2025 EE Season Thread

[ben_the_eskimo]

All this talk about Ford and Fajardo but the D is the real reason this team is 1-4.

Looks like the Ed may be eyeing change in the defensive secondary, Elks sign three DBs.

https://www.goelks.com/2025/07/20/tr...fensive-backs/

I said in the other thread that Bynum should be cut as soon as we have a capable replacement. Him and Jackson have been successfully picked on all season.

If these defensive struggles continue we should be looking to add some coaching support because right now JC and Grymes are doing it all on there own as coach Maxie is only a ‘defensive assistant’ in addition to his role as STC.

Only problem is I don’t know where we are at in relation to the ridiculous coaches cap the CFL put in place.

Also, we should be looking for help on the DL as Ceresna has been the only guy on the unit who looks like he gives a sh!t and it looks like he’s gonna be out long term.

[eskfan152]

Surprisingly Ceresna could be ready to go this weekend. But no doubt the defense needs a big fix really quick!

[ben_the_eskimo]

Surprisingly Ceresna could be ready to go this weekend. But no doubt the defense needs a big fix really quick!

Oh really? I was out of town on vacation all week so I only just watched the game last night, hadn’t heard an update on him yet. Good to hear it might not be as serious as it looked.

[Looner]

All this talk about Ford and Fajardo but the D is the real reason this team is 1-4.

Looks like the Ed may be eyeing change in the defensive secondary, Elks sign three DBs.

https://www.goelks.com/2025/07/20/tr...fensive-backs/

I said in the other thread that Bynum should be cut as soon as we have a capable replacement. Him and Jackson have been successfully picked on all season.

If these defensive struggles continue we should be looking to add some coaching support because right now JC and Grymes are doing it all on there own as coach Maxie is only a ‘defensive assistant’ in addition to his role as STC.

Only problem is I don’t know where we are at in relation to the ridiculous coaches cap the CFL put in place.

Also, we should be looking for help on the DL as Ceresna has been the only guy on the unit who looks like he gives a sh!t and it looks like he’s gonna be out long term.

Our Dline is a real head scratcher as on paper they should be good. They all played together last year, on a grey cup winner and have the same Dline coach. This makes me wonder if either our scheme is giving up the short stuff and not allowing them to get home or if our DB's aren't able to lock those guys down long enough for any sort of pass rush. Either way our tackling has been as bad as I've seen it and needs to be a lot better. There was a screen play against BC where I saw Morgan try to body check the receiver down, which surprised me. Play is at the 2:30 mark

https://www.cfl.ca/2025/07/13/recap-bc-32-edmonton-14/

[ben_the_eskimo]

Our Dline is a real head scratcher as on paper they should be good. They all played together last year, on a grey cup winner and have the same Dline coach. This makes me wonder if either our scheme is giving up the short stuff and not allowing them to get home or if our DB's aren't able to lock those guys down long enough for any sort of pass rush. Either way our tackling has been as bad as I've seen it and needs to be a lot better. There was a screen play against BC where I saw Morgan try to body check the receiver down, which surprised me. Play is at the 2:30 mark

https://www.cfl.ca/2025/07/13/recap-bc-32-edmonton-14/

Agree. Tackling is a real issue, especially from the secondary guys. DL performance is making me wonder if there’s a reason all of those guys were allowed to walk by their previous team…

But I am beginning to think the lack of coaching help on the D side is a real concern. I assume Maxie is involved with the DL but I don’t know how much as he’s only listed as an assistant, so we don’t even have a dedicated DL coach. And JC is pulling double duty as a first year DC which I don’t think is optimal, add in Grymes coaching for his first year and that seems like a big workload to put on two guys who are basically unproven in their new positions.

I think we need more D coaches to help those guys out, preferably ones with some experience. It’ll never happen but I’d even be open to a CJ return solely as a defensive consultant to work with JC on playcalling in game, they’d have a good relationship from their time together here running that historically good D we had in 2015.

But at the very least I’d like to see a DL or LB coach or both be brought in to bolster the D coaching room.

[Looner]

Agree. Tackling is a real issue, especially from the secondary guys. DL performance is making me wonder if there’s a reason all of those guys were allowed to walk by their previous team…

But I am beginning to think the lack of coaching help on the D side is a real concern. I assume Maxie is involved with the DL but I don’t know how much as he’s only listed as an assistant, so we don’t even have a dedicated DL coach. And JC is pulling double duty as a first year DC which I don’t think is optimal, add in Grymes coaching for his first year and that seems like a big workload to put on two guys who are basically unproven in their new positions.

I think we need more D coaches to help those guys out, preferably ones with some experience. It’ll never happen but I’d even be open to a CJ return solely as a defensive consultant to work with JC on playcalling in game, they’d have a good relationship from their time together here running that historically good D we had in 2015.

But at the very least I’d like to see a DL or LB coach or both be brought in to bolster the D coaching room.

agreed!!! I still think JC will be a good coach someday but we are suffering as he figures it out.

