The start to the Edmonton Elks’ season on the gridiron is their best in nine years. And it’s found the Canadian Football League team all alone in first place in the West Division through seven games, another accomplishment they hadn’t achieved since that summer, when they started 7-0 en route to a 10-8 campaign. Elks head coach Mark Kilam credits this year’s 6-1 start to building on momentum late last season, which saw them fighting for a playoff spot until the final week. Edmonton ended in the West basement: fifth with a record of 7-11. “We tried to build on the things that we felt we established at the end of last year, specifically our identity and the way we wanted to practice and those kind of things,” Kilam told CTV News Edmonton after practice on Tuesday at Clarke Stadium. “We made a point in the off-season to try to win the off-season, have a great sense of urgency, try to get ahead on our playbooks and stuff with the players, and then we tried to have that same sense of urgency, carry that into training camp, and then obviously to start faster.” Indeed they have. Edmonton has started the 2026 season strongly, registering wins over last year’s Grey Cup champion Saskatchewan Roughriders and the runners-up Montreal Alouettes. The Elks’ lone loss came at the hands of the B.C. Lions, current bottom-feeders in the West standings at 1-5. Last week in the Elks’ thrilling 36-34 win over the host Roughriders, who they face Saturday at Commonwealth Stadium for a rematch, several things went very right for Edmonton: Gunslinging goodness Quarterback Cody Fajardo impressed observers not only for his 510-yard passing performance but because he threw his career-high yardage against what was the Canadian Football League’s top passing defence heading into the game. The Roughriders dropped to fifth on that list following the Elks’ win. To be fair, the Elks dropped from third to fourth in passing yards allowed after Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris tossed for 386 of them against their defence. The CFL gave Fajardo Player of the Week honours on Tuesday for his performance. Almost-perfect placekicking Vincent Blanchard has been almost perfect thus far in 2026, making 20 of his 21 field-goal attempts and completing 15 of 17 touchdown converts. Only the Ottawa Redblacks’ Brett Lauther is ahead of him overall among the league’s placekickers. Blanchard’s walk-off 57-yard field-goal capped a perfect personal performance in Regina, where he went three-for-three in three-point tries and was also three-for-three on converts. Turnaround without pigskin The Elks’ defence, though, probably deserves a significant share of the credit for the sudden turnaround. The unit has allowed the fewest points per game (24.2) to opposition offences through eight weeks of the CFL season and is fourth among the CFL’s nine teams in average yards allowed per game overall (374.3), while limiting rushers to an average of 86 yards per game (third) and receivers to 300.6 (fourth). Last season, the Elks had the league’s worst defence, which allowed an average of 389.6 yards per game (Montreal’s was first, averaging 338.4 per game, with Grey Cup champ Saskatchewan second with 341.5). Kilam expects the visiting Roughriders will be looking to improve their performance for Saturday’s 5 p.m. kickoff. “You have to play 60 minutes to beat a team like that,” the second-year head coach said. “We knew that going in. We expect more of the same this week. We’ve got some wrinkles. We know they’ll have some wrinkles. We’ll try to improve on the things that we didn’t do well, and I’m sure they’re doing the same.” Elks chief executive officer Chris Morris said 22,000 tickets have already been sold for the game and that, if the stadium’s 33,000 seats in the lower bowl sell out, the team will look at opening the upper bowl, which was closed for seating after the 2023 season. “It’s such an advantage in this league to have good fans that are going crazy the entire game,” Fajardo said. “We’re looking forward to it.” With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Curtis Goodrum
