CFL Week 3 Recap: Home is Not Where the Wins Are

Alberta's capital city of Edmonton has to be cursed when it comes to sports. Look at the Oilers. They have, arguably, the best player in the league, yet they are nowhere close to a Stanley Cup. You would think that the Elks would ease their pain, right? After all, they are a hallowed franchise. They are second all-time in Grey Cups behind the Toronto Argonauts, with Edmonton's last win coming in 2015. Sadly, the Elks have been saddled with one little problem: they can't win at home!

October 12, 2019. On that day, the then-named Eskimos defeated the BC Lions, 19-6, at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton. That is the last time that the franchise won a home game. The renamed Elks would go two full seasons without winning at home, and their home opener this season saw them fall to the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Their second of nine home games this season was a doozy for Edmonton: they had to face the defending Grey Cup Champions, the Toronto Argonauts. The Elks actually had a lead early in the game, in fact, they were up 14-11 in the latter half of the second. The positives ended there. The Boatmen poured it on and on and on for the rest of the game, resulting in a 43-31 victory in a game that was only close because Edmonton scored a pair of meaningless touchdowns.

The Elks' home losing streak has now reached 19 games, and even though the season's barely underway, it looks like it could be a long one for Edmonton.

Are the BC Lions legit? If the Week 3 opener is any indication, they definitely are. Week 3 kicked off with a high level Western battle between the Lions and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in a rematch of last year's Western Final. I expected a close, back and forth game, and boy, did I not get that. Even crazier: it was the Lions who did the mauling! 30-6. That was the final score in the Lions' favor. This team is no joke. Again, it's early, but BC definitely looks good. The same could be said for the Montréal Alouettes, who blasted the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 38-12, in a very lopsided Eastern battle. Not a good start for the TiCats, while the Birdies are making their case to be Toronto's #1 problem in the East.

We had our first taste of overtime in the Saturday matchup between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and the Calgary Stampeders, which is no surprise; it's always nailbiting when those two get together. It didn't look like we'd see a lot of scoring, it was 3-3 after one quarter, and at the half, it was 6-3 in favor of the home team, the Stampeders. The offense picked up in the third quarter, but it remained close throughout the second half. The Riders led 23-20 very late, and when Calgary had the ball, I beamed, because I knew OT was coming. Sure enough, Rene Paredes nailed a long FG with two seconds left to force the minigames. The first one saw the teams trade field goals, and while the second one saw the Riders strike with a FG, Calgary's attempt to at least walk away with a tie ended with Jake Maier's third interception of the game. The Riders won, 29-26, in overtime.

Here's how things stand in after three weeks. In the West Division, the British Columbia Lions stand alone as the division's only unbeaten team (3-0). The Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Saskatchewan Roughriders each have 2-1 records, while the Calgary Stampeders dropped to 1-2, and the Edmonton Elks remain winless at 0-3. Pretty close to start the season. In the East Division, the Toronto Argonauts and the Montréal Alouettes are both 2-0, and the Ottawa Redblacks (0-2) and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats (0-3) are both winless. I'm sensing a tone being set in the East.

An abbreviated Week 4 kicks off on Friday, June 30 with the Ottawa Redblacks hosting the Edmonton Elks. Then on Canada Day, the Montréal Alouettes will face off against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the week ends with a Monday matchup between the BC Lions and the Toronto Argonauts on July 3.

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