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EDMONTON — Tre Ford is coming back under centre for the Edmonton Elks.
Elks interim head coach Jarious Jackson will hand the offensive keys back to Ford when the team returns from its bye week, ahead of their game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Sept. 21. Jackson told reporters in Edmonton the news on Saturday night, after the team had downed the Calgary Stampeders 37-16 in their Labour Day rematch game at Commonwealth Stadium.
“It’ll be Tre. When we get back it’ll be Tre,” Jackson said. “The good part is we have two guys that can get it done. More than that, but these two guys have been playing.”
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Ford saw the field toward the end of the Elks’ win on Saturday, after McLeod Bethel-Thompson appeared to suffer an abdominal injury in the fourth quarter of play. Ford, who had taken over starting duties from Bethel-Thompson, had been dealing with a rib injury in recent weeks and had dressed as the backup for the team’s past two games. He had an incomplete pass and rushed for four yards in relief of Bethel-Thompson.
“I think he’ll be OK,” Jackson said of Bethel-Thompson, who threw for a career-high 486 yards last week in Calgary. “We wanted to be cautious about it. Tre was good enough to play (on Saturday) as well, but this allowed him to get this week and the bye week and the preparation for Winnipeg in order to be healthy.”
The Elks are on a two-game winning streak and have won five of their last six games, as the team is doing everything it can to put its 0-7 start to the season behind it. Saturday’s win moved the Elks into fourth place in the West Division, leapfrogging Calgary in the process. The Elks are now just a point behind the third-place Saskatchewan Roughriders in the West Division standings and are four points first-place Winnipeg and the second-place BC Lions.
Bethel-Thompson was 15-25 for 219 passing yards on Saturday night, with a pair of touchdowns along with one interception.
Ford has made 35-46 passes this season for 473 yards and five touchdowns to one interception, while rushing 12 times for 83 yards.