By Canadian Press

Winless Elks face stiff test against reigning Grey Cup champion Argos

Jun 24, 2023 | 10:08 AM

EDMONTON — It might be a stretch to call a team that finished 4-14 last season and hasn’t won a home game in more than two seasons the biggest disappointment so far in the young CFL season.

After all, the bar isn’t set very high for the winless Edmonton Elks, who host the Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts on Sunday.

Despite the Elks’ free-agent signing frenzy this past off-season to improve their offence, the team has scored just 13 points over its first two games, having been shut out in a 22-point loss to the BC Lions last week.

“We’re frustrated, there’s no doubt about it,” said Edmonton general manager and head coach Chris Jones. “You feel the frustration in our team meetings. You feel the frustration in our locker room. 

“They’ve worked hard, and they want to be a good football team. You’d be worried if they weren’t frustrated.”

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Elks quarterback Taylor Cornelius has just 300 yards passing over the first two games of the season. A chunk of those came on one play — an underthrown pass to Geno Lewis, who turned it into a jump ball and then sprinted to the end zone for a 102-yard touchdown in a 17-13 Week 1 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

That stands as Edmonton’s only touchdown of the season. Take that one big play away and the numbers get really worrying.

Second-year receiver Dillon Mitchell, who came into the year promising that he’d go for 2,000 yards this season, has a total of one receiving yard through two games. Lewis and Steven Dunbar Jr., both of whom had 1,000-yard seasons in 2022, were brought into the team and outside Lewis’s one big play, have not had an impact.

Another free agent signing, kick returner/receiver Kyran Moore, will see more reps as veteran receiver Manny Arceneaux has gone down with injury. CJ Sims will likely get elevated from the practice squad to return kicks.

“Overall, I think we’ve put (last week) behind us,” said Moore. “It’s in the back of our minds … and we’re ready to go to work on Sunday.

“We’ve got a receiving corps full of vets. T.C. (Cornelius) is still fairly new in this league, so we just try to give him all the confidence in the world. Anything he needs, anything he specifically needs from us, we try to give him. We’ll do everything we can for him.” 

Jones hopes Moore can bring some added speed to the slot.

“He’s a guy that brings that dynamic spot quickness,” said Jones. “He’s not a 4.3 guy or anything like that, but he plays a lot faster than what his 40 time is. 

“He’s certainly tough and physical even though he’s a smaller, diminutive guy.”

While the Elks are still looking to find their offensive identity, the Argos rolled in their opener last week, defeating the Hamilton Tiger-Cats 32-14. New starting quarterback Chad Kelly looked like a vet, throwing for 238 yards and adding three rushing touchdowns.

Argos coach Ryan Dinwiddie said his team doesn’t expect the Elks to be as flat as they were in their first two games of the season.

“We have to make sure we’re not coming in there and thinking they’re going to put on those performances again,” he said. “Chris will get it fixed, and that whole city is waiting for a win. 

“That’s a big deal right there. We’ve got to go out and play good football and take care of the football.”

The Argos will face an Elks defence that is missing defensive back Ed Gainey, who was placed on the six-game injured list. He left last week’s loss at BC Place after he got clobbered on an interception return.

Meanwhile, Jones said there will be many challenges for his offence against the Argos’ defence and saluted the work of Toronto defensive coordinator Corey Mace. 

“I think he’s done a real nice job with moulding the defence around the personnel that he has,” said Jones. “They certainly can mix the coverages, they mix the fronts.”

Jones is expecting to see a lot of Jamal Peters, the Argos’ dominant shutdown defensive back who led the league with six picks last season. He returned to Toronto on June 12 after being released by the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.

“He’s a shutdown guy. It’ll be interesting to see how we match up.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2023.

Steven Sandor, The Canadian Press