After crews wiped up the sweat from 55-year-old rapper LL Cool J following his concert at B.C. Place Stadium in Vancouver, the Lions wiped the field of the Edmonton Elks. 22-0 was the score.
The first time the Edmonton Elks have been shutout in a CFL game since August 15, 1976 when they lost 40-0 to the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
They produced just 151 yards of net offence with 103 of those yards coming from quarterback Taylor Cornelius.
The Elks had 11 possessions in the game, with 10 possessions ending in a punt and one ending with a fumble.
With only 13 points scored including one offensive touchdown in two games, the Elks offence might resemble a tragedy written by Shakesphere.
Cornelius hasn’t looked very comfortable outside of 102 yard touchdown pass to the Eugene Lewis in the season-opener on June 11.
Running back Kevin Brown hasn’t found his form from his seven-game stint in 2022. The offensive line, according to Pro Football Focus, has given up a pressure rate of 40 per cent in each of the first two games. Receivers have dropped the ball too much which have killed drives.
It feels like the perfect storm.
The 0-2 Elks play host to the defending Grey Cup champion Toronto Argonauts on Sunday at Commonwealth Stadium.
More was expected of the offence, who do have a few new pieces, including receiver Eugene Lewis. He is coming off a 1,300-yard season in 2022. Lewis says it’s important for the offence not to overreact to the slow start to the season.
“Absolutely because you have to remember, we have young team and they haven’t experienced everything I have, and couple of older guys on the team have,” Lewis said.
“I know we’re 0-2 now but it’s very early in the season. Don’t pack it up right now because it’s too early. As long as we adjust to the things that we need to do. Focus on our discipline and our details, we’re going to be fine.”
Elks receiver Eugene Lewis on being a part of an offence who didn’t score a point on Saturday against the Lions
https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=CORU1642375964
The Elks defence is holding the team in games. The Lions had to settle for five field goals and only scored one offensive touchdown. The Lions eventually wore down the Elks defence with 36 minutes of time of possession. Veteran Elks linebacker Adam Konar says they are not growing frustrated with the offence.
“Everytime you go out there you have a chance to generate turnovers, generate points and make big plays,” Konar said.
“You have to be excited every time you go out there and I feel we have a pretty good group for that. When you have a group like that, it doesn’t matter what the offence is doing.
“We’re going to go out there and play as hard as we can.”
Elks linebacker Adam Konar on the defence having more to give and moving on from Saturday’s loss to the Lions
https://playlist.megaphone.fm/?e=CORU6128634917
Taylor Cornelius on the other hand feels the opposite of Konar. Cornelius, who has had his own share of struggles to start the season, says the offence needs to start holding their end of the bargain and get the ball in the end zone.
“It sucks to let them down like that and come out and not perform they way we know we can and put up points like we know this offence should,” Cornelius said.
“We feel the need to go out there and play with our hair on fire, get more points, and bring a spark for the defence as well.”
The defence will not rest
The Elks have put up some positive number on defence through the first two games allowing an average of 19.5 points.
The defence has forced four turnovers and have given up one touchdown in each of the first two games. Linebacker Adam Konar says there’s no consolation prize for an 0-2 start.
“Sure you can look at that, say we’ve been playing well but at the end of day, if we’re not getting wins we’re not playing well enough,” Konar said.
“We need to be better and there’s still things we can improve on and get better.”
The Manny Show is on hiatus
On Thursday, Loucheiz Purifoy didn’t practice because of an ankle injury but was a full participant on Friday and will play on Sunday.
Receiver Manny Arceneaux won’t be so fortunate as he sustained a knee injury during the loss to the Lions.
“Manny is probably going to be out at least six weeks.”
Arcenaeux will join veteran defensive back Ed Gainey on the six-game injured list. Gainey suffered what the team is calling a chest injury suffered in the first half of last week’s loss to the Lions.
Expect Marcus Lewis to start at a corner spot opposite of Kai Gray. C.J. Sims will draw in as the primary returner as Kyran Moore will now become a full-time receiver with the injury to Arceneaux.
The Elks host the Toronto Argonauts at Commonwealth Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
Kick-off will be at 5 p.m., 630 CHED will have live coverage starting with Countdown to Kick-off at 3:30 p.m.
Comments