AILING ELKS HOPE O-LINE SITUATION STABILIZES
Key unit has been plagued by injuries and retirements
Change has been about the only constant on the Edmonton Elks offensive line.
And considering it's a unit that anchors both pass protection and run blocking, it's safe to assume as an O-line goes, so goes a team, which might account for the predicament the Elks find themselves in with a tumultuous 2-6 start.
While the blame can be spread around, it's not hard to focus on a host of personnel issues and injury challenges on the unit that stem all the way back to the leadup to training camp.
By the time the team's very first on-field session of 2021 kicked off at Commonwealth Stadium, the Elks had already found themselves down not one, not two or even three, but four offensive tackles, each with significant starting experience in the Canadian Football League.
Derek Dennis backed out. Randy Richards retired.
The only other time I've seen this much variation was in the NFL, when they played during COVID last year.
Then 2019 starting left and right tackles Tommie Draheim and Colin Kelly were lost within a day of each other, with Draheim also hanging up his cleats, while Kelly suffered a season-ending pectoral injury while doing pushups in his hotel room during quarantine.
Pile on the expected amount of injuries every team gets over the first half of the season, and multiply it by the challenges the Elks have had with their walking wounded, and a picture begins to be drawn illustrating part of the problem the team has had with establishing themselves in the standings.
“The only other time I've seen this much variation was in the NFL, when they played during COVID last year,” said Elks right tackle Justin Renfrow, a 6-foot-4, 315-pound Miami product whose professional career began with the Arizona Cardinals in 2014. “That was a big thing, a lot of teams kept talking about different O-lines and then, obviously, the Broncos had that whole quarterback debacle.
“So, I think that's the only time I've ever seen it. At college in Miami, I was on the defensive side of the ball. Obviously, we had a whole line of first-rounders and a lot of those guys became first-rounders because they had to get thrown in as young guys getting hurt in the heat in Miami.”
So, the benefit of all the musical chairs being played is a lot of Elks O -linemen are getting experience.
But it does nothing for either consistency or congruency on an Elks offence that ranks third in net offence, but eighth in points scored.
“Coming out in this lineup, it will be the fifth game we've played together,” said Renfrow, who has also played left tackle this year. “So, we're kind of getting some continuity back, maybe? We'll see.”
It would be a sight for sore eyes for head coach Jaime Elizondo, if he starts seeing things begin to snap into place along the line.
Even earlier this week, there were questions whether Renfrow or rookie left guard Tomas Jack-kurdyla — playing in place of Jacob Ruby, who was released by the team and blacklisted by the league after lying about his vaccination status — would be healthy enough to play Friday.
“I was thinking I might play right guard,” Elizondo joked before adding he has never seen a year like this with O-line personnel changes. “To say that we had tackles that we had listed on the roster coming into camp and say that we lost seven or eight of them, and then the two that we brought in, and then another two? I've never seen anything like it.”
Compounding problems for a third time this year is the fact the Elks are facing a first-place Winnipeg Blue Bombers squad on Friday (7 p.m., TSN, 630 CHED) that is equally dominant on both sides of the line of scrimmage.
“There's no doubt,” Elizondo said. “And in good championship
teams, it always starts up front. Always starts up front, on both sides.”
IN AND OUT:
After playing his first three games in green and gold since joining the Elks in free agency ahead of the 2019 season, LT Sirvincent Rogers (back) is back on the six-game injured list. That sees Kyle Saxelid move over from RT and Justin Renfrow make his first start since playing in the Labour Day Rematch … LS Chad Rempel (knee) is being replaced by 12-year veteran Martin Bedard, 37, who is playing in his first game in something other than a Montreal Alouettes jersey … QB Trevor Harris goes from last week's starter to sitting this one out in reserve.