Saskatchewan Roughriders' quarterback Trevor Harris explains why history is on the team's side while dealing with receiver injury concerns.
"I don't know why everybody's making such a big thing of this. Last year, we lost Samuel [Emilus] and Kian [Schaffer-Baker] for the whole season, essentially. Samuel played seven games, Kian played three and wasn't really super healthy for the games he played, and Dohnte [Meyers] was out at the end of the year. KeeSean [Johnson] missed the last four," Harris told the media.
"It's not like it's something new for us like, 'Oh, no, what do we do if they can't play?' Just come to work, get better every day, and get on the same page. No such thing as over-communication. Keep talking through things, go on and execute."
In the Riders last game, Saskatchewan lost to the Toronto Argonauts 40-34, Emilus was injured in the second quarter after returning two punts. He finished the game with four receptions totalling 65 yards. The reason why he returned punts was that he replaced main returner, James Letcher Jr. who was injured in the first quarter.
Meanwhile, Harris reflected on rookie Daniel Wiebe's performance, he played his first CFL regular season game against Toronto.
"I'll tell you what, there's not a more deserving guy to have success than Daniel Wiebe. He had a tremendous training camp. He's the typical guy that you're a small, counted-out Canadian. He's every bit of what you would count as somebody that you'd count out, and he comes to work every day, dominates. He's a stud," Harris explained.
"I've said it in training camp, and I'll stand by it — I love that guy. He's a tremendous football player, a really good receiver, very good after the catch, smooth hands, good route runner, and knows exactly what you're going to get from him. Great effort guy. I love the guy and couldn't be more happy he got in the end zone."
Wiebe was able to score his first CFL touchdown against Toronto and caught two passes for 48 yards. After Emilus went down following a punt return, Wiebe returned two punts for 19 yards.
Looking ahead, Saskatchewan travels to Ottawa to take on the 0-3 Redblacks Friday.
"If you don't bring your A game, they can come back to bite you. The same goes for when you play us, if you don't bring your A game, we'll come back and bite you. This league has a ton of parity, and you saw last Sunday that Ottawa pushed Montreal to the limit," Harris said.
"There are a few moments where you thought Ottawa was going to win that game, and they're playing at Montreal, too. So we know that team's fighting, scrapping, clawing and so are we. So it'll be fun to watch as all CFL games are."
Catch the Rider Broadcast Network pre-game show Friday at 2:30 p.m. Later, Dave Thomas and Luc Mullinder have the game call at 5:30 p.m. You can either watch the stream or listen on the 620 CKRM Co-operators Rider Broadcast Network.
