Elks coach looks for CFL team’s 3 units to maximize offensive time on field

Edmonton Elks quarterback Tre Ford prepares to throw the ball against the B.C. Lions during the first half of a CFL football game in Vancouver, on Saturday, June 7, 2025. (ETHAN CAIRNS/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

It’s a song as old as time, Dem Bones.

And while the simple, enduring tune is generally seen as a kids or spiritual one, it applies to football, too.

All three phases of the gridiron game, Canadian or otherwise, are connected just like the heel bone is connected to the ankle bone, the thigh bone is to the hip bone and the shoulder bone is to the neck bone.

General truths that apply to the Edmonton Elks right now, according to head coach Mark Kilam, as his Canadian Football League team prepares to travel to Winnipeg for Thursday’s game against the Blue Bombers.

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He said special teams and offence need to help balance the attack and set the defence up for more success, something that has ultimately eluded the Elks early in the season.

“I definitely think they’re linked. I think all three phases are linked,” Kilam said Monday of the offensive, defensive and special-teams play of the 0-2 Elks thus far in 2025.

“We want to be a team that sets each other up for success via the other phase. Special teams can do their part by giving the defence long fields. The offence can help them out by extending some drives.”

There has been some promise, though, seen in both their games so far: in the first half of their season-opening game in Vancouver against the B.C. Lions – the Elks held the hosts to three points in the first half and led 7-3 before collapsing in the final 30 minutes of the 31-14 loss on June 7 – and in the fourth quarter Thursday versus the visiting Montreal Alouettes, when Edmonton’s offence racked up 22 points before dropping the game 38-28.

“We played (well in) a couple of halves spread out over two games, (but) that’s not a recipe for success,” Kilam told media after practice at Commonwealth Stadium. “But I see the guys out here (on the field) working; I see them in the meeting room working.

“I know that it matters to them, and I think it’s only a matter of time, but we’re definitely trying to play a complete game on defence.”

Elks defensive back Tyrell Ford said one key for his unit is containing the quarterback in the pocket – an area of the backfield protected by the offensive line in which the quarterback dwells while looking for an open receiver to pass to – something that’s more of a challenge against mobile ones such as the Alouettes’ Davis Alexander and, even though he’s older, Ford’s former Blue Bombers teammate Zach Collaros.

“I found a lot of (the Alouettes’) big plays came out when he was scrambling and running around,” said Ford, who joined his brother, quarterback Tre, and the Elks this season as a free agent after three seasons with the Blue Bombers.

“Collapsing the pocket is definitely going to help us, because I didn’t find they were just dropping back and throwing it deep on us a lot unless we had blown the coverage.

“Outside of that, I thought we covered decently well. (We’ve just) got to plaster and keep the quarterback in the pocket.”