‘We don’t care’: Cody Fajardo unperturbed by ugly nature of Edmonton Elks’ overtime win

Photo courtesy: Edmonton Elks.

Edmonton may have applied lipstick to a pig with their 37-35 overtime victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Saturday night, but Cody Fajardo was more than happy to pucker up and give that swine a smooch.

“We don’t care at this point in the season. We just want to win football games,” the Elks quarterback told reporters when asked about the ugly nature of the win post-game.

“Yeah, it sucks when we don’t play our best, and we left some things out there. But these late games, that’s what a playoff game is right there. It’s not all going to be pretty, and the media and everyone can talk about the what-ifs, what-ifs. We found ways to win football games, and I’m going to leave it at that.”

Edmonton were heavy home favourites over Hamilton entering the Week 17 clash, with the Ticats needing an upset to stay alive in the CFL playoff race. The Green and Gold controlled the pace of play for much of the game, but couldn’t deliver a meaningful blow and went just one-for-four in the red zone while settling for a CFL record nine field goals from Vincent Blanchard.

Fajardo acknowledged that his team needed to do a better job of finding the end zone, but couldn’t put his finger on why they had such difficulty finishing drives.

“I know we had a couple busts. We just lined up wrong, or ran the wrong route, or I missed a throw. A couple things that we’ve just gotta clean up,” he explained.

“When you go on a six-, seven-, eight-play drive and you get into the red zone, the chances of being successful on every single play is very hard. I think that’s why a lot of teams have red zone inefficiency because you’ve gotten six, seven plays to get there that have been positive plays. If you just look at the law of statistics, you’re not going to be successful on every play you would like to, and I think that’s why it’s just kind of blown out of proportion a little bit.”

After Marc Liegghio missed a potential go-ahead field goal with just over two minutes remaining, it appeared as if the Elks would have the opportunity to execute their own game-winning drive. Instead, Fajardo was picked off by Hamilton strong-side linebacker Reggie Stubblefield deep in his own end, which allowed the Ticats’ kicker to redeem himself.

Now trailing 29-26 with 52 seconds on the clock, Edmonton rallied thanks to a 37-yard kickoff return from rookie Montrell Washington. Fajardo marched the team another 34 yards on nine plays to set up a game-tying kick and force an extra frame.

“I think I’ve got a few more gray hairs after that one. It took a lot of grit, took a lot of guts, up and down, lots of things to improve on, but guys found a way,” head coach Mark Kilam told the media.

“That’s what good teams do. They find ways when things get really hard. It wasn’t perfect. There were lots of ups and downs, but we found a way to stick together. We found a way, even after it got tight down there at the end. We had the good kickoff return to give ourselves some momentum. We went down there to tie to go to OT, and then we found a way.”

Edmonton settled for two more field goals in the subsequent overtime mini-games, but Kenny Logan Jr. avenged an earlier pass interference penalty and broke up a key throw to ensure Hamilton stayed out of the end zone as well. That prompted the second-ever two-point conversion shootout in CFL history, where the Elks prevailed thanks to a diving catch from Joshua Cephus.

“The turnovers and kicking field goals in the red zone are usually the difference between winning and losing, but we found a way at the end there with the two-point conversion,” Fajardo said. “That was the first time I was a part of that, and boy, that’s pretty fun. It’s pretty electric. I’m just so thankful that these games can’t finish in a tie anymore. That’s a big change, which I’m really happy about.”

The victory extended Edmonton’s lead atop the West Division and moved them closer to clinching a first-round bye. It demonstrated yet another unique formula for victory from a team that has secured seven of their 11 wins by less than a touchdown and required a massive fourth-quarter comeback in another.

They now know how to handle a sudden-death scenario against an opponent fighting for its life as well.

“You never know when you’re going to get those experiences, and now we’ve got them. If we do come across that again, obviously, we’ll have that banked,” Kilam noted.

“Their backs were against the wall. We knew it was going to take everything, and it did. We emptied the tank.”

The Elks (11-4) are on a bye this week. They will return to action on Friday, October 9, when they visit the Tiger-Cats (4-11) for a rematch.