Elks dwell on ugly Labour Day loss to Stampeders for rematch motivation

Edmonton Elks' Justin Rankin, left, is tackled by Calgary Stampeders' Jaydon Grant during first half CFL football action in Calgary, Alta., Monday, Sept. 1, 2025.

You’d think Monday’s Labour Day loss in Calgary is one the Edmonton Elks would like to forget about right away.

Let me count the ways why.

Zero major scores for the Elks. One punt-return touchdown against. One missed field goal. Two lost fumbles, including one by quarterback Cody Fajardo on Calgary’s two-yard line. Three tackles against for losses. Four sacks on Fajardo. Seventeen pressures of Fajardo by pass rushers Clarence Hicks, Jaylon Hutchings and Folarin Orimolade.

It all added up to a 28-7 win for the host Stampeders.

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Given that the Elks’ next opponent is those very same Stamps, however, head coach Mark Kilam said on Wednesday he doesn’t want his team “to flush it” just yet.

“We always look at the things we need to correct, because they’re in every game, win or lose,” Kilam told media after practice at Commonwealth Stadium. “We’re trying to correct those things. We’re trying to build on the things we think are positives. In this case, we get to play the same team that just beat us ... I think we should leave that taste in our mouths for a couple more days.”

Quarterback Cody Fajardo echoed his coach’s sentiment, saying he and his teammates are eager for Saturday’s rematch at home.

“It’s very rare in professional football, especially, that you get an opportunity to write your wrongs against the same opponent,” Fajardo said Wednesday.

“The Canadian Football League is one of those leagues in which you have that opportunity to play a team back-to-back, so I think the guys are excited about that. I’m excited about that because there are some things we left out on that field.”

The Elks’ coaching staff will have plenty to figure out on all sides of the ball.

As mentioned already, the Stampeders’ defence – the top-ranked unit in the CFL – chased Fajardo all game in front of a full house at McMahon Stadium and kept the Elks out of the end zone.

It held the Elks’ top offensive weapon, running back Justin Rankin, to 48 yards on 13 carries for an average of 3.7 yards per rushing attempt. He had been averaging five yards a carry heading into Labour Day.

On offence, while Stampeders quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. was held to just 162 yards and one touchdown through the air – he called Monday’s game his personal worst of the season afterwards – Deadrick Mills rumbled for 106 yards on 17 carries to average 6.2 yards per carry.

At the same time, the offensive line gave up just one sack and five pressures. Football analysis site PFF considers the Stamps o-line a major reason why the team looks like the league’s best.

And Kilam, in his first season as Elks head coach after spending 15 of the previous 20 years on the Stampeders’ staff as special-teams coordinator, looked upset on the sidelines after the Elks gave up that third-quarter punt-return TD by Erik Brooks.

Fajardo called this short week – the Elks will get just one full day of practice in on Thursday before Saturday’s game – “a big mental week.”

“There’s only so much you can do physically,” he said. “There are going to be a lot of plays that we’re going to put in and install that we’re not going to have a live look at ...

“As doom and gloom as everybody makes it seem, we’re a 3-1 football team in the last four games, so it’s not all doom and gloom. We just went against the best team in the league, and we didn’t play our best ball, so we’re hoping to eradicate that.”