Ottawa Redblacks vs. Edmonton Elks CFL Week 6 Prediction & Picks: Will Edmonton Return to the Win Column?

Edmonton's unexpected perfect start ended last Saturday in against a famished pride of Lions, but it has been a positive start for the Elks. And the odds favor it continuing tonight against the visiting Ottawa Redblacks, the CFL's lone remaining winless team.

Edmonton's season started with a 29-21 win in Ottawa, then delivered Davis Alexander's first regular season loss with the Montreal Alouettes and picked up a thrilling win in Winnipeg to start 3-0.

The Elks came back down to earth a bit in Week 5 against BC, who broke through for its first win of the season with a 36-24 win in Kelowna. Still, they enter Week 6 tied atop the West Division record-wise with the Saskatchewan Roughriders.

That is a big step in the right direction, given that Edmonton started 1-6 last season.

More forward movement looks likely this week, as the Elks carry a clear advantage over the Redblacks at Lucky Rebel and other top online sportsbooks.

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Ottawa Redblacks vs. Edmonton Elks Odds

Odds are from Lucky Rebel, where new players can get a 125% bonus up to $1250 (and 50 casino free spins) to bet on CFL odds and much more.

Redblacks vs. Elks Prediction and Picks

Elks -6 (-112 at Lucky Rebel) & Justin Rankin Over 45.5 Receiving Yards (-115 at Lucky Rebel)

It is still fairly early in the season, and while it looks like it will take some work for someone to post a worse record than the Redblacks (and that's even if Bo Levi Mitchell is out for the season for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats), it still very much remains to be seen if the Elks are a contender or a pretender.

Therefore, it isn't a big surprise that the Elks are not favored by more here even they should be.

That said, it does open up a nice opportunity to take the Elks to cover at home.

A 44-24 home loss to the Toronto Argonauts in Week 3 is Ottawa's lone double-digit loss this season. Along with their eight-point loss to Edmonton in the opening week, the Redblacks lost by two at Montreal (37-35) and five at home to the Roughriders (27-22).

They certainly aren't uncompetitive, and QB Jake Maier was much better in the last two games than he was in the first two games.

But the Redblacks are not a very good team overall, especially on defense. And I foresee another long night for Ottawa against Edmonton RB Justin Rankin, who racked up 196 yards on only 18 touches (102 and a touchdown on 13 carries and 94 more on seven catches) in the Elks' Week 1 win and is averaging 165 rushing (101.5) + receiving (63.5) yards per game thus far.

Even if Maier has a better game against the Elks than he did in Week 1 (22 of 37, 203 yards), it likely won't be enough for the Redblacks to have a serious chance to upset the odds at Commonwealth Stadium.