For the third time in four years, the Elks were in Vancouver for the Kickoff Concert. All three times, the musical prelude has been the best part for fans of the Green and Gold.
Second-half struggles saw Edmonton go from a four-point lead at the intermission to a 17-point deficit in their loss to the Lions.
Here are my thoughts on the game.
Defensive highs and lows
It was a tale of two halves for the Double E defence. The first half had a lot of bend don’t break and two magnificent short-yardage stops. The stop on the goal line needed to be reviewed but newcomer Jared Brinkman did break through to get the stop. The second came on a bizarre call to go for it on third-and-two on the Edmonton 53-yard line. This time Nick Anderson got the stop and my thoughts on the front seven seemed to be proven correct.
The second half though saw that aggressiveness punished. Edmonton was blitzing on the majority of plays but could not get home. The screen pass was an easy call for Buck Pierce to move the ball in chunks. When they were not blitzing, Nathan Rourke took advantage of a secondary playing their first game as a group. Manny Rugamba had a tough night in the half spot with two of the three B.C. touchdowns going behind him.
Fatigue was a factor as the offence was not on the field much — almost five minutes less than B.C. It was some great halftime adjustments by the Lions that changed the tide of the game.
Tough Ford
Tre Ford had moments of amazing but had a tough night overall. Only two-thirds of his passes connected, with the majority of those being of the shorter variety. He wasn’t able to complete a touchdown and the one interception he threw wound up with the Leos on the two-yard line.
“I threw the one interception that I was really mad about,” he said. “The ball just slipped out of my hand and I threw it low. If I had a good grip on the ball, we would have completed that pass.”
Ford wasn’t leaning on the run but wasn’t afraid to use his legs either. A total of 54 yards scrambling had him as the top Elks rusher and his longest run didn’t even show up on the stats sheet. Scrambling behind the line on third down, he ran close to 50 yards before finally finding Justin Rankin downfield. Ford can be magic but still needs to develop his vision of the field.
Running woes
Last year, Edmonton was able to lean on the excellent running game combination of Justin Rankin and Javon Leake. Neither one could get going in this match. A combined total of 29 yards on 10 attempts left Ford in a lot of second-and-long situations.
The loss of right tackle Brett Boyko before the game and left tackle Martez Ivey in the third quarter was noticeable for the running game. This new group will likely step up as the season goes on but injuries will stretch them. They will need Mark Evans II and Philip Grohovac to improve going forward.
Actual returns
For the first time in a long while, the Elks had an actual return game. Arkell Smith had a 41-yard average on kicks and showed some real speed as a young receiver.
Javon Leake also got back into the return game and had a touchdown taken off the board by an illegal block. That was the only return penalty for the Elks and the overall feel was a big step forward.
Kicking pains
Vincent Blanchard was playing just his second regular-season game. Head coach Mark Kilam and general manager Ed Hervey were both very high on the potential of the 2024 draft pick. He most definitely has the leg and outright won the competition in camp.
This was not his best night. We knew it would take some time for him to get comfortable but it was definitely hard to watch seven points not hit the board — two missed field goals and a missed convert all sailing just to the left. Patience is key with a young kicker but it’s hard in a market that is starved for both points and wins.
Edmonton has a bye week ahead as they prepare for the home opener against the very tough Montreal Alouettes. There is lots of work to be done to clean up the small things and move forward.
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