Chris Jones doesn’t believe in moral victories.
The coach and general manager of the 0-4 Edmonton Elks is fully aware that his team has played four close games through what has been a very tough schedule.
Those four losses came against the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Montreal Alouettes, Toronto Argonauts and B.C. Lions, teams that had a collective record of 16-4 going into this weekend’s action.
All four of the team’s losses were one-score games, and Jones is painfully aware that the Elks’ two most recent defeats came on field goals right at the final gun.
But losses are losses. And, for an Elks team that hasn’t been in the playoffs since 2019, it needs to start digging itself out of its hole when the Ottawa Redblacks (2-2) visit Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday.
“You don’t get any moral victories. Other people play tight games and lose them, too,” said Jones. “They keep score for a reason. We’ve got to find ways to be a winning football team.”
Elks quarterback McLeod Bethel-Thompson says the team “has no mulligans left.”
“An 0-4 team is what we are,” said McLeod Bethel-Thompson, who has racked up 1,225 yards through the air in his first four games with the team. “There’s no point in dwelling on that, there’s also no point on dwelling on the future.
“All we’ve got is this week. And we’re very confident in our abilities. We’re confident we can play with anyone in this league. We should be 4-0 against some of the best teams in this league.
“There is no fear, there is no panic, there’s just urgency. We need to find a way to get over that hump.”
The Elks can help transform the narrow losses into wins by jump-starting their run game. Last year, Kevin Brown finished second in the CFL rushing race with 1,141 yards. Through four games this season, he’s got just 140 yards. Ottawa’s Ryquell Armstead, meanwhile, is fourth in the CFL with 275 rushing yards.
So the Elks need to unleash Brown, and find ways to slow Armstead down.
“We’ve got to get KB going, that’s for sure. He’s a big weapon,” said Jones. “For us not to get him going would be short-sighted. We’ve got to have time of possession, we’ve got to run the football more effectively.”
As for Armstread, Jones said: “That running back is running as hard as anyone in the league.”
Redblacks coach Bob Dyce said the improvement in the team’s running game is all about toughness.
“Since I’ve been in this role, one of the things we’ve talked about is that we want to be a very physical team,” he told reporters. “We want to be able to run the ball, and that’s something we have to continue to lean on.
“One of the positives out of (last week’s) game is the physicality that our offensive line played with and the physicality that our back played with, and our receivers did a fantastic job blocking.”
The Elks are getting it done through the air, as Bethel-Thompson is averaging more than 300 yards passing per game. His favourite target has been Dillon Mitchell. After a disappointing sophomore season, Mitchell is currently sixth in the CFL with 355 yards. But he said “winning is the biggest thing for me.”
“The satisfaction can be there from my performances, but the most important thing is for us to start winning some of our games. We have to become one of those teams that other teams are looking out for, and don’t want to play,” he said.
The Redblacks are coming off a 25-16 loss to Winnipeg, but, at 2-2, are taking strides from last season, when they finished 4-14 and missed the playoffs. Their two wins this season, over Winnipeg and Hamilton, were both one-score nailbiters.
Quarterback Dru Brown, who left last week’s game with a head injury, appears good to go in Edmonton. Dyce confirmed that the signal-caller has cleared concussion protocol.
Both the Redblacks and Elks missed the playoffs in 2023 with 4-14 records.
After Sunday’s tilt, the Redblacks and Elks will meet again next week in Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2024