REGINA – With the Elks looking for a spark, the team will be turning to 2023 Grey Cup Most Outstanding Player Cody Fajardo.
The experienced pivot will get his turn behind centre, as the Elks look to jump to start their game in a vital matchup against the West Division leading Saskatchewan Roughriders. It will be a homecoming of sorts for Fajardo, who really grew and matured into a starting CFL quarterback wearing Rider Green. For his first ever star against the team that anointed him a CFL starting quarterback, the newly elevated QB is all business.
“I’m just excited to get my first start for the and play with a bunch of guys that I’ve got a lot of respect for,” Fajardo said. “If this was my first year coming out of Sask, playing in Mosaic, it might be a little bit different, but I’ve been with five teams out of a nine team league. Everybody’s public enemy number one.”
As much as the Fajardo return is a nice story — the 33-year-old’s son was born in Regina — it’s not the focal point for the Green and Gold. The team enters Friday with their record sitting at 1-4 and the Elks cannot afford to give up more ground in the CFL playoff race.
Beyond Fajardo, the Double E are looking to jump start all facets of their game.
Edmonton has currently run the fewest offensive plays per game in the league (47.8) and has converted the fewest first downs (84). Inserting the most accurate QB in CFL history will hopefully remedy an Elks passing game, which has made the explosive play, but not enough of the smaller drive-extending ones in the early season.
“We’ve always stated that we are a three-phase football team, we want the other phases to help lift each other up,” Head Coach Mark Kilam said. “That means the defense has to get the ball back to the offense so that they can stay off the field. The offense has got to drive down the field and get some points to take some of the pressure off the defense. It forces opponents to become more one dimensional.”
The hope is that a steadier offence will compliment a defence that has been on the field too much in the first five games, including a whopping 42:54 in week 6 against BC. Saskatchewan is hopefully the team where Edmonton’s offence can tip the scales in the time of possession game. So far this season, the Riders pass defence has given up the most passing yards in the CFL this season (1,975) and the third-most first downs (133). If Fajardo and the Elks offence is on their game, they can hopefully rain on the Riders parade at New Mosaic.
As for Ford, the change this week in quarterback is not seen as a goodbye for the electric pivot, but more of a we’ll see you later. The talented Canadian may even factor into the game, as he still took first team reps during the week of practice.
The intent behind this move is to allow Ford to take a step back as he continues to learn a new offence, allowing the veteran savvy Fajardo to take off the pressure.
“First and foremost, Tre wasn’t the sole reason why our football team is where it is,” Kilam said. “There are 11 other guys on the field with him. We expect them all to execute and perform.”
“We still like Tre Ford, let’s be really clear with that.” Kilam added. “This is not the end of Tre Ford. He’s one play away from playing again. We are going to continue to develop Tre Ford. He has things that he needs to work on that he knows that we’ve communicated, and we’re going to commit to developing those things.”