EDMONTON 鈥� Steven Dunbar Jr. enjoyed a breakout 2022 season in a black and gold Hamilton Tiger-Cats jersey, catching 72 passes for 1,000 yards.
Now wearing the Edmonton Elks' green and gold, Dunbar will face his former team for the first time Thursday at Commonwealth Stadium.
Dunbar was one of the Elks鈥� marquee free-agent signings in the off-season. When asked about playing the Ticats, Dunbar was careful not to give them anything they could post on the dressing room wall.
"I've got a lot of love for Hamilton and what they've done for my career," Dunbar said. "But it鈥檚 going to be fun, seeing them. I know they鈥檙e excited to see me, too."
Neither Dunbar's new team nor his old squad can brag about much going into the game. The Ticats beat Ottawa 21-13 last weekend, but it only raised their record to 1-3.聽
The Elks went to 0-5 after a bizarre 12-11 loss in Saskatchewan, decided by a last-minute rouge surrendered by kick returner CJ Sims, who had forgotten that in Canada, if you take a knee in the end zone, you surrender a point.
Dunbar leads the Elks in receiving yards. But on a team that鈥檚 scored just 62 points in five games, all he's needed is 245 yards to be the top dog on receiving corps that was supposed to be improved this season with the additions of Dunbar, Geno Lewis (who is out with a knee injury) and Kyran Moore.聽
"It鈥檚 definitely frustrating," Dunbar said. "Obviously, we鈥檙e losing, but I think the biggest thing right now is for us to move forward. There鈥檚 not much you can do but move forward and try to control what you can control. Let things happen. Be learning lessons and just build from it 鈥� try to stay positive and don鈥檛 let it seep in.聽
"It鈥檚 a long season, we鈥檙e still in this thing if we can turn the ship around."
Elks general manager and head coach Chris Jones said his team has to understand that it鈥檚 going to take time to turn things around. This is a franchise that has not won a home game since 2019 and is at risk of missing the playoffs for a third straight season.聽
And, no, it鈥檚 not too early to talk about missing the post-season 鈥� that鈥檚 how dire things are for the Elks at the moment.
"We've talked about it, and we鈥檝e got to take it one week at a time," said Jones. "We didn't get here in one week, so we're not going to get out of here in one week. So, we鈥檙e just going to keep chopping wood."
Jones noted Hamilton and Ottawa have just one win each, and Calgary is another one-win team. And the Elks could have two wins had things gone their way.
Their defence was excellent in the loss to the Riders last week, and, had the Elks been able to convert any of the three red zone short-yardage attempts in the fourth quarter of their home-opener loss to Saskatchewan, there鈥檚 another victory there.
The Elks鈥� early-season short yardage futility led to the release of quarterback/receiver Kai Locksley. He had been the third-and-short specialist in Edmonton but is now a member of the Ticats.
Jones is aware that Locksley is familiar with the Elks鈥� playbook.
"That's great that he got a job," said Jones. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a tough business, so as long as guys can go and get another job, we鈥檙e happy for them.
鈥淏ut I am sure they are going to dig as much as they can, to gather what they can, in terms of intel. We would. That鈥檚 just commonplace in pro football."
The Ticats went into the game saying what so many other clubs have said before playing Edmonton 鈥� that the Elks are better than their record suggests.
鈥淚 know Chris really well,鈥� said Ticats coach and president of football operations Orlondo Steinauer. 鈥淒espite their record, if you do turn the tape on you see people playing hard. They were in some ball games, they鈥檝e had some struggles and setbacks of their own鈥� We鈥檙e not looking at their record. We鈥檙e focused on ourselves and it鈥檚 going to be a tough opponent in their house."
Ticats linebacker Jameer Thurman, who had two sacks and nine total tackles in Saturday鈥檚 win over Ottawa, said his team is also "hungry."
"We鈥檝e got one win, but we鈥檙e not satisfied with anything at all," he said. "We know there鈥檚 a standard. We made a lot of plays, but we still didn鈥檛 play up to the standard that we wanted to across the board."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2023.
Steven Sandor, The Canadian Press
