Leadership.
That, my friends, is an essential element in any championship team and in the 112th Grey Cup game, it will be proven again.
In football, leadership can come from a number of places but there is little to no doubt that one of those sources must be the man who is QB1 on the depth chart.
For both the Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders, that leadership is abundant, even if it does come from men who seemingly provide it in very different fashion from one another.
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James Letcher Jr. spoke to the media on Tuesday during Grey Cup Week (Thomas Skrlj/CFL.ca)
This Sunday, the firebrand Davis Alexander will try to lead the Alouettes to a second Grey Cup in three seasons while the cooler — but no less enthusiastic — Trevor Harris will attempt to get the Roughriders back to the promised land they haven’t seen since 2013.
In competitive spirit they are likely on pretty equal footing.
How their respective leadership qualities manifest themselves during a game often look pretty different though.
While Harris methodically goes about his business and stays away from engaging with the enemy, Alexander is a ball of energy who sticks his nose in other people’s business. And his teammates say they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I feel like any football player would love to see their quarterback talking trash,” said Montreal kick returner James Letcher Jr.
“You know, you don’t usually see a quarterback doing that.”
Not to the levels of Alexander, certainly.
If Harris ever gets up to that kind of thing, it’s not nearly as apparent.
Linebacker A.J. Allen and defensive back Tevaughn Campbell sort of looked at each other, quizzically, when asked if they’ve ever seen their quarterback get low-key frothy with opponents during a game, maybe in ways that we just wouldn’t notice on TV.
“He would never say anything bad about any opponent ever in his life,” replied Allen.
“I think he’s just more focused on himself,” offered Campbell.
Saskatchewan coach Corey Mace marvelled a bit at Alexander’s willingness to mix it up, verbally, with opponents but he also noted that he and the Roughriders don’t look for nor do they need that kind of thing from Harris.
“For us and our guys, we gotta be self-motivated and really just lean on each other after that,” said Mace during Tuesday’s coaches conference.
Alexander is an emotional leader who seems to kind of put his arms out, palms up, saying ‘it’s just who I am.’
It works extremely well for him and for this Alouettes team.
Ditto for this Roughriders team, and Harris’ more calculated approach.
“I feel like the less you say, the more power it has,” said Harris, reluctantly sizing up his own leadership traits. “And to make sure that you’re understanding who your teammates are, to learn who they are and what makes them tick.”
“If you don’t know your teammates you’re not gonna know how to influence or lead them. And so I’ve kind of just always tried to get to know my teammates, and that kind of has a two-sided effect for me.”
“When you get to know people, you want to work harder for them.”
For Montreal middle linebacker Darnell Sankey, Alexander’s animated kind of leadership is completely authentic, and that’s another reason why his Alouette teammates are able to completely embrace it. And endorse it.
“He’s an ultimate competitor,” said Sankey. “He does things the right way. And his way. And it doesn’t necessarily matter what other people think. I don’t really think he cares too much about what other people think.”
“We just want to give everything,” said Montreal special teams ace Alexandre Gagné, sizing up just why Alexander and his loquacious audacity is such a good fit. “And our quarterback represents exactly everything we want to represent. So that’s amazing for us to have a guy like Davis on our side.”
Meanwhile, the Roughriders are similarly lifted by Harris and his own brand of leadership, one that might be described as being a little more methodical.
“I wouldn’t say intense, but he’s intentional,” said Allen of Harris. “Everything has a reason, has a purpose.”
“On top of that, he’s just a great locker room guy. He’s funny. He’s always cracking dad jokes.”
In the end, if their styles are a little bit different, both Harris and Alexander do share something — other than quarterbacking talents — that link them together.
“In practice, he’s always trying to, you know, win every rep,” said Allen of Harris.
“The competitiveness that you’re going to get (even) playing a game of cornhole, it’s almost as much (as) you’re going to get on the football field,” said Montreal defensive end Isaac Adeyemi-Berglund of Alexander.
In that, two quite different quarterbacks are one and the same.