LIVESTREAM PPV: Montreal Alouettes @ Edmonton Elks, August 15, 01:00 CET (1 am, 7 pm ET)
EDMONTON — The Edmonton Elks look to rebound and get their first win while welcoming in the Montreal Alouettes who open their season at Commonwealth Stadium Saturday.
While Saturday will be the second time the Edmonton Elks take the field in 2021 coming off a loss to Ottawa, it will be the first for Montreal.
The last time the Alouettes played a game oddly enough was against Edmonton at home during the 2019 Eastern Semi-Final. There, they seemed to have no answer for Trevor Harris who threw the ball for an astonishing 421 yards on route to a 37-29 win.
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Since then, a lot has changed for the Als on and off the field.
Changes on the management side were highlighted by the new team’s new ownership group. Additionally, the Als general manager position changed, bringing in former Edmonton and Université de Montréal Carabins head coach, Danny Maciocia.
On the field, the Als welcomed back a familiar face in William Stanback who returns to the CFL after testing the NFL waters with the Las Vegas Raiders. Prior to his move down south, Stanback came off a 1,048 yard rushing season, averaging 6.2 yards-per-carry and scored five touchdowns. Stanback’s addition to the Montreal lineup will complement the play of Vernon Adams Jr.
Adams Jr., 28, is two years removed from his best season in the CFL and has positioned himself as one of the league’s most dangerous quarterbacks. Throwing for 3,942 yards and 24 touchdowns through the air, Adams helped turn the Alouettes’ offence into a true vertical threat. That was not his only way of carving up defences as he racked up an additional 394 yards on the ground and 12 touchdowns.
“We’re ready to play someone else,” said Adams ahead of Saturday’s game. “We’ve been going at each other as an offence, defence, special teams for over a month now, so we just excited to get back out there.”
Adams and the Als’ offence will be going up against an Elks defensive unit that has already had a game together. While that may be an advantage for Edmonton, Adams feels that training camp has his offence ready for the challenge.
“I’m very confident in our O-line. Our O-line coach as well” said Adams. “In the two scrimmages we had, man, our O-line looked really good. Even in practice, they’re picking up different blitzes that they haven’t seen before. They’re just following their rules and doing what they’re supposed to do.”
For Als’ defensive lineman, Almondo Sewell, Saturday will also be his first time back at Commonwealth Stadium since signing with Montreal. Having spent time as teammates with Trevor Harris, Sewell knows how to throw him off his game
“It’s the same Trevor,” said Sewell. “You hit him one time, he starts folding.”
Sewell, 34, spent nine seasons in Edmonton from 2011-19, recording a career 284 total tackles and 60 sacks for the Green and Gold.
JAMES WILDER JR. WAS A MAJOR PART OF THE ELKS OFFENCE IN WEEK 1, WILL HE HAVE THE SAME IMPACT THIS WEEK? (WALTER TYCHNOWICZ/CFL.CA)
For the current Edmonton Elks roster, the emphasis during practice this week was on getting better.
“The guys came out great all week,” said Elks’ head coach, Jaime Elizondo. “I think they’re focused. I think they’ve got still a bad, sour taste in their mouth…I think our focus as professionals is improving and finding a way to get one per cent better every day.”
Though the Elks were able to gain a total of 443 yards, with over 300 of them coming from the arm of Trevor Harris, they were only held to field goals against Edmonton. One bright spot of the Elks offence was the performance of James Wilder Jr.
Wilder Jr., 29, is embarking on a new chapter of his career with Edmonton after having spent three seasons with the Argos. In that time, he amassed 3,510 all-purpose yards and nine touchdowns, earning a Grey Cup and was named the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie in 2017.
While Wilder himself had a great outing, the result was not what they wanted. He and the offence are looking to have a different result this time.
“There’s a lot of things we could have done better for him, we could have made it more clean for him,” said running back, said Wilder Jr. “I talked to Trev and the standard that he has, he’s ready to come back, we’re all ready to come back and put a win on the board.”
AFI, Visaic and the CFL
American Football International is collaborating with Visaic and the Canadian Football League to present 2021 CFL games live. This is more than a livestream. This is a stream of the top flight TSN network television broadcast.
