EDMONTON — The Ottawa REDBLACKS will travel to Edmonton for their second of two meetings with the Edmonton Elks. However, the REDBLACKS offence will see a bit of an adjustment under center ahead of Saturday’s matchup.
Ottawa quarterback Nick Arbuckle will be making his debut as the team’s starting quarterback for Week 12, according to the team’s depth chart. Arbuckle entered the Week 11 matchup with the Elks in the fourth quarter and completed seven of his 13 passing attempts for 85 yards.
Arbuckle started the 2022 season with Edmonton and played in five games for the Elks before being traded to the REDBLACKS in July.
In his three games since joining the REDBLACKS, Arbuckle has completed 68 per cent of his 37 passing attempts, throwing for 318 yards for an average of 12.72 yards per completion.
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In the Week 11 meeting between the two teams, the Elks dominated the second half of play as they shutout the REDBLACKS and posted 21 points of their own to secure a 30-12 victory in the nation’s capital.
Edmonton quarterback Taylor Cornelius threw for two touchdowns and 203 yards in the win, while running back Ante Milanovic-Litre rushed for a team-high 53-yards on 13 carries and scored a touchdown to help lift his team over Ottawa.
Receiver Derel Walker caught a touchdown pass from Cornelius late in the game, giving Walker his first touchdown reception since Week 15 of the 2019 season, when he was a member of the Toronto Argonauts.
In his five games since taking over as the Elks starting quarterback Cornelius has completed 88 of his 149 passing attempts throwing for 1,100 yards and four touchdowns. The second-year quarterback has helped lead the Green and Gold to two of their three wins on the season.
Edmonton head coach Chris Jones feels his offence is progressing, but wants to see his team play a complete game after scoring the majority of their 30 points in the second half a week ago.
“We had a really good second half,” Jones told GoElks.com. “But it doesn’t take more than a little bit of a memory to remember the first half was about as bad as you can see in all three phases. Hopefully we can mimic some of the things we did in the second half and stay on the field offensively, play solid defence, tackle, not take penalties and play solid enough special teams to win the game.”
The Elks will be looking for a repeat performance from their defence entering Week 12. In Ottawa they held the REDBLACKS offence to under 300 total yards of offence, while also limiting them to 12 points in the contest.
Defensive linemen Jake Ceresna and Thomas Costigan both broke their way through the offensive line for a sack. The pair of defensive linemen have now combined for seven of their teams 16 sacks.
In a team media session Costigan said he knows Ottawa will come out with something to prove after losing last week. It’s a challenge he and his teammates are looking forward to.
“Their backs against the wall,” Costigan told GoElks.com. “They’re going to come out with everything they have. For us, we just have to try and control the crazy stuff they try to throw at us and come out with the same result. We’re competing with Saskatchewan for that fourth spot going to the East. Hopefully we can carry this over into a series of wins.”
The Elks allow a league high 33.6 points per game but have been quite good at limiting yards through the air, holding the opposition to an average of 258.5 passing yards per game, second behind only the BC Lions.
The aggressive-natured Elks secondary will look to cloudy the field vision of Arbuckle and bait him into throwing forced-passes that could resulted in turnovers.
However, the playmaking ability of receivers Jaelon Acklin, Darvin Adams and Nate Behar should help to relieve some of the pressure Arbuckle may face on Saturday night.
The trio of Ottawa receivers have combined for 1,653 yards and five touchdowns on 113 receptions, Acklin leads the group of REDBLACKS with 765 receiving yards at the midway point of the season.
As good as the Elks have been against the pass, they’ve struggled with the oppositions run game, allowing a league worst 121.4 yards per game. Despite not being the starting quarterback, Caleb Evans could still play a significant role in the Ottawa ground attack.
In Week 11 he rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown on nine carries. Evans leads all REDBLACKS with six rushing touchdowns and his 245 rush yards are the second most among Ottawa ball carries.
On special teams, Ottawa made a major edition this week in DeVonte Dedmon. After a stint with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins, the former Most Outstanding Special Teams Player returns to the nation’s capital, and should provide an immediate boost in the return game for Ottawa.
The REDBLACKS defence will need to find a way to make the life of Cornelius and his talented group of receivers tough, something that’s largely eluded them. They’ve surrendered 2464 passing yards and have just five interceptions on the season.
Their 21 sacks ranks fifth, led by Lorenzo Mauldin’s eight. If they can limit Cornelius’ time in the pocket it should give defensive backs Patrick Levels, Hakeem Bailey and company the opportunity to capitalize on mistakes.
The Elks are in search of their fourth win of the season when they welcome the REDBLACKS to Edmonton. Although Ottawa has just one win, a victory on Saturday would keep them in the thick of the East Division playoff race.
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