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<\/p>\nThe two teams meet again Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium.<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Mack was behind the secondary on both catches. He said the first went pretty much as schemed by offensive co-ordinator Jordan Maksymic, but the second, which opened an Edmonton possession, began with Fajardo motioning towards running back Justin Rankin before faking the handoff, then finding an open Mack.<\/p>\n
\u201cI motioned down the line of scrimmage; they\u2019re thinking I\u2019m out to block (Riders DB) Rolan Milligan Jr.,\u201d Mack said. \u201cHe (Milligan) actually blitzed and we hit them with play action, so I think that was a blown coverage.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first one was definitely dialed up the way you want.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fajardo finished 25-of-32 passing for a career-best 510 yards with four TDs. <\/p>\n
The six-foot-one, 208-pound Mack is in his first season with Edmonton and leads the team in receiving (34 catches, 579 yards, five TDs). The Elks are looking to earn their first CFL playoff berth since 2019.<\/p>\n
The former Ohio State Buckeye signed with Edmonton in late January, just three days after being released by Montreal. Mack, 28, spent his first three CFL campaigns with the Alouettes but was let go ahead of a reported $45,000 bonus that was due Feb 1.<\/p>\n
The move to Alberta reunited Mack with Fajardo \u2014 they helped Montreal win the \u201923 Grey Cup. But it has also provided Mack, his wife, Joye, and their two young daughters with a comfortable landing spot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got to free agency, it was with my family in mind,\u201d Mack said. \u201cI wanted to go somewhere that cared about them.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that I\u2019ve made the decision, everything (Elks GM Ed Hervey) said has come true and been great. Not to mention, every other day I have Cody Fajardo calling my phone.\u201d<\/p>\n
A fact not lost upon Kenny Kim of Summit Athletes, Mack\u2019s Florida-based agent.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustin is a remarkable player and a dedicated family man,\u201d said Kim. \u201cHis talent on the field speaks volumes _ an uber talented receiver who\u2019s always making plays and proving to be an invaluable asset to his team.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis offence gives him plenty of opportunities to showcase his skills. With strong support from his family, I fully expect Austin to keep working hard and have a fantastic season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rankin was Edmonton\u2019s offensive catalyst early this season, rushing for 100-or-more yards in four of its first five games while adding 26 catches for 297 yards. Rankin has cooled off (48 yards rushing on 19 carries, nine catches for 73 yards over the Elks\u2019 last two games) but others have stepped up.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s all about how a season develops,\u201d Mack said. \u201cEarly on, you see honest boxes, and when we see that, Justin will take the ball to the house every single time, so we\u2019re going to definitely try to exploit that.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue through the season, teams aren\u2019t going to want to lose to that. So we\u2019ve got to be able to maximize the game plan, and you\u2019re seeing us start to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
And for a receiver, it\u2019s understanding there are more ways to contribute offensively than with catches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first two games of the season (29-21 win in Ottawa on June 6, 32-29 home victory over Montreal on June 20), we knew we were going to run the ball; everybody in the stadium did,\u201d Mack said. \u201cI had two pancake blocks after those two games; I was out here trying to pancake guys.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many other ways how you can impose your will on an opponent, not just catching the ball. You just want to keep adding those wins because at the end of the season you want to have home-field advantage, I think that\u2019s our biggest thing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Edmonton is coming off consecutive 7-11 seasons and last posted a .500 regular-season mark in 2018 (9-9).<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are guys here who want to play together, who want to work together,\u201d Mack said. \u201cI know culture and identity are a big part of what you try to build in a winning organization, and that\u2019s something we have this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 27, 2026.<\/p>\n
Dan Ralph, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The two teams meet again Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium. Mack was behind the secondary on both catches. He…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":831498,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":["post-831497","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\/831497","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=831497"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/831497\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/831498"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=831497"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=831497"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=831497"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}