Taylor Shire
Regina Leader-Post
In early September, Trevor Harris provided a glimpse into the future.
After losing 35-33 to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Labour Day Classic, the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback told reporters that he believed the team would turn it around before the playoffs.
“I know people might think I’m crazy but I wouldn’t rather be with any other group in the league than this group right here,” Harris said on Sept. 1 after the team’s sixth straight game without a win. “We have the DNA of a championship team and I think we’re going to look back here in a month and a half and like where we’re at.”
The following week, after a 26-21 loss in the rematch against the Bombers — which stretched Saskatchewan’s winless skid to seven games — Harris doubled down on his stance.
“It’s just a matter of time,” Harris said in his postgame press conference on Sept. 7. “When we find that first win, it’ll start pouring over and the good things will start happening.”
Since those words by Harris just over five weeks ago, the Riders have rattled off four straight victories while clinching a home playoff game in the process.
“This team has what it takes to do what we want to do,” Harris said after Saturday’s 39-8 victory over the B.C. Lions in Week 19. “It’s just a matter of if we continue to press on it and continue to thrive and get better each and every day.
“I know you guys probably looked at me sideways four or five weeks ago (when I said), ‘We’re going to like where we’re at heading into the playoffs.’
“We’re not there yet; we haven’t arrived, but I like where we’re trending for sure.”
With one game left in the regular season on Oct. 26 against the Calgary Stampeders, the Roughriders (9-7-1) still have a chance at clinching top spot in the West Division with a win over the Stamps combined with a Blue Bombers loss to the Montreal Alouettes earlier in the day.
A Winnipeg win or a Saskatchewan loss would mean a second-place finish for the Riders and a date against the Lions in the West semifinal.
For Harris, it doesn’t matter where the team finishes in the standings, as long as they’re into the playoffs.
“More importantly is who we’re becoming in the process,” said the 6-foot-3, 212-pound Harris. “What kind of a team we’re becoming in the process.
“To me, that’s more important than anything at this point because as long as you’ve got a spot in the dance, it’s, ‘Who are you becoming every day? Who are you becoming every period, every meeting?’
“Like I said from the jump, I’ve told everybody I love the DNA of this team.
“We’re just going to continue to get better.”
Since returning from a six-game absence due to a knee injury, the 38-year-old veteran quarterback has thrown for 2,392 yards in eight starts, an average of 299 yards per game, to go along with 13 touchdown passes to six interceptions.
His 108.4 efficiency rating leads all CFL starting quarterbacks this season.
“Ever since Trevor has been back from his injury, he’s been balling,” said Samuel Emilus, the team’s leading receiver who eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark against the Lions. “I just feel he’s so locked in.
“He knows what we’ve got to accomplish and he knows what we can do with this receiving group and this team really.
“He knows what’s at stake and he’s already a champion. He’s already won Grey Cups and he knows what to say.”
For Harris, who won the Grey Cup in 2012 with the Toronto Argonauts and in 2016 with the Ottawa Redblacks, there are a few sayings that have been his go-to phrases this year.
“We have the team that is becoming the team that can win any game we play in and it’s just a matter of us making sure we put together three phases,” he said. “During that seven-game slide, we’ve got these wristbands that say, ‘Don’t flinch,’ and no matter what the situation is … no flinching and just continue to press on no matter what the situation is because we believe in who we are and who is leading us.
“I think we’re becoming who we want to be. And that’s a team that is capable of beating anybody.”
