Murray Wood The end of the great Canadian game as we know it
The last Roughrider home game was the last CFL game in Saskatchewan played on a CFL-sized field. Murray Wood thinks it's...
Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback Trevor Harris was threatening to fight head coach Corey Mace if he was pondering sitting the starting quarterback in the final two weeks.
Well, it doesn’t sound like it was much of a fight as Harris donned a green bunny-hug and toque while his backup Jake Maier took the first team reps ahead of Friday’s game against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
“It was a good conversation,” admitted head coach Corey Mace after a chilly practice ahead of the team’s penultimate regular-season game.
“We all know (Harris). He doesn’t ever want to take time away but I just kind of gave him the plan of what we’re looking like here and he understands.”
What the team is looking like is a team that has clinched the CFL West Division first seed and the right to host the West Final and wants to make sure they are rested a ready for the game on Nov. 8.
If Monday’s practice was any indication, Harris won’t be the only regular starter either watching or having a scaled-back role for this next contest.
For the presumed starter, Maier, he’s ready to finally get back in there, having been three months removed from his only start of the season when he filled in for an injured Trevor Harris back in July in a 37-18 win over the B.C. Lions.
“Any time you get to play in a professional football game, regardless of what it means to the standings, you have to show the organization you belong,” Maier said.
The 28-year-old quarterback knows he needs to lead by example and not let this week appear that the team is letting complacency set in after clinching first place with its 27-19 win over the Toronto Argonauts last week.
“You have to let it all hang out there like you are a starter. Regardless of what the situation is, we are going to play as well as we can. I think guys need to be able to prove that when they step on the field there is no drop off and you have to be able to execute just like the guys in front of you have,” Maier said.
Teams in the past have had mixed results when it comes to clinching first early and having the opportunity to rest players down the stretch.
Mace has experienced it as a player and coach with the Calgary Stampeders, and more recently as the defensive coordinator of the 16-2 Toronto Argonauts, who got stunned by the Montreal Alouettes in the East Final as the Argos were a one-and-done in the playoffs.
Mace is weighing the pros and the cons of trying to balance rest versus having your team look rusty when that West Final.
“I don’t know that there is a specific go-to recipe for that,” suggested Mace.
Mace says he feels the coaching staff will need to have a good pulse on the team and balance players who have been banged up, who need a chance to heal up, with those who need to stay in a rhythm to keep that individual momentum going into the playoffs.
The biggest thing for Mace is keeping the intensity high for whoever is practising or playing in the next two weeks.
“We addressed it this morning. Complacency is not an option for us,” Mace said.
