Twenty years is a long time to not have full bragging rights over your biggest rival. The Edmonton Elks grabbed those back on Saturday, winning 37-16 and sweeping the Calgary Stampeders in the annual Labour Day home-and-home.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Defensive show
I admit that this was influenced by going against quarterback Logan Bonner in his first start in the CFL, but the defence came to play. There were five interceptions off the second-year pivot and they limited the Calgary offence to three field goals. The “bend don’t break” theory had a fair amount of bend at times but solidified on their side of half.
The linebacking corps has continued to improve and blend as a group. Nyles Morgan was all over the field once again with six tackles and many times met a defensive teammate at the ball carrier. Rookie Nick Anderson was named the defensive player of the game with five tackles, one interception and one knockdown. He almost had a second interception on a third-down gamble but the spectacular knockdown actually improved the field position for Edmonton. Although Derrick Moncrief only had two tackles listed on the stats sheet, he did more than that by rotating between SAM and halfback. Calgary did get some yards with the run game, but there were just as many stops short of the first down marker.
That makes it twelve turnovers in two games, with nine of those being interceptions. The Elks feasted on the struggles of the Stamps quarterbacks. Devodric Bynum added two more interceptions on Saturday to have four in two games. The rookie corner continues to impress, as he also held receiver Cam Echols to one catch on five targets. Loucheiz Purifoy grabbed another interception to increase his tally to four on the year. Kai Gray and Anderson rounded out the steals through the air.
“Shoutout to our coaches and their preparation,” Anderson said, “Shoutout to the see-it-do-it guys that give us great looks. When you see a defence get ten turnovers in two weeks, that’s a cultivation of everybody. Everybody coming to help us. Even the training staff for keeping guys healthy. The way we are playing ball right now in Edmonton, it really just shows the collective group of everybody doing their job and reaping the blessings every game.”
Safe Mac
McLeod Bethel Thompson started at quarterback and played safe ball for most of the game. After a couple of weeks of high completion percentage, he was just 15-for-25 passing and leaned more on the success of the running game. The only blemish came in the fourth quarter when what looked to be a screen was thrown right to Calgary’s Mike Rose for an 84-yard pick-six. He exited with what looked to be an abdominal issue after that play.
The two touchdown passes were right on the money. Hergy Mayala caught a 30-yard strike, that was placed where only he could get it and took it the rest of the way. Eugene Lewis caught a 15-yard bullet on a slant route for his touchdown. There is no arguing about Mac’s accuracy when he gets in a zone. He is starting to look more to Geno with 10 targets. That can only help both of them to new heights.
I appreciated his warrior mentality at times in this game. MBT took off for a 16-yard run near the end of the half and dove head-first for the gain. I would have liked a feet-first slide there, but I get that he is trying for all he can get. On the Tevin Jones pitch for a touchdown, he threw a half block to hold off Julian Howsare on the chase. There is no questioning his want to win — getting back-to-back victories against the major rival is a great step.
Three-headed monster
The rushing attack of Kevin Brown, Javon Leake and Justin Rankin continues to find success. Brown led the way on Saturday with 12 carries for 91 yards. The last couple of seasons have seen KB improve as we get later into the season and that is proving true again. His running up the middle has been helped with improved play from the offensive line. I will single out Mark Korte again this week as a number of his directional blocks sprung the speedster. The third-year back continues to fight for yards after first contact which was evident on his longest gain of 21 yards.
Javon Leake remains as the starter but in a rotational role. It seems his playbook is more of a balance of running and passing. He combined 10 rushes for 55 yards with five catches for 27 yards. More of a sleek runner compared to Brown, I can see why they would have him in this role. With the balance returning between the two, I wonder if we will see more of the Maryland product back in the returner role. Dillon Mitchell and Gavin Cobb have been doing admirably on returns but Leake showed last year he can excel.
