CALGARY — Wednesday of Grey Cup week brought the Edmonton Elks a walkthrough at McMahon Stadium, a turn at the head coaches' conference and one shared message from the top of the roster on down: this team believes, and it is done wondering whether it belongs.
Head coach Mark Kilam set the tone at the head coaches' conference at BMO Centre, describing what the run has done back home, where 40,000 fans turned out for the West Final win over BC.
"Going back a week and seeing 40,000 people screaming in that stadium, and driving through the city and seeing flags of the team, and seeing people wearing the colours again," Kilam said. "We've inspired belief in the football team again, and that's big time."
Edmonton has not won the Grey Cup since 2015. It gets its chance Sunday at McMahon Stadium, in the 113th Grey Cup against the Montreal Alouettes.
Cody Fajardo used the same word at the team's availability at McMahon. The quarterback has been part of turnarounds before, and he said the recipe in Edmonton is the one he knows.
"I try to do the best I can to rally the guys and make them believe that we're a Grey Cup winning team," Fajardo said. "Make these guys believe that we can win games and that we'll be in the big game, and here we are standing up here in the big game."
Fajardo has lifted the Cup before. Much of his room has not, and he was direct about who Sunday is for.
"I'm playing this game for the guys like Joel here, who's in his first Grey Cup and has yet to feel what it feels like to hoist the cup over his head," Fajardo said. "This is for Joel. This is for the guys that haven't been a champion yet."
Sitting beside him, linebacker Joel Dublanko described welling up in tears after the West Final, asking his coach, "Are we good? Did we actually just win?" He also explained what Fajardo has meant to the room.
"He puts it all on the line every game. He plays it like it's his last," Dublanko said. "He leads us into battle."
The defence Dublanko plays on allowed the fewest points in the CFL this season, and he made no secret of how that group sees its job.
"I absolutely believe that defence wins championships," Dublanko said. If the offence starts slow, the message from the defence is simple: "We're going to get you the ball back. Just be ready to go out there." Edmonton, he added, takes pride in winning games in the last three minutes. "We want to be out there in the end of the game to close it out."
Tyrell Ford is a big part of that defence. The defensive back led the league with seven interceptions this season, one of them against Montreal quarterback Davis Alexander, and after the walkthrough he told Provectus Media his approach has not changed.
"I just kind of wait my turn, wait for the play to come my way and make it if I can," Ford said. He conceded there could have been more. Malik Carney told him Wednesday he had dropped about 15 interceptions. "I probably have about 13," Ford said. "So I got to do a better job making the play when it does come my way."
Ford said Alexander is at his most dangerous when he escapes the pocket, and that Montreal's protection, which can add fullbacks and extra receivers, at times up to eight-man protection, makes pressure hard to manufacture. The focus, he said, is to "do our job and stick to the fundamentals" and keep Alexander contained.
Kilam, meanwhile, heard his quarterback's feedback and acted on it. Fajardo told his coach after last season that Kilam had been too focused on special teams, and Kilam confirmed it Wednesday: "That's 100% facts." He said giving up those duties let him spend more time across the whole team. Fajardo's verdict on the result was blunt: "There's no way we're in this Grey Cup without Mark Kilam as a head coach."
Sunday also brings Kilam back to the stadium where he spent 20 years with the Calgary Stampeders. He is hoping Edmonton fans make the drive south, but he left the door open for a few familiar faces.
"If there's somebody in the stands that thought I did a good job and recognizes the curls on the sideline and gives me a wave, then I'll wave right back to them," Kilam said. "We could play it anywhere. Obviously, being back here, there's some sentimentality with it. But I want to win for our guys, and I want to win for the City of Edmonton."
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