Ascendant Blue Bombers welcome ground-bound Elks

If nothing else, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers seem to have continued their 180 to start this season.

After starting out 0-4 and 2-6 last year before making a late surge that resulted in a spot in the Grey Cup final, Winnipeg has won its first two games against West rival B.C. in routine fashion.

The schedule-maker presents the Blue Bombers with a gilt-edged chance to make it 3-0 Thursday night when they welcome the 0-2 Edmonton Elks to town.

About the only factor favoring Edmonton is that it had a full week to prepare. The Blue Bombers are on a short week as their 27-14 win at B.C. came on Saturday, which meant they took Sunday and Monday off before practicing on Tuesday.

"It's a quick one," said Winnipeg receiver Dalton Schoen. "Obviously, it's tough in this league when you're playing on five days' rest. A lot of mental reps ... you've just got to rely on what you got."

What the Bombers won't have is running back Brady Oliviera, who'll miss a second straight game with an ankle injury. But rookie Matthew Peterson has filled in with little dropoff.

Meanwhile, the Elks are off to another poor start after suffering a 38-28 home loss on June 18 against Montreal. Edmonton trailed 38-14 before making the final margin more respectable with two garbage-time touchdowns.

The Elks opened with nine straight losses in 2023 and went 0-7 before finding the win column last year.

"We have fight on our football team," said first-year coach Mark Kilam. "We just got in a hole early; too many explosions on defense. That's on the coaching staff. We've got to get that cleaned up. We're still looking for that complete team effort."

Edmonton has many problems but among the biggest are on defense, where it allows a league-worst 34.5 points per game, and along the offensive line, which has allowed mobile quarterback Tre Ford to be sacked seven times.

--Field Level Media