EDMONTON \u2014 The BC Lions take on the Edmonton Elks for the second time in three weeks when Week 7 gets underway on Friday Night Football.<\/p>\n
BC beat Edmonton 36-24 in Week 5 for their first win of the season before heading off on a bye.<\/p>\n
Edmonton rebounded from the loss to score a 40-17 victory over the Ottawa REDBLACKS in Week 6.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s three keys to victory for each team ahead of Friday\u2019s 9:00 p.m. ET kickoff, which can be watched on TSN\/RDS2 in Canada, and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n
RELATED BC LIONS<\/p>\n 1. JAMES BUTLER BUILDING CONFIDENCE<\/p>\n The bye might have come at a bad time for Lions\u2019 running back James Butler<\/a>, as he posted a season-high 135 yards and two touchdowns in the first meeting versus the Elks. It\u2019s always interesting to see who makes adjustments when teams meet twice in a short time. The Elks defence looked good against Ottawa, limiting their rushers to 25 yards, but Butler has had an extra week of preparation.<\/p>\n 2. BEST ON BEST<\/p>\n The Lions possess the best run defence in terms of average yards allowed, holding opposing rushers to 59.8 per game. The Elks, on the other hand, have the league\u2019s top rusher in Justin Rankin. Round 1 went the way of BC\u2019s front when they held Rankin to 19 yards on 7 carries. If the likes of defensive linemen Casey Sayles and Jonah Tavai<\/a> can help do it again, it will be tough for the Elks offence to effectively manoeuvre down the field.<\/p>\n 3. MAKING AN IMPACT IN THE SECONDARY<\/p>\n When the ball goes in the air the Lions sit eighth in pass knockdowns with 13 and seventh in interceptions with three, all of which came against Edmonton. Linebacker Darnell Sankey<\/a> and defensive backs Jackson Findlay and Ronald Kent Jr.<\/a> came down with those picks and are eyeing a repeat performance.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n EDMONTON ELKS<\/p>\n 1. TIGHTEN UP DOWN FIELD<\/p>\n The Elks\u2019 secondary has been a strength this season, totalling a league-high six interceptions and holding the opposition to six passing touchdowns. They\u2019ll be tested from the start against a Nathan Rourke<\/a>-led offence, meaning defensive backs Kordell Jackson, Tyrell Ford<\/a> and Chelen Garnes need to be ready to go from kickoff.<\/p>\n 2. RETURN OF THE (AUSTIN) MACK<\/p>\n After a slower start than expected that saw him accumulate 132 yards in his first three games, receiver Austin Mack has combined for 235 over his last two contests. Going up against a secondary that\u2019s had its struggles at times, the explosiveness of Edmonton\u2019s top receiver could shift the game.<\/p>\n 3. KEEP GETTING JUSTIN RANKIN INVOLVED<\/p>\n It seems like every game the Elks play, all eyes are on running back Justin Rankin, and this week should be no different. Rankin can help his own cause in the run game by being a weapon for quarterback Cody Fajardo<\/a> in the air.<\/p>\n NEED TO KNOW:<\/p>\n The Lions have won 11 of the teams\u2019 past 12 matchups.
\u00bb Depth Charts: BC<\/a> | EDM<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Game Notes: Lions at Elks<\/a>
\u00bb\u00a0Tickets: BC at Edmonton<\/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
\nNathan Rourke<\/a> is 7-0 against the Elks.
\nCody Fajardo<\/a> is a career 6-8 against BC.
\nKickoff is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. ET, and can be watched on TSN\/RDS2 in Canada, and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"EDMONTON \u2014 The BC Lions take on the Edmonton Elks for the second time in three weeks when…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806456,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-806455","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\/806455","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=806455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}