After winning five of their last six games, the Edmonton Elks quite literally dropped the ball to lose 27-14 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday night. Of the “two hottest teams in the league”, only one really showed they deserved that title.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Ford struggles to start
Interim head coach Jarious Jackson wasted no time after the win over Calgary in naming Tre Ford as the starter against Winnipeg. Two full weeks of preparation benefitted the Bombers’ defence as they shut him down at every turn. Using what looked to be a double spy system, the dual-threat pivot had no room to run and faced a lot of second-and-long situations. The pressure from Winnipeg’s front seven was constant and left Ford with little time to run through reads or make good decisions.
Having sat out since Week 10 with a rib injury, there seemed to be trepidation from Ford being back in the pocket. He looked indecisive and seemed to struggle with getting a good ball downfield. When he did run, he did not seem to have the same jump to the outside and often ran into one of the spies placed on him. Being limited to only nine yards rushing erased one of the main threats that the Canadian signal-caller brings to the table.
Ford’s first drive of the third quarter was his best, with more fake handoffs that went to good passing gains. It seemed he had turned the corner back to what was expected, ending the series on a flea flicker pass to Geno Lewis. The ball was vastly underthrown though and Geno came back to it to find his way to the endzone. Ford was pulled in the fourth quarter after another interception, finishing with just 137 passing yards on the stat sheet.
“I don’t think I played well,” Ford said. “I think it was obvious to see. The turnovers were a big thing that killed us and killed some of our drives. You want to limit how many of those you do and I didn’t do a good job of that tonight. You don’t want to sit out for a period of time and then not play well.”
Turnover reversal
Going into this game, the Green and Gold led the league in the turnover ratio at +16 and had committed only two giveaways in the last four games. They made up for that on Saturday night with six turnovers — two interceptions, two fumbles, and two on downs — cementing the outcome.
Ford accounted for half of those turnovers with the interceptions and one of the fumbles. The fumble came early in the game on one of the less decisive runs I mentioned earlier. He ran into a group of three Bomber defenders where Deatrick Nichols ripped the ball out. I can give him a bit of a pass on the first interception as it went off the hands of running back Justin Rankin and linebacker Tony Jones made a great play on the catch. Interception number two, though, was all on Ford, who threw to the middle of the field and right into the hands of Michael Ayers.
Kevin Brown has had some history of fumbles throughout his time in Edmonton. He had another on Saturday, as Bomber DE Celestin Haba put his helmet right on the ball. It was the fourth turnover of this game for the Elks. Brown still needs to find the endzone this year and is being pushed by both Javon Leake and Justin Rankin. The costly fumble had him not seeing much of the field for the rest of this game.
Usually, I wouldn’t get too worked up about a turnover on downs as they can happen with a push late in a game. Both that occurred in this game were egregious misplays. Going for it on third-and-five in the second quarter from the opponent’s 42-yard line was baffling. I know Boris Bede has had his struggles and there was a bit of wind, but you pay him to be able to hit a 49-yard field goal. At the very least, have Jake Julien punt that inside the ten. The worst-case scenario has the Bombers back at the 40-yard line and you have a point. The throw was also tipped by, who else, Willie Jefferson and fell incomplete. Points were hard to come by already and this was leaving them on the field.
Edmonton was in third-and-nine on the last turnover on downs. Kurleigh Gittens Jr. caught the pass from Bethel-Thompson for eight yards. Down and distance should not be a conversation we need to have at this level. Run to the sticks. Period.
Defence performs
Looking at the score, you may think the defence had a tough night. Faced with four turnovers, the Elks bent but did not give up a touchdown through the first half, supporting the anemic offence to only be down 3-0 at halftime. They did get a little help from Sergio Castillo going double doink on two field goal attempts, but you have to be lucky to be good.
Darius Bratton joined the recent ballhawk parade, picking up his third interception of the season. The sophomore defensive back has really taken strides since last year, as I only mention his name in positive plays. All five Elks’ defensive backs now have three or more interceptions on the season. Holding Zach Collaros under 200 yards passing, although not an anomaly this year, is still an accomplishment.
Derrick Moncrief had his best game of the 2024 season, recording eight tackles, including the only sack on Collaros. Edmonton’s front seven continued to struggle against Brady Oliveira though. As the time of possession leaned more and more toward the Bombers, Oliveira picked up speed and gains. He finished with 127 yards rushing and two touchdowns. Getting into winter ball means the linebackers will have to step up as more and more running is coming their way.
Speaking of running
I think it is safe to say that Justin Rankin needs to be a more regular part of the Elks’ rushing attack after he put up 14 carries for 157 yards and an average of 11.2 yards per carry. Patience may be his strongest attribute, as you see him asses the line and then hit the open hole with speed. A couple of his runs looked to be stopped early and he made people miss with that patience. His longest dash, both in this game and of his career, came in the third quarter when he slid to the right, pushed off would-be tacklers and found the edge up the field. A beautiful block by receiver Gavin Cobb sprung him for another 15 yards.
The Northwest Missouri State product now holds an average of 7.8 yards per carry on the season and four touchdowns. He has been the third back in the rotation so far but I think the rookie has earned his way up the depth chart. Javon Leake sat out this game due to personal reasons but is expected back next game. I think Rankin will get his fair share of touches even with Leake back. That could possibly set up Leake to do more returns as he was originally signed to do.
Killer flags
Referee Tim Kroeker threw a flag on a run by Kevin Brown where a pile-up happened 10 yards downfield. Shane Richards ran into the back of the pile to help the forward push and was called for unnecessary roughness. The part I didn’t understand was that it was deemed “before yards were gained.” That moved the ball back not only to the original line of scrimmage but 15 yards further back. Being that all I saw was the adding to the pile downfield, I am not sure how it was before yards were gained. The timing of the flag could only have said it was from that moment.
Leon O’Neal found himself removed from the game for rough play after striking linebacker Michael Ayers in a special teams altercation. Something that reared its head a bit in the Calgary series was retaliation in heated situations and that seemed to carry over in the emotion of this big game. Coach Jackson will need to address it before the rematch.
Goin’ to Winnipeg
It is not long before these two teams get to go after one another, as the rematch is set for Friday night. Losing on Saturday put the Elks back on the playoff ropes after a good six-game stretch got them talking about the postseason. Edmonton will need to find a way to win and get some help if they are looking to play past October.
Coach Jackson was non-committal about who will start at quarterback next week after pulling Ford in favour of McLeod Bethel-Thompson.
“I don’t want to make a knee-jerk reaction or decision. I’m going to wait tonight and watch the film and I’ll figure it out sometime this week.”
I love the excitement of Tre, but he did not look comfortable against a formidable defence. I would guess we see MBT to try and restore what was working over the six games prior to this. Either way, any hope of playoff football hangs on the outcome of Friday.