Justin Rankin entered the fray in the fourth quarter and made the most of his opportunity. The rookie ran for 34 yards on four carries and a touchdown. His 8.5 yards per carry average led the rushing group and brought his total to 6.8 yards per carry this year. The toughest part must be figuring out when to use any of the three backs when they are all having success. Interim head coach Jarious Jackson has done a good job finding each their spot.
“We have seven linemen that dress every week,” Jackson said. “And those guys look to roll and raze people so I can keep calling run plays for them. Whether feast or famine, we keep handing it off and letting those guys be as physical as they want to be. I love seeing defensive guys with their hands on their knees when it comes to the second quarter. Just letting those guys be physical takes away from the defensive linemen’s rush when we want to pass the ball.”
Not all perfect
Kordell Jackson had a tough game against Reggie Begelton. He did get a single knockdown but had eight tackles as he was chasing down the veteran receiver. Begelton had eight catches for 123 yards, many of them in open space. He’s a tough assignment for any defender to cover but even more so for a rookie. The Birmingham product is a boom-or-bust kind of defensive back and will need to learn his lesson for the games to come. It won’t get easier in the coming weeks.
Penalties were an issue for both teams as the rivalry heated up. Six major penalties — unnecessary roughness or objectionable conduct — were handed out between the teams. Edmonton got one of each on a kickoff late in the game to give up 25 yards of field position. The score didn’t indicate an issue with penalties costing them, but nine penalties for 122 yards is a long way off their average of five penalties in the previous five games. Against stronger teams, those penalty numbers will bite back.
Jake Julien continues to be a monster punter with an average of 59 yards per punt on the season. He had a couple go long in this game though and bounce for the single, giving Calgary better field position than they should have had. The Eastern Michigan kicker launched one bomb for 85 yards. The net punt average between both Calgary and Edmonton ended up at 42 and 43 yards respectively. The field is flipped if one or both of the singles bounce out or stop before the end zone, but I know I’m being picky.
Bounce Back
Boris Bede was back in the starting lineup after being a healthy scratch in the Labour Day game. I have to think this is more of a salary cap protection move than anything specifically against Dean Faithfull’s work on Monday.
Bede went two-for-two on his field goal attempts and three-for-three on point after attempts. The Laval grad added a 73-yard average on kickoffs. That’s a good bounce-back game after the struggles he has had this season. I expect to see more of this version of him and not the struggling kick we saw earlier in the year.
Packed crowd
Commonwealth Stadium had 32,144 fans come through to watch Saturday’s game and the energy was palpable. Adding to that, the Elks handed out cowbells to the first 10,000 fans and the noise was the most I’ve heard all season.
Calgary is always a draw but this felt different. It’s almost like winning brings people out to see a game — weird. No one cared about which name the team had, they were just happy to cheer and see them win. As an added bonus, new owner Larry Thompson drove the mini firetruck around the stadium and mistakenly drove through the Calgary bench. Long live the rivalry!
“It was awesome,” Geno Lewis said. “I always knew we were capable of doing it but today you could see the whole bottom part of the bowl was full — the whole thing. That was amazing to see. One time, I went to the sidelines and started raising the roof and everybody started going crazy. That’s a proud moment. The defence was up and they ended up getting a stop. That’s what we need each and every week but we also got to give them something to look forward to being there.”
Last third of the season
After going 0-6 through the first third of the season, and 4-2 in the middle six, the Elks opened the final third 1-0. The final five games include two against the surging Bombers, and one each against the Riders, Argosm and the same sliding Stamps. If they find a way to win all but one they will finish 9-9. Who would have thought that was a possibility after their disastrous start?
Edmonton has a bye week now and will return to a home game against Winnipeg. Jackson was not shy about naming Tre Ford as the starter after the bye week.
“It will be Tre when we get back,” he said. “The good part is we have two guys that can get it done.”
That sets up the first time the Ford brothers will play against one another in the CFL. Tyrell Ford has been on a tear with six interceptions in 13 games. Tre takes the RPO to another level for Edmonton. I look forward to the two hottest teams in the West facing off in two weeks.
