It might end up getting filed under the heading: Too Little, Too Late, but the Edmonton Elks aren’t quite ready to become the carcass the rest of the Canadian Football League scavenges off of down the playoff stretch.
Not when a win in Regina is keeping their own post-season hopes — as faint as they are — alive for the time being.
And it came against the one team the Elks may have any chance at catching, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders sit directly ahead of them in the West Division standings in fourth place, which will likely come with a crossover to the East Division playoff bracket.
The thing is, the Elks, who sit 4-10, not only have to catch, but pass the Roughriders, who fell to 6-8, but won the season series 2-1, should it come down to a tiebreak situation.
That means should the Roughriders win one of their four remaining games, Edmonton would have to run the table down the playoff stretch. Somehow, winning four straight games seems like a tall order for a club that’s taken all season so far to win four.
So, yeah. They’re still alive. For now.
Here’s what we learned from Edmonton’s 26-24 win in Regina:
IT AIN’T OVER …
The odds might not be in their favour.
But if Friday is any indication of how the Elks play with their backs against the wall, they might just make some noise from here on out.
“We talked about it,” said Elks head coach and general manager Chris Jones. “You’ve got a little spark there. You think that nothing’s there but you throw gas on it, you never know.
“So, that’s kind of what we talked about and kind of where we’re trying to go with it. Just take one game at a time and enjoy the process rather than worry about what the scoreboard says from earlier in the year.”
PRISON YARD
If the Elks were going to go down and officially be eliminated from playoff contention Friday, they were going to go down swinging.
And the officiating crew was there to call them on all of it.
The surprising part maybe shouldn’t be how Edmonton was flagged 12 times for 158 yards, but how the Roughriders managed to play so clean, only causing three infractions for 30 yards. This was, after all, the battle between the two most-penalized squads in the league this year.
CORN-MAZING
Taylor Cornelius provided the spark the Elks needed early on when he tucked the ball and wove through defenders for a crucial pickup of 56 yards.
He finished with 93 yards on eight carries, while also running his own short yardage.
“When he came out, I think he was a 4.6, 4.7 (second) guy,” Jones said of Cornelius’s 40-yard sprint time. “And he was a 38 (inch) vertical, so he’s a much better athlete than what people think.”
Combined with the first 100-yard performance by newcomer running back Kevin Brown, who averaged 7.8 yards on 14 carries, Edmonton’s ground game is quickly evolving into a real weapon.
HAPPY HOMECOMING
All season long, Jones has taken the blame squarely on his own shoulders as the losses piled up.
After Friday’s win, the Elks head coach and GM deflected any of the focus on him back to his players. Especially when it came to his return to Mosaic Stadium for the first time since holding those same positions with the Roughriders from 2016-18.
“We have six guys, maybe seven that had played here, I let them go out and be the captains because it means a lot to them to play against Saskatchewan,” Jones said. “I’m telling you, we’ve got good dudes in that locker-room and just having something good happen to them and letting us come out on the right end of that stuff, there’s a lot of people in there sacrificing a lot to play ball up here in Canada.
“I love that group. We’re going to keep battling. I can’t wait to get back and get started on Thursday, when we get back. So, that’s kind of our mantra.”
NOT-SO HAPPY HOMECOMING
The sad fact is the Elks’ next game is at home, where the team has managed absolutely zero momentum over the past two years.
“I mean, we’ve won four dad-gum games, all of them on the road,” Jones said. “It’s so unfortunate that we play better football, for whatever reason on the road than we do at home.”
The Elks, who are on a bye this week, host the Montreal Alouettes on Oct. 1 (2 p.m., TSN, ESPN+, 630 CHED).
Honourable mention: The Elks won the sack battle 8-2 Friday, despite bringing a three-man front the entire game.
“That was the plan the whole time,” Jones said. “The guys, they fought their butt off and they were protecting with six, sometimes seven and you still got pressure on the quarterback. He can’t just stand there, he’s got to move around.
“So, I’m proud of the group.”
E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com
On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge
Post a Comment