Toronto beat Edmonton 24-19 at BMO Field on Saturday. Quarterback Cody Fajardo and head coach Mark Kilam both pointed to turnovers in the red zone and to penalties. The result ended Edmonton's four-game winning streak.
"We gifted them 7 points on a fumble, which is unfortunate," Fajardo said. "Credit to them, they had a really good scheme. Their offense came out, made some big plays, put us in a hole. Their defense was flying around, turned the ball over. We turned the ball over twice in the red zone. That's a playoff team right there."
Red Zone Turnovers
Fajardo said Edmonton moved the ball and came away with no points on two long drives.
"We had some really good drives. They had some turnovers in the end zone, came away with no points on a couple of long drives. You're not going to win football games by turning the ball over in the red zone and not scoring in the red zone," Fajardo said.
Kilam gave the same account. "Turnovers hurt us, turnovers in the red zone especially. Unforced error gives them a touchdown," he said.
The Third-Quarter Interception
Fajardo said one of the interceptions followed a formation error.
"We lined up wrong. I should have just handed the ball off. We messed up the formation and we had two guys running in the same spot. It shouldn't have been like that. They had a guy fall off, just unfortunate. That just was our night all night. Things just didn't go our way, shot ourselves in the foot," Fajardo said.
Penalties
Fajardo said penalties have hurt the offense in back-to-back games.
"That's two games in a row now that penalties have really just killed us offensively. I think we lead the league in offensive penalties. So you're not going to win too many games by doing that and turning the ball over. We just got to be better. We got to play cleaner football," Fajardo said.
Kilam pointed to ownership among Edmonton's veteran players. "We got to continue to reinforce playing and executing with clean technique, understanding situational football. There's a lot of ownership that has to happen when it comes to penalties, especially when it's your veteran players," he said.
Kilam was also asked about rough play near the end of the second quarter. Elks defensive back Chelen Garnes was ejected for rough play after an altercation with Argonauts receiver Kevin Mital, who was flagged for unnecessary roughness. "We don't want to take any penalties after the whistle, whatever those are. That's what we got to focus on," Kilam said.
Toronto's Pass Rush And Chad Kelly
Fajardo said Toronto's front generated pressure. "They've just got good players. Got a lot of pressure tonight. They lead the league in sacks. ... You got to throw things before you see things. And then their DBs are advantageous when the ball's in the air," he said.
Kilam was asked about facing Toronto quarterback Chad Kelly, who threw two touchdown passes and two interceptions. "There's a reason he leads the league in yards and touchdowns and all those things. He's a skilled, skilled passer," Kilam said. Toronto rushed six times for minus-one yard. Kilam said stopping the run is always a goal. "You always want to stop the run in every game, but we got hit with a bunch of explosions defensively. So that's what it was," he said.
Fajardo On Mack And Cephus
Austin Mack caught seven passes for 116 yards. "He's a veteran receiver that I got a lot of trust in. He's got 2,000-yard seasons in this league, both with me. There's a reason why he's here. I got a lot of confidence in him and he's a good football player for us," Fajardo said.
Joshua Cephus caught four passes for 60 yards. "He's not a rookie anymore. He's been making some really good plays, making big plays, big body, catching the ball over the middle. Just our receivers are coming along. We got good football players. We just didn't play our best tonight," Fajardo said.
After The Game
"We have the right guys in the locker room. We're a damn good football team. We know we're a Grey Cup winning team when we play our three-phase football. Tonight we just didn't do it," Fajardo said.
Kilam pointed to explosive plays allowed in the first half. "We got hit with too many explosions in the first half defensively. We pulled it together in the second half, but those explosions hurt us," he said.
Watch the Full Videos
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | QB Cody Fajardo | 09.19.26
Edmonton Elks: POST GAME | HC Mark Kilam | 09.19.26