‘We’re not a good team, we’re a great team’: Cody Fajardo touts ‘statement win’ for Edmonton Elks

Photo: Edmonton Elks

The Edmonton Elks got back in the win column on Saturday afternoon, but their 30-point blowout of the Toronto Argonauts said more about the team than a regular notch on the belt.

“After we just got our butts kicked in Montreal in all three phases, that response right there tells you that we’re not a good team, we’re a great team,” quarterback Cody Fajardo told the media post-game.

“This is a really good Toronto team. They won two straight. Their defence was stout. They just held Calgary and Vernon Adams to like 100-and-something yards passing. We knew we had our hands full.”

The Elks entered Week 11 coming off two consecutive defeats for the first time in 2026. In Week 9, they lost a close one to the Saskatchewan Roughriders, falling 28-26. The follow-up in Week 10 wasn’t nearly as tightly contested, as the Montreal Alouettes blew the doors off the Green and Gold en route to a 48-30 win.

Both sides agreed post-game that the result was a statement by the Alouettes, who are widely regarded as the CFL’s top team at the midway point of the season. It also raised questions about the Elks, who have been the feel-good story of the year after escaping from years of organizational decay.

“The hardest thing was watching all these West teams continue to win games. The standings tightened up so much, so that might have put a little bit more pressure on everything,” Fajardo admitted.

“But here’s what I’ll say: we lost two games versus both teams that were in the Grey Cup (in 2025). If you step back and look at it, we split with both the teams that played in the Grey Cup, 1-1. We know we’re a top team in this league. We know as long as we play our brand of football, we can win. There was no panic this week. Guys just knew we needed to energize, and if we played our brand of football, we’d have a good chance of winning this game. And sure enough, we won all three phases tonight, and a statement win.”

Head coach Mark Kilam, who came under fire after the Montreal loss due to a controversial third-down decision, said he was proud of his team for bouncing back and deflected all praise onto his players.

“The leadership in the room, they deserve the credit. They just came out with a single mindset to come get it done. That’s what they did,” he told reporters outside the locker room.

“We’re looking one week at a time. Yeah, there’s a plan, and you know where you’re at in the schedule, but we were really trying to respond from last week. That was what the focus was all week, and that’s full credit to the leadership and the players in the room for doing that.”

Despite the lopsided scoreline, victory was far from easy against Toronto. Edmonton led just 11-9 at halftime, as the offence continually sputtered through two quarters. However, it was all Green and Gold after the break, as they forced six turnovers and held the Argos to just three points in the final 30 minutes.

Fajardo praised his teammates’ resilience and pointed to complementary football as a big reason for the 42-12 victory.

“I just kept telling the guys on the sideline, ‘Weather the storm, it’s going to come out positive.’ And credit to our sideline; nobody hit the panic button,” he said. “When we were kind of stalling out a little bit on offence, our defence stood up, and our special teams stood out. Coming out in the third quarter, our defence, our special teams go down, get a huge turnover, instant points for us. Even though we didn’t do much offensively, instant points and as long as you feel points as an offence, that kind of gets you going.”

The 34-year-old finished 25-of-31 passing for 301 yards and one touchdown. He also turned back the clock by adding three carries for 50 yards on the ground, including a career-long 44-yarder. The result was 28 unanswered points in the second half.

Unfortunately for Edmonton, the task does not get any less daunting next week, as they prepare for one last matchup before a well-deserved bye week.

“We’ve got a really big game coming up on a short week against Winnipeg, a Western opponent. Standings, like I said, are very tight. We’re going to be excited about that,” Fajardo said.

“We’re on game 10 of 10 straight, which is one of the longest stretches in the CFL. Our guys are limping to the finish line, and the message was to get to 8-3 at the bye week. In order to do that, you’ve got to win today, and that was phase one was complete. Now we’ve got a tall task against a Winnipeg team that’s playing much better than when we faced them earlier on in the year. In order for us to get to 8-3, we’re going to have our hands full.”

The Edmonton Elks (7-3) will host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (5-4) on Friday, August 21. Kickoff at Commonwealth Stadium is set for 9:30 p.m. EDT.