taken to the sideline tent and did not return to the game. This is one of those cases where throwing the ball away or sliding may have helped prevent injury. You have to respect his desire to make a play but sometimes it’s better not to risk a big hit.
Enter McLeod Bethel-Thompson. The veteran passer struggled in his last couple of appearances but benefitted from a strong run game in this one as he returned to the form we saw for the first month of the season. He found receivers, controlled the ball, and extended drives to keep the defence fresh. Even as the pocket collapsed, he showed his veteran presence standing in and connecting on passes. Throwing for 171 yards and a touchdown in just over a half is a good evening of work.
The only blemish came on a 50-50 ball in the endzone that Ciante Evans somehow picked off between two Elks receivers. As he said after the game, “a shooter has to shoot.” That one was just a great defensive play. Overall, he led the team to the home win and a successful return to the field.
“I think we are just seeing what we could be,” Bethel-Thompson said. “Going back to those first five games, we played winning football. Now, did we get the wins? No, and we walked through hell a little bit there for two games. We didn’t look good and that’s frustrating. These last two weeks, we’ve bounced back and when you bounce back, you find out who you are. There’s a lot of good men in that locker room and that’s where it has to start.”
Running continues
It was another brilliant night from the combination of Javon Leake and Justin Rankin as the two running backs combined for 200 yards along the ground, marking the second straight week they’ve reached that number. Both performances resulted in wins, which hardly seems like a coincidence.
Leake showed great patience behind the offensive line before hitting holes with speed. You can tell that interim head coach Jarious Jackson has found trust in him as he received 21 carries, which is over double the average for handoffs in Edmonton’s first six games.
It helps that Leake was productive with his attempts, putting up 97 yards. His touchdown in the second quarter came on an eleven-yard scamper that saw him burst through the line and right through defensive back Garry Peters at the goal line. Leake was signed for his return abilities but his explosiveness has translated well to the backfield, where he played collegiately at the University of Maryland.
Playing only his second career game, Justin Rankin contributed 77 rushing yards and a catch for a 17-yard touchdown, which came in the fourth quarter after the Lions had pulled to within three points. It’s become a thunder-and-lightning situation in Edmonton’s backfield and Rankin brings the thunder. He’s not afraid to run through the middle, though he’s fast enough to get the outside. Through two games, he’s averaging just under nine yards per carry, which is sensational.
Defence Wound Up
B.C.’s first drive was well orchestrated, leaning heavily on running back William Stanback and the short passing game to go 67 yards for the touchdown. The defence looked like they might slide back into their old habit of giving up the run but they tightened up, forcing some longer second downs and that made the difference.
The turning point came in the second quarter when B.C. gambled on a third-and-five on the Edmonton 40-yard line. The Lions were up 10-8 at that point but a long pass to Keon Hatcher was well overthrown by Jake Dolegala, who started in place of an injured Vernon Adams Jr. It was an odd choice after which you could hear Edmonton’s defensive players talking about stepping up, and that they did.
Nyles Morgan led the team again with eight tackles, while Derrick Moncrief had his best game of this season with seven tackles and Shawn Oakman got into the sack column once again. Arguably the play of the game came in the second quarter when Dolegala dropped back and then dumped it off to Stanback. Nick Anderson jumped around the offensive line and wrapped him up for a loss.
“We gave up that first drive,” Jackson said. “They did a good job of just running and making it easy for the quarterback. They were able to drive down and score. At least that one took a bit longer than last week with Super Mario. That was their flinch and then it was our turn to go down and do what we have to do.”
The defence had some help with Dolegala starting his first game of the year and some Lions receivers committing drops. Still, holding this type of offence to one touchdown and only three field goals is a great showing.
O-line improving
After the good showing from the offensive line last week, they continued to move forward as a unit against the Lions. It’s still not all perfect but the running backs are finding space to operate, which is something we did not see early on.
Mark Korte stood out at centre, opening holes up and keeping the middle of the B.C. defensive line controlled. He continues to grow in the leadership role and overcame a couple of blemishes to have a strong game overall.
Jones has second big game
How many times has a player entered a starting role and recorded exactly 123 receiving yards in back-to-back games? I would assume that’s not a big number.
Tevin Jones became a starter last week against his old team and had 123 yards on three catches. This week, he led the Elks with exactly the same number of receiving yards on six catches. He has been targeted nine times and caught all of them.
Immediate impact 🙌
McLeod Bethel-Thompson (@The_Real_Mcleod) finds Tevin Jones (@TswaggJones) for 26 yards down field.#CFLGameday LIVE on TSN & CBSSN
📲: Stream on CFL+ pic.twitter.com/7tS87HeEmS— CFL (@CFL) August 12, 2024
The catch that stood out this week was a tip drill play in the third quarter. Bethel-Thompson threw a bullet from the 45-yard line that seemed to tip off of the fingers of B.C. linebacker Ayinde Eley, was popped up by Jones with his right hand, and then caught for a 25-yard gain. What a strong addition he’s been.
“I go out there and just put my best foot forward,” Jones said. “Lean on my teammates, especially my receivers because they help me so much, lean on my quarterbacks and my coaches and we get things done. If we can win day one, two, and three, we should be good on game day.”
Who’s that fullback?
With both Tanner Green and Jacob Plamondon landing on the six-game injured list, backup Canadian offensive lineman Phillip Grohovac found himself at fullback.
The 2023 CFL Draft pick did fairly well as an extra blocker, though I wanted to see him get a carry as a 300-pound runner. Maybe next game. For now, he helped with opening some outside runs and providing extra pass protection.
A streak end
After the game, interim coach Jackson brought up the fact that Geno Lewis didn’t get a catch, breaking his eight-year record of catching a ball in every game.
“I really want to apologize to Geno,” he said. “I didn’t realize that he has had a career of over eight years where he has had consecutive games with a catch. It got dismissed a little bit because we were running the ball pretty even. Had I known that that was a record he was holding onto, then I would do everything in my power to get him the football. From the bottom of my heart, apologize to Geno.”
It was a classy move for the coach to bring it up without being asked. Let the new streak start next week.
The Edmonton Elks (2-7) will visit the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (2-7) on Saturday, Aug. 17 with kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m. EDT. Taylor Powell will make his first start of the season with Bo Levi Mitchell on the bench.
