After a good first drive on Thursday, the Edmonton Elks were outplayed for three quarters before making it respectable in the fourth, losing the home opener 38-28. The Montreal Alouettes showed early why they are 2-0 on the season and leading a lot of power rankings in 2025.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Different Ford models
If you were to just look at the stats, you’d think both Tre Ford and Davis Alexander had lights-out games. It seems as if the two young pivots were going head-to-head as the future stars of the CFL. The truth was that Alexander came out on fire, while Ford only had a good last fifteen minutes.
The Elks managed six points through three quarters. Montreal had more than double their total offensive yards at halftime. This was Alouettes domination until Alexander left in the third quarter with what appeared to be hamstring tightness. He put enough on the board before that to take his starting record to 7-0.
Ford led the first drive to a field goal, and then things turned. The Waterloo product had a lot of pressure on him and held the ball for too long at times. He was sacked three times, with many of those while trying to find someone downfield. At the end of the first half, a 74-yard drive looked to be the turning point but the final throw was intercepted in the endzone. The third quarter only had two Elks drives, and both ended in punts after being sacked. To say the crowd was restless would be an understatement.
We can debate whether Montreal took their foot off the gas in the fourth or not, but Ford finally looked like all the fans expected him to. He was moving the pocket, throwing on the run, and used his speed to dash for an 18-yard touchdown. Two of the next three drives ended in long touchdown passes. The one that didn’t was a fumble to set up another Als touchdown — the ups and downs of a young quarterback.
I asked Coach Kilam if he had any thoughts of going to Cody Fajardo for a few series to change the pace. “No,” was his blunt response. The leash is long enough for Tre to work through anything and find his game. More movement of the pocket looks to be key for his success.
Rushing returns
Justin Rankin showed why feeding him the ball more often will pay dividends. A much improved running game had the diminutive back with 76 yards on 12 carries. Javon Leake contributed with 41 yards on six carries of his own. Going from 87 total yards in game one to 148 in game two is promising.
Edmonton’s offensive line was opening the B-gap often, and both backs found some room to take off. Rankin, in particular, looked more like last year’s version while bouncing off of tackles. An overall average of seven yards per carry is closer to the expectation and is one of the positives to build on for next week. Running the ball more often will be key to this team’s success in 2025.
Defensive difficulties
There was a lot of money redistributed to the defence in the offseason. That blend of players hasn’t quite come together under new defensive coordinator J.C. Sherritt, as both teams they played have gained over 400 yards of net offence.
Screens, bubbles, and swing passes were getting Montreal consistent yards. The boundary pairing of Devodric Bynum and Manny Rugamba was picked on by Jason Maas’ scheme, so much so that Leonard Johnson was subbed in for Rugamba in the second quarter. Changing that did seem to settle it down a bit.
On one of the very few times the line got into the backfield, Alexander scrambled and found probably the most open receiver I have ever seen in my life. Tyler Snead had no Green and Gold within 10 yards of him after Johnson bit on the supposed sack.
Edmonton did get one sack late in the game from Noah Taylor, but that was the extent of the highlights. Nick Anderson led the team again with nine tackles. The sophomore linebacker is continuing his excellent play from last year, but isn’t happy with the result so far.
“All the coaches do a great job,” Anderson said. “They give us a good scheme, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to go out there and execute. It all comes down to execution and I feel like we lacked that tonight.”
Bounceback Blanchard
After a tough Week 1 with two missed field goals and one missed convert, Vincent Blanchard was perfect in game two. The 2024 draft pick hit threes from 42 and 32 yards out, and went two-for-two on converts.
He looked more settled in this game, and I can see a calming effect coming from Cody Grace as the holder. Grace has lots of good experience from working with Rene Parades in Calgary. At Fan Day, he said he could help the young kicker by staying consistent. That does seem to be coming together.
The Laval grad also got his first chance at a pooch kick and an onside kick. The pooch didn’t bounce the right way, and the Elks could not capitalize. The onside though was almost perfect, and newcomer Binjimen Victor was able to snag the ball. For consistency throughout the game, I have to give the special teams props this week.
Retro Night, kind of
Since the name was changed in 2020, lots of things have happened that seemed like an attempt to remove the history of the team. The signs on the stadium showing greats like Warren Moon and Gizmo Williams were taken down. There were very few highlights shown at games that featured the team before the switch. A new logo took the place of the iconic Double E. We knew the history was there, but it was rarely acknowledged — if at all.
On Thursday night, two historic parts of 1990s Edmonton football returned: the full-sized firetruck that toured the track after a touchdown and the polar bear mascot, Nanook. When I saw the truck, I was excited until I saw the old name on the side. When the polar bear returned, I was not as thrilled as I thought I might be. That’s not because those things were there, but because it continues to drive a rift in the fan base and across the CFL.
I fell in love with this team because of the game itself. I love the Double E logo. Forty years ago, they could have been called the Edmonton Excavators and I would still be wearing my Double E gear. Maybe they should have chosen that for the new name, as it seems the organization wants to dig a trench between them and anyone new that might want to follow the team.
What looked like 12,000 people at the game were not there because those two abandoned game-day trappings were back. They were there to see why those past Edmonton teams were so special: winning football. That is the best way to emulate those wonderful teams.
I know they are working on it. It won’t happen overnight. Go ahead and say the old name when we refer to those teams. Maybe, just maybe, let’s do less to worry about a name battle and talk about the best reason to be at the game: the football.
The Elks have their next shot at getting that first win for their new coach on Thursday night against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
