Cody Fajardo relishes blocking for Justin Rankin, ‘movie-esque’ victory for Edmonton Elks

Photo: Edmonton Elks

Cody Fajardo is known for his ability to run and throw the football, but he showcased another element of his game when the Edmonton Elks upset the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday: blocking.

“I’m going to show the team every single week — I might not throw for 400 yards, but there’s gonna be some things that show up not in the box score that I want to help this team win games,” Fajardo told the media on Monday. “I’ve seen it year in and year out. There’s a formula that I have for winning football games and had a lot of success with it, so I try to stick to the script, and if it calls for an occasional block, it calls for an occasional block.”

The 34-year-old threw multiple blocks for star running back Justin Rankin in the win, but the best one came midway through the third quarter.

Rankin had Najee Murray and Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund bearing down on him on third-and-two, and appeared to be caught for a loss and a turnover on downs. Instead, he dodged both defenders to break contain around the right side. Murray tried diving at Rankin’s legs after missing the initial tackle but Fajardo threw a shoulder into the veteran defensive back, helping Rankin escape for a 47-yard touchdown.

3DownNation named it the best play of the week.

HE CANNOT BE CONTAINED!!!

Two Alouettes have Justin Rankin stopped in the backfield, but he slips free for another major!#CFL #GoElks #AlwaysEdmonton pic.twitter.com/EtPV5djvFc

— 3DownNation (@3DownNation) June 20, 2026

“I’ve made a lot of good plays in my career, but that’s up there with a lot of them. I was telling my wife about it after the game, I was like, ‘It was just so movie-esque.’ It was raining, I lay out for a block and Rank (sic) goes and scores. It wasn’t like it was a two-yard gain, it was a touchdown,” said Fajardo.

“The guys on the sideline made me feel pretty good about it, and that always makes you feel good about laying your body on the line. I just want to win football games, I don’t care how it looks. I just want to win football games, and I hope that that just inspires our guys more and more as the weeks progress.”

“That’s how (Fajardo) rolls. He’s going to leave his heart out on the field every time he steps out on it,” said head coach Mark Kilam. “I think it’s great. I think it’s whatever it takes (to win), and that’s what we want to be.”

“It’s a team game. It’s about winning. It’s about what does my team need me to do today for us to be successful, and the win was what was important there.”

Edmonton is off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2019, having won games over the Ottawa Redblacks and Alouettes in heavy rain. Rankin has been the standout, rushing for 281 yards, making 10 catches for 145 yards, and scoring three touchdowns.

Though he’s happy to win sloppy games in the rain, Fajardo is looking forward to playing the team’s first dry game of 2026.

“You look around the league, teams are throwing for 400 yards, they got a little bit nicer weather. We’re out here grinding it in the rain, and I told the receivers this morning, actually, I want to commend them on how they’ve approached both of these games. It’s not easy as a receiver when you know it’s dumping rain, you know the game plan is going to be quick passes, hard runs, and you just gotta block for the majority of the game, maybe get one or two balls, and I commend them,” said the veteran passer.

“They showed up, there was no complaining on the sideline. They just wanted to win the football game as bad as I do, and when you got guys like that in the building, you can win a lot of football games. Hopefully, we can get them on the back end when it’s a little bit nicer out, and we can start throwing the ball a little bit more, but the way Rank’s playing, why not get the ball in that guy’s hands?”

Despite all of Rankin’s success, it was Fajardo who scored the game-winning touchdown in overtime, as he scampered six yards off the right side for the major.

“When the game’s on the line, I want nothing more than the ball to be in my hands,” he said. “Winners want the ball when the game’s on the line.”

The Edmonton Elks (2-0) will visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (1-1) at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday, June 25 with kickoff scheduled for 8:30 p.m. EDT. The Elks are coming off an overtime win over the Montreal Alouettes, while the Blue Bombers were on bye.

The weather forecast in Winnipeg calls for a high of 25 degrees and sun. The game will be broadcast on TSN in Canada and CFL+ internationally. Radio listeners can tune in on 880 CHED in Edmonton or 680 CJOB in Winnipeg.