[ben_the_eskimo]

agreed!!! I still think JC will be a good coach someday but we are suffering as he figures it out.

For sure. We should remember that just a few short months ago we were talking about how JC was being widely considered around the league as one of the brightest young defensive minds currently in our game, Sask did not want to lose him. I think it’s absolutely worth sticking with him, but I do think it’s a bit unfair how little support he seems to have around him.

[Looner]

For sure. We should remember that just a few short months ago we were talking about how JC was being widely considered around the league as one of the brightest young defensive minds currently in our game, Sask did not want to lose him. I think it’s absolutely worth sticking with him, but I do think it’s a bit unfair how little support he seems to have around him.

yup, should have given him a veteran coach to lean on

[dealerd]

Maxie should be full time D-line coach , not sure why he would be ST coach at all , or bring back Mondo to work with the D line again , if he is wanting to return , or make Maxie DC and demote JC to DC asst , and yes demote Ford to 3rd , Cody as starter and Snyder to 2

[Esks4ever]

and yes demote Ford to 3rd , Cody as starter and Snyder to 2

what a stupid take... what has snyder done to deserve being backup ?>

[Sectionq]

Maxie should be full time D-line coach , not sure why he would be ST coach at all , or bring back Mondo to work with the D line again , if he is wanting to return , or make Maxie DC and demote JC to DC asst , and yes demote Ford to 3rd , Cody as starter and Snyder to 2

I don't think it would be wise to demote Ford to 3rd string. That doesn't make much sense to me.

I wouldn't have a problem giving Fajardo more snaps. I think skillset wise, Fajardo is mobile enough that the OC wouldn't have to have almost a completely different playbook like I think they did when it was MBT & Ford. So giving Ford some time to reset or watch the game a little won't require you to change how you want to play as much as it did last year.

[bone]

Maxie should be full time D-line coach , not sure why he would be ST coach at all , or bring back Mondo to work with the D line again , if he is wanting to return , or make Maxie DC and demote JC to DC asst , and yes demote Ford to 3rd , Cody as starter and Snyder to 2

Demoting Ford to 3rd string is something a coach does just before completely losing a dressing room and possibly being fired.

Snyder has literally never taken a pro snap. I wouldn't mind seeing him take some snaps at some point if either QB is missing a game due to injury, or a late season start if the team is well out of the playoff hunt, but a move like that this early after committing to him would be seen as overly vindictive for really no major reason. Ford hasn't been amazing, but prior to last game he was about what would have been expected with a recieving core that doesn't really have many sure things on it and the types of play calls that the team has been doing.

Prior to last game, here's how he ranked amongst the league. Basically about average amongst starter, he's fallen quite a bit after that 5th game, but up until it he wasn't really the biggest problem. this isn't to say I'm opposed to Fajardo getting a start, just that basically kicking Ford off the team isn't a real solution.

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[Looner]

Demoting Ford to 3rd string is something a coach does just before completely losing a dressing room and possibly being fired.

Snyder has literally never taken a pro snap. I wouldn't mind seeing him take some snaps at some point if either QB is missing a game due to injury, or a late season start if the team is well out of the playoff hunt, but a move like that this early after committing to him would be seen as overly vindictive for really no major reason. Ford hasn't been amazing, but prior to last game he was about what would have been expected with a recieving core that doesn't really have many sure things on it and the types of play calls that the team has been doing.

Prior to last game, here's how he ranked amongst the league. Basically about average amongst starter, he's fallen quite a bit after that 5th game, but up until it he wasn't really the biggest problem. this isn't to say I'm opposed to Fajardo getting a start, just that basically kicking Ford off the team isn't a real solution.

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Crazy that no one is talking about demoting Rourke but their stats are virtually the same. I think most of the chatter comes from just how brutal that last game was. If he had put up average numbers but still lost, we would hear rumblings of Fajardo but we wouldn't be splitting first team reps. Also sounds like they took the bye week to look at their defensive scheme and have made some adjustments

[ben_the_eskimo]

Maxie should be full time D-line coach , not sure why he would be ST coach at all , or bring back Mondo to work with the D line again , if he is wanting to return , or make Maxie DC and demote JC to DC asst , and yes demote Ford to 3rd , Cody as starter and Snyder to 2

I agree with you on bringing Mondo back so we can have a dedicated DL coach but I couldn’t disagree more with the rest of this post.

[bone]

Crazy that no one is talking about demoting Rourke but their stats are virtually the same. I think most of the chatter comes from just how brutal that last game was. If he had put up average numbers but still lost, we would hear rumblings of Fajardo but we wouldn't be splitting first team reps. Also sounds like they took the bye week to look at their defensive scheme and have made some adjustments

Yeah, I was a bit surprised to see Ford was neck and neck with Rourke and VAJ until that game (no longer is because of how bad that game was for Ford and how good VAJ and Rourke's next games were). Makes you wonder what Ford's numbers would be like if he was ever to get to play against this Elks defense?