EDMONTON — The Edmonton Elks host the Ottawa Redblacks on Thursday night in a matchup of two teams coming off losses and looking for an improved running attack.
The 3-1 Elks are looking to rebound from a 36-24 to the B.C. Lions on Saturday, when their running attack was almost non-existent. Justin Rankin, the leading rusher in the CFL with 406 yards and a 7.7 average, was held to just 19 yards on seven carries.
The 0-4 Redblacks have struggled to establish a running game through their first four games and Greg Bell managed just 45 yards on nine carries in their 27-22 loss to the Saskatchewan Roughriders last week.
“For as great a player as he is, we know we’re not going to get that ultra production every time,” Elks quarterback Cody Farjardo said this week of Rankin. “Teams are going to key on him so we have to pick him up by doing it in the pass game. Finding ways to get him touches any way we can is what’s going to help this offence.”
Rankin has a goal of 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving this season and acknowledges teams are going to make that difficult with their game planning.
“Obviously they’re going to stack the box,” he said. “But we have a lot more playmakers than just me. We just have to find a better balance.”
Redblacks head coach Ryan Dinwiddie says his team has to find a way to limit Rankin’s running, just as the Lions did so successfully.
While the Redblacks have studied films from the Edmonton-B.C. game, the Elks have planned ways to counter what Ottawa may learn.
“I’m not going to tell you but we do (make adjustments)” said Elks head coach Mark Kilam. “There are 11 other guys on the field, we have other guys who have to step up and make plays and that’s what we will do.”
Dinwiddie also acknowledged his team has to get its run game going and not put so much pressure on quarterback Jake Maier to bail out the offence.
Ottawa has a CFL-worst 261 rushing yards compared to Edmonton’s 468, second only to Calgary Stampeders 476 yards. Bell, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2025, has 114 yards and is averaging 3.9-yard per carry this season.
While the Lions stopping Edmonton’s running game was a key to their win, the Elks were pointing at themselves, for their mistakes (four turnovers) and lack of effective tackling.
“I would say our tackling” linebacker Joel Dublanko replied when asked what the most disappointing aspect of the loss was. “We pride ourselves on, when we go in to make a tackle, it’s down right there.
“There were a lot of leaky yards there. We had some misses up front, too, that led to some explosives. That was really disappointing.”
He said the Elks pride themselves on their work ethic that’s one of the main reasons the team is off t its best start in six years.
“We have to make sure that same sense of urgency we had when we were 0-0 and we hadn’t won a game in the month of June for however long, that level of sense of urgency,” Dublanko said. “We got back to that this week and we’re feeling good about the team preparation and the attention to detail we are having.”
Kilam said after the team’s walkthrough Wednesday that the players knew what went wrong last week and came into practice “ready to make amends this week.
“Great focus in our walk-thru, our meetings, in practice. It’s important that you understand you have to prepare the right way every week, you have to show up every week and you have to play to your standard every week.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 8, 2026.
John Korobanik, The Canadian Press
