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Beating the bottom-feeding Ottawa Redblacks in Week 1 was one thing, but to follow up with a win over the reigning East Division champion Montreal Alouettes is no small task
Published Jun 23, 2026 • 5 minute read
Edmonton Elks
Members of the Edmonton Elks celebrate their win over the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday, June 20, 2026 at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia
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Don’t look now, but the Edmonton Elks are off to a strong start.
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You remember them, that once proud club that, for the longest time, took for granted it was the flagship of the entire Canadian Football League?
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OK, they might have gone by a different name back then. And not much has gone right for them since. In fact, it’s been downright depressing these past five playoff-missing seasons. So, you could be forgiven for not immediately recognizing them.
Especially with the way they’ve come out of the gates in the 2026 season, sitting 2-0 and on top of the world. It took them four games to get their first two wins back in 2021, five games in 2022, 11 games in 2023, nine games in 2024 and eight games in 2025. That’s an average of five-and-a-half games, which puts them well ahead of schedule and back on track to make playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Yes, it’s early. But at least it’s early for fans of the double-E to be tempering their excitement instead of rolling their eyes under a brown paper bag like they’ve gotten used to doing at this point in the proceedings.
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Beating the bottom-feeding Ottawa Redblacks in Week 1 was one thing, but to follow up with a win over the reigning East Division champion Montreal Alouettes is no small task.
Here’s how it all went down in Saturday’s 32-29 win that ended Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander’s near-record start to his career at 13 straight wins:
DOING IT ON DEFENCE
Sure, Edmonton’s offence put up the points they needed in the end. But it was the potential points the Elks kept off the scoreboard in overtime that paved the way for Cody Fajardo to put this one away with a QB keeper.
Alexander got the Als into field-goal range with his first pass of the mini-game, only to have the Elks come up with back-to-back stops at the line of scrimmage on running back Travis Theis, before a shot to the end zone by the league-leading passer went incomplete.
It was a big-time performance. Exactly the effort the Elks needed to come up with and may be a glimpse of big things to come under second-year defensive co-ordinator J.C. Sherritt.
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He gets our game ball this week.
Nick Anderson
Edmonton Elks linebacker Nick Anderson (48) tackles Montreal Alouettes’ runningback Travis Theis during CFL action on Saturday, June 20, 2026 in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia
RANKIN’ HIM NO. 1
Though we’d be hard pressed to argue if Elks head coach Mark Kilam gave his official game ball to running back Justin Rankin. Again.
For the second game in a row, the sixth-year pro led the Elks both on the ground and in the air, hitting triple digits in rushing both times to lead the league with 281 yards on 31 carries this season. Yeah, he’s averaging nine yards a carry with a head full of steam. And he’s going to need it, too, now that every defensive co-ordinator in the league will be game-planning how to stop him.
FAJARDO FAR FROM FLASHY
The not-so great news is Rankin’s 145 yards on 10 receptions might lead the team, but it’s not even enough to crack the top-10 in the league at this point. He’s sitting 16th overall at this point, though to be fair some receivers have already played three games.
But the CFL is a passing league, and only two teams have thrown for fewer yards than Edmonton, the aforementioned Redblacks and the Calgary Stampeders — both of whom are still looking for their first win. Combine that with the fact the Elks only have one player with triple digits in receiving yards, and there could very well be a chink in their armour.
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Is their success attributed to a couple of jailbreak rushes by Rankin, or has it been a conscious effort on Edmonton’s part to ground and pound out of the gates and avoid becoming one-dimensional, offensively?
The thing is, when it comes to Fajardo’s pass-efficiency rating (94.5), he’s doing better than Nathan Rourke (92.4), whose B.C. Lions are also winless. We will have to wait and see if Rourke’s former offensive co-ordinator, Jason Maksymic, will be able to get the same sort of magic out of Fajardo as he did out of Rourke and Michael Reilly on the west coast.
But for now, the Elks will be best served by an if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it strategy to their passing game.
Cody Fajardo
Edmonton Elks Cody Fajardo (7) throws the ball against the Montreal Alouettes during CFL action on Saturday, June 20, 2026 in Edmonton. Photo by Greg Southam /Postmedia
PENALTY QUESTION ANSWERED
After penalty flags rained down on the Elks in Week 1 almost as much as Mother Nature has in their first two outings, Edmonton cleaned up their infractions against Montreal, going from 14 penalties for 142 yards to just six for 60.
And should cooler heads prevail, they could clean things up even more when they face the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in what will be a short turnaround on the road Thursday (6:30 p.m., TSN, 880 CHED).
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COULD IT BE KARMA?
It took far, far too long, but the Elks finally righted a disastrous wrong by publicly celebrating the lifetime achievements of long-time equipment manager and all-around good guy Dwayne Mandrusiak at halftime.
A questionable casualty of COVID-19 layoffs in his 49th year with the club during the cancelled 2020 season, Mandrusiak was brought back into the fold last year under new ownership.
Deb Thompson, herself, presented Mandrusiak with a ring celebrating his 50th year of service during a tribute video, to go along with the 11 Grey Cup rings he earned as an integral part of the club.
The funny thing is, the old guard might have actually done him a favour cutting him loose like that, so he could avoid the on-field embarrassment of what was to come.
Not that we believe in woo-woo, but if ever there ends up being a curse that gets lifted and Edmonton makes it back to the playoffs this year, just think what could happen if they’d right another wrong and decide to go back to calling themselves the Eskimos …
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Read More
[Edmonton Elks Cody Fajardo (7) scores the game winning touchdown against the Montreal Alouettes during CFL action on Saturday, June 20, 2026 in Edmonton.
Rankin rolls through Alouettes as Edmonton Elks end Davis' dominance](https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-elks/rankin-rolls-through-alouettes-as-edmonton-elks-end-davis-dominance)
2. [Edmonton Elks Austin Mack celebrates his touch down against the Calgary Stampeders during CFL preseason action on Friday, May 29, 2026 in Edmonton.
Will getting back with Austin Mack be the key for Edmonton Elks' Cody Fajardo?](https://edmontonjournal.com/sports/football/cfl/edmonton-elks-austin-mack-cody-fajardo)
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