Photo courtesy: CFL
Saturday’s game between the Edmonton Elks and Montreal Alouettes was billed as a matchup of CFL heavyweights, but the home team dominated at Percival Molson Stadium in a 48-30 win.
Cody Fajardo, who threw for 231 yards, two touchdowns, and one interception in a losing effort, believes the victory was Montreal’s way of proving they’re the best team in the league at the midway point of the season.
“I think they sent a message to the league. We’re one of the top teams in this league, and they beat us in all three phases,” Fajardo told the media postgame.
“We knew that it was going to be a dogfight, but we also knew they were pissed off after we took them down to the wire at our place (in Week 3). That’s a good football team — all three phases, they they beat us up pretty good, and we’ve gotta be better.”
Alouettes quarterback Davis Alexander outplayed his former teammate by completing 22-of-28 passes for 352 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception. He also scored a touchdown along the ground.
The 27-year-old, who is a front-runner for Most Outstanding Player alongside teammate Tyson Philpot, also believes that the win sent a message nation-wide.
“I would say it’s probably a statement game for the rest of the league,” said Alexander. “We think our offence is the best and our defence is the best, so it’s expected.”
Montreal was forced to make four changes to their starting lineup on defence, as Mustafa Johnson, Geoffrey Cantin-Arku, Wesley Sutton, and Najee Murray were all placed on the one-game injured list. The unit fared well despite the changes, forcing three takeaways and allowing only 6.7 yards per play.
“With all the injuries they had on defence, they played a hell of a game. I can only speak to that, just from what I saw, they did a great job. (Defensive coordinator Noel) Thorpe did a great job of changing up their looks,” said Fajardo.
“All the data that they showed, they seemed to flip it on its head and go completely different than what they were doing the first eight games, so they had a tremendous game plan, and it made it difficult on us.”
Trailing by over 20 points late in the fourth quarter, Elks head coach Mark Kilam pulled Fajardo to protect him from injury. The veteran quarterback didn’t like the decision, but it appears he understood why it was made.
“It sucks. You know me, I’m a competitor. I want to fight. I want to go out and I want to finish with the ball in my hand in all four quarters,” said Fajardo. “I’m never happy with it, but I understand they’re trying to protect certain guys.”
Montreal and Edmonton were once both 6-1, though the Alouettes have since improved to 8-1 while the Elks have dropped to 6-3 with losses to Saskatchewan and Montreal.
“Full credit to Montreal, they beat us,” said Kilam. “They’re really good at what they do, they’ve got full buy-in from their guys.”
The Alouettes are now entering their second of three bye weeks riding high, while the Elks will look to end a two-game losing skid against the Toronto Argonauts (4-4) on Saturday afternoon.
