WINNIPEG \u2014 The Edmonton Elks are looking to make it three straight wins to open the season when they visit the Winnipeg Blue Bombers at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Edmonton downed Ottawa in Week 1 and Montreal in Week 3.<\/p>\n
Winnipeg had a bye after falling 37-27 to Hamilton on June 11.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s three keys to victory for both teams ahead of Thursday\u2019s 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff, which can be watched on TSN in Canada, and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n
RELATED EDMONTON ELKS<\/p>\n 1. THE RUN GAME<\/p>\n The Elks lead the league through three weeks in average rushing yards per game with 161.5. Running back Justin Rankin is tops among all rushers with 281 yards, but is facing a defence that\u2019s been the best at stopping the run. Rankin and Edmonton\u2019s offensive line versus a front led by Jake Ceresna<\/a>, Willie Jefferson<\/a> and Tony Jones<\/a> is must-watch.<\/p>\n 2. STOPPING BRADY OLIVEIRA<\/p>\n The Elks\u2019 own front will be under the microscope after giving up 225 yards on the ground across their first two games. With star rusher Brady Oliveira<\/a> staring them down, lineman Jared Brinkman<\/a>, linebacker Brock Mogensen, who fills in for the injured Nick Anderson<\/a>, and the rest of the defence has to bring their A-game.<\/p>\n 3. A BIG GAME AT WIDEOUT<\/p>\n At some point, someone not named Justin Rankin needs to step up in the pass game. Receivers TJ Luther<\/a> and Austin Mack seem to be the likely candidates.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n WINNIPEG BLUE BOMBERS<\/p>\n 1. PRESSURE IN THE BACKFIELD<\/p>\n Winning the fight at the line of scrimmage serves two benefits for the Bombers. One, it puts pressure on Rankin, and two, it will force Elks\u2019 quarterback Cody Fajardo<\/a> into quick decisions. Ceresna is tied for the league lead with three sacks and will be relied upon to lead the way.<\/p>\n 2. AIR IT OUT ZACH COLLAROS<\/p>\n Zach Collaros<\/a> should be feeling good coming off a 421-yard game. Taking shots downfield can result in quick strikes and shift the defensive focus to open holes for Oliveira.<\/p>\n 3. CAN TOMMY NIELD KEEP IT UP?<\/p>\n There likely weren\u2019t many people who had receiver Tommy Nield<\/a> leading the Bombers receiving corps in yards at any point this season. He\u2019s already well over a quarter of the way to his career-high 535 yards he had a season ago with Saskatchewan and has proven to be a legitimate threat in the pass game. If he comes to play again alongside Nic Demski<\/a>, Ontaria Wilson<\/a> and Tim White<\/a>, it could mean trouble for the Elks secondary.<\/p>\n NEED TO KNOW:<\/p>\n The Elks finished 2-7 on the road in 2025, including a 36-23 Week 4 loss to Winnipeg.
\u00bb Depth Charts: EDM<\/a> | WPG<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Game Notes: Elks at Blue Bombers<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Tickets: Edmonton at Winnipeg<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Injury Reports: Stay up to date<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Who\u2019s gonna win? Play CFL Pick \u2018Em presented by Old Dutch now!<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Sign up and watch CFL games on CFL+ in the U.S. and Internationally<\/a><\/p>\n
\nThese two teams meet twice more, both in Edmonton, in Weeks 12 and 20.
\nKickoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. ET, and can be watched on TSN in Canada, and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2014 The Edmonton Elks are looking to make it three straight wins to open the season when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":758678,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-758677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758677","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=758677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/758677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/758678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=758677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=758677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=758677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}