The Edmonton Elks enter week 19 at home to conclude their 2022 CFL season home games. The unfortunate news for the Edmonton Elks, among many this season, is the fact that they will play against the Toronto Argonauts. 

Both squads had entered 2022 with higher hopes than the previous season in 2021. For the Toronto Argonauts, it was mainly to not repeat their East Final performance vs the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in which the Argos were nowhere to be found in the 2nd half. The final verdict was the Hamilton Tiger-Cats becoming victorious and going to the big dance at the 2021 Grey Cup. For the Edmonton Elks in 2022, the fans of the green and gold were hoping that they would have an improvement from their 2021 season. They would complete the season with a 3-11 record. The logical predictions for Elks fans this season were that the team would compete this year, and maybe challenge for a playoff spot. Going into week 19 vs the Toronto Argonauts, the realist point of view during the pre-season would be that the Edmonton Elks would be on the high end, with approximately 7-8 wins. 

TOUGH TASK AHEAD

With the Toronto Argonauts looking to officially clinch the East Division in 2022, it will be all systems go vs the Edmonton Elks. The Toronto Argonauts will want to continue there streak. Since week 12, with week 15 being a bye week; the Argonauts have had a dominant winning streak in which they have gone 5-1. The only loss was at the hands of the Calgary Stampeders in week 17. In that game, the Toronto Argonauts were never in the match they would be on the defeated end with a 29-2 Calgary victory.  

The complete opposite has occurred for the Edmonton Elks. The Elks enter week 19 with a 4-12 record. And the unfortunate repeat of last season had progressed into the 2022 season. Aside from the record, the bigger burden of breaking the longest home losing streak is without a doubt, a very painful feeling to accept amongst Edmonton fans. The fact that there were about 2-3 games this year that were winnable at home, the bottom line is that they just could not get it done. And now, the current home losing streak sits at 15 games with the streak beginning on October 26th, 2019. 

EDMONTON ELKS DEPTH CHART

TORONTO ARGONAUTS DEPTH CHART

The Edmonton defence will be tested on numerous occasions during the duration of the game. The Edmonton Elks have been overmatched throughout the 2022 season in attempting to stop the run. Having said that, DE Christian Rector, DT Kony Ealy, DT Jake Ceresna, DE Matthew Thomas, WLB Adam Konar, MLB Deon Lacey, and SLB Enock Makonzo, will have to be on the ball in trying to erase this task in week 19.

Ever since Andrew Harris went down for the Boatmen and encountered a season-ending injury, AJ Ouellette has looked good in filling that void. He might not be as good as Andrew Harris, but he has shown to be an impact player in gaining hard-earned yards in key moments of a game to extend drives. He runs with a lot of power which shows he can be an effective north-south runner. Along with his hard runs, AJ Ouellette has done the same with the passing game in gaining key yards for the double blue. 

Aside from the front 7 of the Edmonton defence, the secondary will have multiple challenges as well. Trying to keep both SB Markeith Ambles and WR Kurleigh Gittens Jr, in check will be a difficult as they have been consistent all season.  

On the offence, the offensive line of LT Martez Ivey, LG David Foucault, C Mark Korte, RG Tomas Jack-Kurdyla, and RT Andrew Garnett, will have to do all they can to keep the pressure off of Taylor Cornelius. Moreover, Taylor Cornelius will have a difficult duty in competing against one of the stingiest defence in the league. Taylor Cornelius will have to be at his best and make the best decisions possible vs the Argonaut’s defence which is one of the best in sacks and interceptions. 

With that said, maybe luck will be on Edmonton’s side. It is ironic that they have had a great record vs Toronto at home going 32-16-1 along with a current 6-game winning streak vs Toronto. Or, it could be a curse.

How ironic eh?

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