EDMONTON — Elks lineman Kony Ealy says his frustration over Edmonton’s 0-7 start to the 2023 CFL campaign reminds him of how he felt when he was a member of the New York Jets back in 2017.
That Jets team went 5-11 after starting the NFL season with three wins out of its first five.
"I faced a lot of adversity when I was with the Jets," Ealy said. "We just didn’t have all the pieces."
But with the Jets, Ealy knew there was no light at the end of the tunnel. He knew he was on a bad football team. That’s not how he feels about the Elks, even though the team hasn’t won this season, and hasn’t won a home game since 2019.
"It’s different, here," he said. "We have all the pieces. We’ve just got to come together and finish the fourth quarter. We’ve got to finish the second halves of games.
"The talent is here. We’ve got the coaches here. We've just got to find a way to stay focused through all four quarters."
The Elks will have the chance to get things moving in a positive direction when they host the B.C. Lions on Saturday. Even with starting quarterback Vernon Adams Jr. ruled out because of injury, the 5-1 Lions will come in as the heavy favourites.
The teams met in Week 2 at BC Place, and it wasn’t close. The Lions won 22-0, and Elks quarterback Taylor Cornelius was held to just 103 passing yards. It was the first time Edmonton had been shut out since the 1976 season.
But the Lions will have a different quarterback under centre for Saturday’s rematch in Edmonton. Dane Evans subbed in after Adams got hurt and completed 16-of-25 pass attempts for 219 yards in last Saturday’s 19-9 win over Saskatchewan. He will get the nod this weekend at Commonwealth Stadium.
"I hope that I will execute a little better," Evans said. "After watching the film, I did OK, but there were certain things that I missed, some things where I am knocking some rust off. I haven’t played in a little bit, so this will be a good week, getting back to work."
Ealy said the Elks defensive philosophy won’t change, even though the Lions will have their No. 2 quarterback under centre.
"Adams is more of an athlete, but Evans can move around, too," Ealy said. "I have respect for both of those guys, they are great at what they do. But the task for the defensive line is still the same. We’ve still got to get there. We've got to stop the run. We’ve got to get to the ball, period."
Ealy’s partner on the line, A.C. Leonard, had been limited earlier in the week with a hamstring issue, but was a full participant in practice Thursday and should be good to go for the Lions game. Leonard has four sacks in seven games.
Evans said that, despite the Elks’ winless record, he’ll be going against a strong defence. The Elks have given up more than 30 points in only two of their seven games this season. But when the offence averages just 15 points a game, it puts a lot of pressure on Ealy and the rest of the defence.
"We have a good challenge. It’s not like we're playing a team that’s not any good," said Evans. "Edmonton is good, and their defence is probably their strength, too."
Ealy says "the league knows" that the Elks pose a problem on defence.
"They see that we’re holding teams to two scores a game, with the exception of one or two games," he said. "It's a compliment to our coaches, it's a compliment to the guys that we’ve got. We’ve just got to find a way to close out games."
Elks general manager and coach Chris Jones feels that his team is close to a breakthrough — and that, when it comes, more success will follow.
All the Elks need is that first break.
"You would certainly hope so," Jones said. "We've got a lot of young kids, and you saw today’s practice, you saw how hard they worked out here. It’s not for lack of work. It’s lack of execution in the critical moments. We’ve got to just continue to trust the process of what we do, and what we’ve done in the past."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 28, 2023.
Steven Sandor, The Canadian Press
