Ottawa REDBLACKS are back on the road as they head to Commonwealth Stadium for the front half of a back to back with the Edmonton Elks on Sunday night to finish off Week 6.
The REDBLACKS (2-2) will look to rebound and get their first road win of the 2024 season after another weak showing in week 5 vs the previous winless Winnipeg Blue Bombers that only produced a single touchdown in a 25-16 loss.
On the other side, the Edmonton Elks will look for their first win of the 2024 season. On offence, they have produced an average of 353.5 yards and 24.5 points per game but have struggled running the ball with a league worse total yards 244 & average 61 yards per game. Defence has been the biggest issue for their record. They are 2nd last in rush defence with 434 yards, and are 3rd last in opponent QB Completion percentage at 71.9%.
Quick Passes
Ottawa REDBLACKS look for their first Road win since week 7 of the 2023 season. They beat the Calgary Stampeders 43-41 in OT on July 23 2023.
Edmonton Elks have a 10-8 lead All-Time Head to Head excluding playoffs.
American receiver Kalil Pimpleton (Central Michigan) will make his CFL debut replacing injured Bralon Addison.
After leaving Week 5 game vs Winnipeg and being in Concussion Protocol, Dru Brown will start vs Edmonton Elks.
American Linebacker Frankie Griffin who is tied for 2nd on the team with 23 tackles will not play. He is replaced by American Davion Taylor (Colorado) who will make his first CFL start. Taylor has previous NFL experience, appearing in 21 Games, starting 7 of them putting up 31 Solo tackles and 20 assisted tackles for the Philadelphia Eagles from 2020-2021. After suffering a knee injury in November 2021, he would spend the 2022 season on the Eagles Practice Squad . He spent parts of the 2023 season on the Chicago Bears and Arizona Cardinals Practice Squad.
3 Keys to Victory
Get the running game going early
I am starting to sound like a broken record with this but the run game needs to be utilized more for the REDBLACKS to have success.
Ryquell Armstead is a game changer and we have seen plenty samples of that early in the year. Heading into Week 6, Armstead is 2nd in the league for Rushing yards with 275, 1st in the league for average Rush per carry and per game among running backs with more than 30 carries with 5.6 yards per carry and 68.8 yards per game.
It doesn’t have to be only Armstead doing all the work either, Dedmon and Pimpleton have the speed to burn defenses if utilized in the run game. With the Edmonton Elks being one of the worse run defenses, running the ball will need to be the vocal part of their offence.
Ball Security
REDBLACKS have struggled offensively and a large part of that has been offensive turnovers that kill any momentum generated.
Over their last 3 games, Ottawa has averaged 3 turnovers and unless you’re matching that defensively, it will be hard to win games. Ottawa will need to be make sure that the ball is stuck to them cause if they give McLeod Bethal-Thompson and the Elks offence extra possessions, It will bite them.
Dominique Rhymes needs to get involved
This one is simple. Dominique Rhymes need to be be more involved in the offence.
Rhymes enters Sunday matchup with only 121 yards on 10 receptions and being targeted 22 times. which is behind Justin Hardy (22 catches & 371 yards on 32 targets) and Jealon Acklin (19 catches and 191yards on 29 targets).
Condell needs to find a way to get Rhymes in a position with favourable match ups.
Betting Lines – Presented by Bet99
My Parlay
- Over 48.5 Total Points (-135)
- Ottawa REDBLACKS +3.5 (-110)
- Ottawa REDBLACKS Over 22.5 Total Points (-115)
3 Leg Parlay +230 – $5 Buy in = $16.50 Potential Payout