MONTREAL – It was a storybook ending for Cody Fajardo‘s first start back in Montreal. The veteran quarterback engineered a late drive to lift the Edmonton Elks to a 23-22 comeback win over the Alouettes at Percival Molson Memorial Stadium on Friday night.

Scoring on offence, defence and special teams, the Elks squeezed every opportunity to improve to 2-6 and claim their first road win of the season. After losing their previous two games by four and three points, Edmonton finally came out on the right side of a nail-biter.

Montreal’s defence flashed its usual dominance, but another week of uncertainty under centre proved costly. The Alouettes fell to 5-4 and are now 1-5 without regular starter Davis Alexander.

CFL.ca brings you three stats that defined Edmonton’s Week 10 win over Montreal.

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2 – KAION JULIEN-GRANT TOUCHDOWNS

Amid the buzz around Fajardo’s return to Montreal, Kaion Julien-Grant’s ‘revenge stage’ flew under the radar — but he was anything but quiet on Friday night. After a slow first half on one reception for eight yards, the Canadian pass-catcher exploded in the fourth, breaking wide open for a one-yard touchdown grab to cut Montreal’s lead to two. He wasn’t finished there, icing the game by willing his way into the end zone for the late go-ahead score.

After dropping a potential game-winner against the Tiger-Cats last week, Julien-Grant’s bounce-back performance was not only timely but undoubtedly sweeter against his former team.

71% – CODY FAJARDO COMPLETION RATE

It’s almost automatic: no matter the game script or defence, Fajardo hits his magic number. In 76 career CFL starts, he’s completed 70 per cent or more of his passes in 47 games — a mark of consistency that’s helped make him the league’s all-time most accurate passer.

Though this was his lowest completion rate of the season (after 78 and 80 per cent in his previous two starts), Fajardo had to be efficient against a relentless Als front. Without the security blanket of an effective run game, Montreal tallied six sacks and pressured him constantly, but he avoided forcing any costly mistakes, staying cool under pressure as he led a game-winning drive with less than a minute remaining.

2 – EDMONTON TAKEAWAYS

Entering Week 10 with a league-low seven turnovers forced and just one interception, the Elks got exactly what they needed with two takeaways.

The first was a group effort: as the Als marched late in the first half, defensive lineman Noah Taylor pressured McLeod Bethel-Thompson into a rushed throw. Tyrell Ford smartly abandoned coverage to pick off the errant pass at the sideline, running it back 87 yards untouched for the major. The momentum swing sent Edmonton into halftime trailing by two instead of chasing a nine-point — or larger — deficit. The mistake was consequential enough for Als head coach Jason Maas to turn to Caleb Evans in the second half.

The second takeaway was just as crucial, and came unconventionally. Vincent Blanchard missed a long kick, but the coverage was all over Tyler Snead by the time he could bring it out of the end zone. Panicked, Snead collided with his own blocker, fumbling the ball and giving Edmonton possession on the one-yard line. The Elks capitalised immediately, punching it in on the next play to ignite their fourth-quarter comeback.