Elks are truly awful

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This article was published 12/07/2023 (801 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Week 5 in the CFL came and went, much remained the same in the West Division, while some new developments helped make the East a heck of a lot more interesting.

The Edmonton Elks (0-5) continued their free-fall, dropping a fifth straight game in unbelievable fashion, 12-11, to the Saskatchewan Roughriders (3-1) at Mosaic Stadium Thursday night. The Winnipeg Blue Bombers (4-1) then turned a slow start into a hot finish, earning a 24-11 home victory Friday over the struggling and beat-up Calgary Stampeders (1-3).

The Hamilton Tiger-Cats (1-3) earned their first win of the season with a nail-biting 21-13 triumph Saturday over the Ottawa Redblacks (1-3), who lost more than a valuable two points, as QB Jeremiah Masoli suffered another season-ending injury. The weekend wrapped up with the B.C. Lions remaining atop the West with a 35-19 win over the visiting Montreal Alouettes (2-2).

It was a particularly newsy week in the three-down loop, so let’s get right into it in the latest edition of CFL Rundown.

1 What will happen first: the Elks win, or GM/HC/DC Chris Jones gets fired? I imagine it will be an Elks victory, but I say that with little confidence as Edmonton continues to find unique ways to lose. The Elks were so close to winning on Thursday, leading most of the game only to hand a victory to Saskatchewan on a mental error in the dying seconds. With the game tied 11-11 thanks to a late TD and two-point conversion by the Roughriders, Elks rookie returner CJ Sims allowed the ensuing kickoff to sail over his head and into the end zone. Sims then nonchalantly made his way back to the ball before surrendering a knee, giving up the rouge and a 12-11 lead to the Riders, who sealed the game with a Nick Marshall interception on the Elks final series.

2 Clearly, Sims, who was playing in just his third CFL game, had forgotten about the rules north of the border and had no idea he was giving up the game-winning point. That falls on him, as Sims should know by now about the rouge when fielding a ball from the end zone. But this also falls directly on Jones and especially his special-teams co-ordinator, Mike Scheper. Given what was at stake, the fact Scheper neither reminded Sims he needed to keep the ball out of the end zone nor relayed that message through his players is simply inexcusable and yet another example of the disastrous situation in Edmonton.

3 The Elks return to Commonwealth Stadium this week for a chance to tie the longest home losing streak in professional sports, currently at 20 games. The Elks, with 19 straight defeats, would tie the 1906 Boston Americans (now known as the Red Sox).

4 The Roughriders looked horrible until the final minutes, when QB Trevor Harris orchestrated a game-tying drive that included some sensational throws and a run by the No. 1 pivot on second-and-10. Despite being 3-1, I’m still not sure whether Saskatchewan could actually be a force or if its record is misleading. The Roughriders’ lone loss came against the Bombers (by 18 points), while two of their victories are against the lowly Elks and the other an overtime win against Calgary, with all three of those games decided by a combined eight points.

5 Could Stampeders QB Jake Maier be at risk of losing his starting role? It makes you wonder after what a rough start to the season it’s been, as well as the fact head coach Dave Dickenson pulled Maier in favour of Tommy Stevens for the last two drives against Winnipeg. Maier’s strong point is his accuracy but even that’s been off, with the 26-year-old boasting a league-worst completion rate among starters, at 57.4 per cent. Maier has been particularly bad at the deep ball, connecting on just two of his 16 pass attempts of 20 or more yards, including 0-for-two against the Bombers, with one of those passes resulting in his sixth interception of the season. Only B.C.’s Vernon Adams has more picks, with eight, while having played one more game.

6 DE Willie Jefferson continues to be a beast for Winnipeg. He added two more sacks against the Stampeders, giving him six on the year, second only to B.C.’s Mathieu Betts (9). Jefferson, who also leads the CFL in forced fumbles (2) and is second in pass knockdowns (4), had just seven sacks in each of his last two seasons.

7 It’s incredible that Betts already has nine sacks – including three against the Bombers – in only five games. He’s currently on pace to smash the CFL record of 26.5, set by another B.C. D-lineman, James Parker, back in 1984. The 26-year-old Laval product already has two more than the seven he had last season, which was a career-best, playing in just his fourth CFL season.

8 Kudos to Bombers coach Mike O’Shea for moving into a tie with Cal Murphy for second all-time in franchise wins, with 86. O’Shea, who is in the first of a three-year contract, needs just 16 more to tie Bud Grant.

9 The Bombers are hopeful receiver Kenny Lawler will return shortly as he works to get his immigration papers in order after pleading guilty to a 2021 impaired driving charge back in April. It continues to be a waiting game, even if an answer is expected sooner than later.

10 It’s hard not to feel for Jeremiah Masoli, his family and the entire Redblacks organization after the devastating news that Masoli is done for the year after rupturing his Achilles in the first half against the Tiger-Cats. The injury is bad enough – putting Masoli, who turns 35 next month, and his future in the game in serious doubt – but it’s extra cruel that it happened in his first game back, on the one-year anniversary of the season-ending knee injury he suffered last season.

11 With Masoli out and backup Tyrie Adams also sidelined for the year after tearing the ACL in his right knee in Week 4, the Redblacks will start rookie Dustin Crum this week against the visiting Bombers. Ottawa has reportedly reached out to McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who helped lead the Toronto Argonauts to a Grey Cup win last year before opting to sign with the USFL’s New Orleans Breakers. Bethel-Thompson was conveniently released by the Breakers shortly after the Masoli injury, making it feel almost inevitable that he’ll be making his way north. But with a few teams in need of a quality QB, is Ottawa the only option/offer that Bethel-Thompson might be considering? I’d imagine Hamilton and Edmonton also have interest.

12 I ridiculed the CFL a couple of weeks back for giving Ticats linebacker Chris Edwards a fine rather than a suspension for his embarrassing post-game antics following a loss to Montreal in Week 3. Sure enough, there was Edwards making a game-clinching tackle on the final play of the game, wrapping up Crum on Hamilton’s two-yard line to seal the win. That’s how the Ticats earned their first victory of the year, on the last play, against a cold rookie QB, and after getting an extra week to prepare over the bye.

13 The Bombers certainly aren’t regretting signing kicker Sergio Castillo instead of re-upping Marc Liegghio, but you got to give it to Liegghio for making the most of his next opportunity. Since replacing Seth Small in Hamilton for Week 3, Liegghio is nine-for-nine on field goals in two games. Meanwhile, Castillo is 11-for-11 in five games this year.

14 Cody Fajardo must be feeling all kinds of deja vu from his time in Saskatchewan. Now with Montreal, the veteran QB has been running for his life, sacked an eye-popping 22 times in four games this year. That’s six more than any other club, despite three teams – Winnipeg, B.C. and Edmonton – having played one more game. The CFL record for sacks allowed is 103, set by Toronto in 1986. Interestingly, it was Alouettes HC Jason Maas that was the OC in Saskatchewan last year and Fajardo the starter in a majority of the games when the Riders led the league with 77 sacks against in 2022.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

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