Edmonton Elks can’t stop Montreal Alouettes offence in 48-30 loss

Edmonton Elks

Once again, the Montreal Alouettes proved that they are the top team in the Canadian Football League, as they knocked off the Edmonton Elks by a score of 48-30 on Saturday. Here are my thoughts on the game.

Critical decision

Edmonton has struggled a bit lately with getting the right push in short yardage. There have been a couple of turnovers on downs and some really close calls to get the first down.

As the Elks lined up for their first sneak for a touchdown, the call on the field was that Cody Fajardo did not cross the line. After review, it was terribly close but the touchdown was given. The problem was that this seemed to plant the seed of doubt on the one-yard plunge.

Both teams traded touchdowns throughout the second quarter and Edmonton got the ball back with 1:41 in the first half trailing by seven. Fajardo went to work and moved the offence down to the Montreal 18-yard line in under a minute of play.

It looked like the teams could head for the locker rooms tied at 21, but the call came in from head coach Mark Kilam to kick for three. Fajardo appeared incensed.

It was a lack of aggression that left the Green and Gold behind, but also left time for Montreal to react, and that they did. Three plays later, Jose Maltos Diaz kicked a 20-yard field goal with no time left to restore the Alouettes’ seven-point cushion for halftime.

When the teams returned to play, Montreal rode that momentum to a turnover and touchdown. The rout was on.

I’m usually a believer in taking the points on the road, but this was a momentum changer. Edmonton gambled on a third-and-five earlier in the game the decision paid off with a touchdown. This moment needed the same aggressiveness.

Flying Ford

Tyrell Ford had, by his standards, a relatively quiet year in 2025 with only two interceptions. Many teams were avoiding his side of the field to try and pick on newcomer JJ Ross.

This season the ball has come the Canadian defensive back’s way more often and he’s making teams pay for it. The Niagara Falls, Ont. native added two more interceptions to bring his total to five in 2026. He’s now only two snags off his career high of seven. At this pace, he’s likely to break that mark.

Not only has Ford found more spots to the ball, he has been used on special teams and blitzes off the edge. The University of Waterloo product almost landed his first sack in the CFL with a huge pressure on Davis Alexander, forcing the throw away.

For the second week in a row, he found a big cover teams tackle as well. This is not just a speedy defensive back — Ford has proven that he can use that athletic ability to contribute all over the field.

Where’s the run?

Having one of the most dynamic players in the league can be a blessing and a curse.

Justin Rankin has had some struggles the last three games to find the space he did to start the year. His average rush in those outings was just under three yards. Teams are clearly keying on the shifty back.

Yet, on Saturday, his first carry went for 17 yards and his second 15 yards. The Oberlin, Ohio native seemed to be back to his game-breaking ways, which likely came in part because David Beard was back in the lineup at centre.

In the first game between these two teams, Rankin ran for 179 yards on 18 carries. I understand that the Elks were playing from behind all game, but when you have a back that is averaging 8.9 yards per carry, I don’t understand why he only saw the ball seven times.

Offensive coordinator Jordan Maksymic leaned more on the short passing throughout this tilt. There were lots of six and seven-yard strikes, many of which hit receivers in stride.

With that said, I would wager that the overall pass distance average for Fajardo in this game was severely reduced. He had one pass for 33 yards but most were in the relatively short range. If the game plan was to lean on the short pass game, it was certainly successful at times.

However, relying on Rankin’s excellent rushing average may have opened up more routes downfield.

Hard to handle

Tyson Philpot continues to make defences look silly across the league.

I thought Edmonton’s defensive line did a good job of getting pressure on most plays, but Alexander still found Philpot ten times. There were some incredible catches from the Canadian receiver, as he scored a hat trick of touchdowns. Philpot found his way behind Kobe Williams, Chelen Garnes, and Leonard Johnson on enough occasions to finish with 131 yards.

Tyler Snead also notched 146 receiving yards on five catches. Unlike the first meeting where both teams had two big plays, Montreal put six on the board to Edmonton’s two this time around.

Despite the Green and Gold forcing some rare two-and-outs from the Alouettes, they couldn’t hold the explosion plays at bay.

Un-Cody like

Throughout the season, Cody Fajardo has found himself around the 70 percent mark in completion percentage. This game saw the veteran with an uncharacteristic 60 percent outing.

I mentioned the short passing game already, which usually leads to a better completion mark, but many longer throws were just off the mark or dropped. Fajardo is having an excellent season, so credit to Montreal’s defence for limiting him with six knockdowns and a beautiful interception by Tyrice Beverette.

Rookie receiver TJ Luther had a tough day, catching only three of eight targets. He dropped a sure touchdown and landed just out of bounds on another would-be touchdown, which did not help his quarterback’s success rate.

Kaion Julien-Grant also had a difficult time in his second game back in Montreal since moving out west, making only three catches on seven targets.

Good receiver things

Brendan O’Leary-Orange may be the best-ever sneaky-good signing by Elks general manager Ed Hervey.

The five-year veteran has been spectacular on second-down as of late. Five of his six receptions were on second down on Saturday, most of which came in tight spaces while absorbing a hit. The Nevada product has only missed five of his 27 targets this season. He’s using his big body to keep drives going and he’s become an underrated participant in this offence.

Two rookies got their first major scores in the CFL.

Joshua Cephus has been in the starting receiving corps since game one and was able to grab his first touchdown in the second quarter. The Spring, Texas native has 20 receptions so far and is taking steps in the right direction each game.

Carter Kettyle, a third-round pick in the 2026 CFL Draft, was in the game late in the fourth quarter when Taylor Powell found him for his first touchdown. The University of Alberta product caught everything thrown his way in training camp. Keep your eye on him in the coming years.

I have mentioned Skyler Griffith on more than one occasion this year. Although he did not show up on the receiving stats this week, his highlight of this game was a massive block on Lorenzo Burns to open space for Julien-Grant. This kid can really move bodies. I would like to see him and his power used even more.

Tough day for stripes

With all of the video reviews being used over the last number of years, I don’t remember ever seeing so many calls overturned. There were five different calls reversed either by automatic review or coach’s challenge.

The short yardage touchdown by the Elks was the first. That was followed by the TJ Luther non-touchdown catch, a non-pass interference, and two actual pass interference calls. The review for this crew will be tough with that many corrections.

A side note on penalties: Edmonton has not had a game yet this season in which they have had less penalties than their opponent.

Kilam has talked a lot about getting the discipline in place and I will keep my eye on this comparison stat to see how that comes about. For the year so far, Edmonton has given up 197 extra yards in penalties as compared to their opposition. That’s almost 23 yards per game.

As we get into the later schedule, each of those yards could be the difference in wins and losses.

Back home

Edmonton has spent the last three weeks playing the other top two teams in the league. I think the Elks have shown that they are comparable to Saskatchewan but not quite at Montreal’s level.

Now they need the fans for home-field advantage. The next game is at home against the Toronto Argonauts, an up-and-down team that should make for an interesting battle at home. Edmonton needs to find balance offensively and some discipline to get back to their winning ways.