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Whether the players wanted it or not, the Edmonton Elks have some new energy around them this week.
After Monday’s news that general manager and head coach Chris Jones had been relieved of his duties, the team began moving forward with familiar faces filling in Jones’ suddenly open roles.
With Geroy Simon in as interim GM and Jarious Jackson moving up to head coaching duties, both stressed that there wouldn’t be major personnel change for the team as it heads into its Friday night date with the Ottawa REDBLACKS. Simon served as Jones’ assistant GM the last three seasons and Jackson moved up a year ago from quarterbacks coach to assume offensive coordinator duties. That should make for less uncertainty on the day-to-day workings of the team and as Simon and Jackson — who were teammates on the 2011 BC Lions team that started 0-5 and went on to win the Grey Cup that year — can attest, there is a lot of football in front of their team as it works to turn things around.
Here are a few key issues that the Elks face as they look for that first win and try to salvage their season.
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Is it Tre Day? Not quite
Simon and Jackson were non-committal on if quarterback Tre Ford may see the field in the coming weeks. Both pointed out that McLeod Bethel-Thompson has been very solid for them through these five games. The 36-year-old is fourth in passing yards, with 1,497 and has nine touchdowns to five interceptions. His 71.7 per cent completion rate is fourth amongst starting QBs, as is his 100.1 efficiency rating.
“I’m sticking with McLeod,” Jackson definitively told Global Edmonton’s Morley Scott on Monday. “There is room to try to get Dakota (Prukop) some plays to try to get potentially Tre some plays as well. That’s one of the things that I’ll sit and talk to those guys about when I get the opportunity. We’ll do whatever we have to do to try to get this team to win. By all means McLeod is our starter.
“When you put up over 275 or more yards a game…we just have to clean up some other things,” Jackson continued. “Offensively we need to keep putting up points, stay on the field longer and start winning time of possession. We need to keep our defence off the field as long as we can and put more points on the board.”
“Right now McLeod is playing pretty good football. It’s hard to take him off the field,” Simon told Scott.
“He’s a great leader and he’s having success but at the same time we’re going to do everything in our power to win football games.”
Opportunity for Simon, Jackson
Geroy Simon moves into the GM role in Edmonton for the first time in his career (The Canadian Press)
Teammates as players in BC, Simon and Jackson have a long history. They’re also moving into these coveted roles together for the first time in their post-playing careers.
“I’ve known Jarious for over 20 years now. He was my roommate in BC, all the years we played together,” Simon told reporters shortly after Jones’ dismissal was announced.
“I have the utmost confidence in what he can bring to this club as a head coach and I’m very confident in what he does not only as a play caller but as a leader.”
These opportunities rarely come through ideal circumstances. They could be turning points in the careers for both of them, though, if they can get the Elks to turn the corner that they’ve seemed stuck behind the last couple of seasons.
“I’ve worked with Geroy and Jarious in the past and I have full confidence in them,” Elks president and CEO Rick Lelacheur said on Monday. “We all know that we have a better team than we had last year but at the end of the day we’re still 0-5. We have not given up on this year at all.”
Can they turn this around?
Bethel-Thompson is fourth in the league in passing yards and has the confidence of both Simon and Jackson (Jimmy Jeong/CFL.ca)
From Lelacheur to Simon and Jackson, all three agreed that the roster they have isn’t far from winning games, even if the Ws have proven elusive thus far. The Elks have lost their last three games via walk-off field goals, meaning that all three were winnable right up until the final seconds that they weren’t.
The 2011 Lions will come up every time a team has a rough start to the season and while none have enjoyed the run that those Lions did, belief and buy-in from this Elks’ roster is paramount in them making something of this season. Despite their winless record, they’re two games out of a playoff spot with two thirds of the season still in front of them.
“For me it’s all about being positive and having hope,” Jackson said.
“When you get your opportunities, you’ve got to take advantage of them. For me as a player I had that mentality and that’s my mentality going into this. For me, the players believe, the locker room is still together. I just want them to have hope and push forward and know that they can get wins going down the stretch here. We’ve only had a third of the season so far. There’s still a lot of football to play.”
“Sitting here after Rick (Lelacheur) made the decision I looked at the roster and I looked at the staff. There isn’t a lot that needs to be changed,” Simon said. “There will be a few tweaks but for right now we’re going to move forward and try to get our first win.
“I was a part of a crazy turnaround in the past,” he said, looking back to 2011. “I feel confident in our roster, I feel confident in Jarious and the staff that we have. I’m looking forward to getting the opportunity to get out and play another game. We’re going to do everything in power to get our first win and get things going in the right direction.”