Angry Elks aim to rebound against Argonauts

After an impressive 6-1 start to the CFL season that had the team atop the West Division, the Elks are coming off two straight losses that dropped them into second place behind the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

Trying to get back into the playoffs the first time since 2019, the Elks (6-3) look to return to the winning side Saturday when they host the Toronto Argonauts (4-4).

It will be an angry group of defensive players waiting for quarterback Chad Kelly and the Argos.

“I’m (ticked off) this week,” said defensive back Joel Dublanko. “I’m pretty frustrated. We take pride in the style of ball we play, pride ourselves in how we play defence and we let 50 (points) on the board. I know a lot of people are mad, but nobody’s panicking or anything like that.”

It wasn’t quite 50 points, but 48 that Edmonton gave up in their 48-30 loss last weekend to the Montreal Alouettes.

The Elks are upset with the performance and eager to show they’re still among the top teams in the league.

“This game is important for our identity,” said defensive end Malik Carney. “We just took two losses to two very good teams, but we’re a great team as well. These next two weeks will kind of show the character of this team.”

After Saturday, the Elks host the Winnipeg Blue Bombers before going on a bye week.

Middle linebacker Nick Anderson, who returned last weekend after a six-week absence, said the back-to-back losses at this point of the season isn’t necessarily a negative.

“Coach (Mark) Kilam said you want to learn these lessons in August and not November,” he said. “So … we’re grateful that we had an opportunity and some adversity so we can learn from it.”

Adversity, said Kilam, is something the team has dealt with all season.

“We’ve dealt with injuries, we’ve dealt with weather, we’ve dealt with a lot of things, travel, schedule,” the coach said. “It’s just about committing to things we believe in, the things about preparing the right way to play winning football on the weekend.”

For quarterback Cody Fajardo, that includes maintaining the same level of energy and confidence the team had before the recent defeats.

The losses, he noted, came against the two teams in last year’s Grey Cup and teams the Elks had beaten earlier this season.