A pair of teams fighting for their playoff lives face off when the Edmonton Elks visit the Toronto Argonauts to open a Saturday doubleheader.
Edmonton got back to their winning ways with a 31-19 victory over the Calgary Stampeders last week.
Toronto had a Week 14 bye following a 35-33 Labour Day Monday win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
CFL.ca has three keys for each team ahead of their Saturday afternoon meeting. Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m. ET and can be watched on TSN and CTV in Canada and on CFL+ in the U.S. and internationally.
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» Game Notes: Elks at Argonauts
Watch live. Edmonton Elks @ Toronto Argonauts, Sept. 13, 21:00 CET (9 pm, 3 pm ET)
EDMONTON ELKS
1. CRANK UP THE PRESSURE
Head coach Mark Kilam will be looking for more of the same from his defensive front this week after they recorded four sacks against Calgary. With the Argonauts’ preference to throw the ball, getting to quarterback Nick Arbuckle will be on the minds of former Argos Brandon Barlow and Jared Brinkman, and fellow defensive lineman Noah Taylor.
2. PASS DEFENCE
Defending the pass starts up front but ends in the secondary. Edmonton ranked last in pass knockdowns coming into the week, with 27, and total yards through the air with 3,553, but have been much better of late. The defensive backs corps led by Kordell Jackson, Royce Metchie and Kobe Williams seem to be rounding into form at the right time.
3. JUSTIN RANKIN
It’s gotten to a point where it’s hard to talk about the success of the Elks without mentioning running back Justin Rankin, especially when considering he’s coming off an eye-popping 204 rushing yards and two-touchdown performance. He’s sure to be a handful for an Argos’ front allowing a league-worst 108.3 yards on the ground per game.
TORONTO ARGONAUTS
1. NICK ARBUCKLE’S HUDDLE
Chatter about the return of Chad Kelly is picking up steam in some circles, but Toronto’s pocket still belongs to Nick Arbuckle for the time being, and rightfully so. He led the league after 14 weeks with 3,828 passing yards and was second with 23 touchdowns. When he faced the Elks the first time this season, in a 28-20 loss back in Week 11, he picked apart their secondary for 382 yards.
2. COVERAGE NEEDS TO BE TIGHT
Justin Rankin is just one offensive threat the Argos’ defence needs to be concerned about. Another is the Elks’ quarterback Cody Fajardo, who sat atop the completion percentage leaderboard ahead of this week at 75.5. Linebacker Wynton McManis got him for an interception in their first meeting and it’ll take a defence-by-committee approach to keep points off the board.
3. WHO TAKES THE HANDOFFS?
Spencer Brown has been a nice surprise in Toronto’s run game but was dealing with a hip issue and both him and Deonta McMahon were limited in practice this week. The Argos do have Brown listed as their starter.
NEED TO KNOW
- Edmonton is 4-2 against East Division opponents this season.
- This is the final regular season meeting between the Argos and Elks.