The Edmonton Elks are aware, with one-third of the CFL season behind them, that they’re in must-win territory to have a chance at the playoffs.<\/p>\n
The Elks (1-5) at home to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (5-2) on Saturday are coming off a comeback attempt that fell short in Regina.<\/p>\n
Edmonton running back Justin Rankin, held to zero yards on three carries in the 21-18 loss to Saskatchewan Roughriders last week, said losing in no longer an option.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is starting to come up on some must-win games,\u201d Rankin said. “It sucks that we\u2019re behind the 8-ball right now, but there\u2019s nothing we can do about it. The past is the past and all we can focus on is the present.<\/p>\n
“We have no other option but to win. That should be the thinking every week but now it\u2019s more than before. Every week is a must win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite their disappointing record, quarterback Cody Fajardo said the team remains \u201cunshaken\u201d and steadfast in the belief that success is coming.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe message is simple,\u201d the quarterback said. \u201cOne third of the season is over, there\u2019s nothing we can do about the past. All we have now is two-thirds of the season ahead of us. There\u2019s a path for us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We have to get hot, but there is a path for us. By no means is this season over.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fajardo\u2019s 346 passing yards and strong fourth-quarter performance last week earned him a second straight start against the surging Hamilton Tiger-Cats, who have won their last five games.<\/p>\n
Obtained in an off-season trade with the Montreal Alouettes, Fajardo said the Elks can build off their fourth-quarter momentum in Regina when Edmonton outscored the Roughriders 14-0 and he threw for a pair of touchdowns.<\/p>\n
To carry that momentum into Saturday requires a better run game that managed just 25 yards against Saskatchewan, and 20 of that on Fajardo scrambles.<\/p>\n
The Elks led the CFL in rushing last season.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just time to jell, time to trust each other, time to get used to running this offence together,\u201d Rankin said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hasn\u2019t been where we want it to be but we\u2019re trusting and believing in the coaches and everybody to get it back to where it\u2019s supposed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
To get back to 2024 numbers will take a stout offensive line, said centre David Beard.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur responsibility is pretty clear. We have to execute what\u2019s called and we haven\u2019t done a good enough job yet,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Elks had averaged 106 yards per game before a poor rushing performance in Regina, where a lack of first-down gains left the offence second and long multiple times.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have to execute better, that\u2019s the reality of it,\u201d said head coach Mark Kalim. \u201cTeams play good defence but there are times when we could do better, and we have to make the most of those opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n
That won\u2019t be easy against a Hamilton team that gave up less than 55 rushing yards in three of its five straight wins.<\/p>\n
The offensive line often gets blamed for an ineffective running game. When it allows eight sacks, as Edmonton’s did in Regina, the spotlight feels hotter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know we can play with anybody, but the hard part for us, as an offensive line, is we feel if we had played better it may have been three points the other way,\u201d lineman Mark Korte said.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can say it\u2019s a bounce or two \u2026 but we have to find a way to get a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elks will be without linebackers Nick Anderson (groin) and Michael Brodrique (shoulder), defensive back Royce Metchie (ankle) and wide receiver Zach Mathis (back).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Elks are aware, with one-third of the CFL season behind them, that they’re in must-win territory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-40003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}