Marc Mueller was asked if he could recall a pass from the past.<\/p>\n
Was there a time in his quarterbacking career \u2014\u00a0which included front-line duty with the Sheldon-Williams Spartans and University of Regina Rams \u2014 when he completed a long pass after receiving a snap from his team\u2019s one-yard line?<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that I can remember \u2014 at least not to our own team,\u201d the Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 Offensive Co-ordinator quipped after Tuesday\u2019s walk-through at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
The question became topical after Trevor Harris launched a bomb from the Roughriders\u2019 end zone and hit Joe Robustelli in stride for what turned out to be a crucial 48-yard gain during Saturday\u2019s fourth quarter against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.<\/p>\n
Although the Roughriders did not attain the goal of producing their first 109-yard drive since 1991, the Harris-to-Robustelli explosion helped the visiting side to move into range for one of Brett Lauther\u2019s five field goals.<\/p>\n
Lauther outscored the opposition as the Roughriders won 21-13 to improve their CFL-leading record to 10-2.<\/p>\n
Six days earlier, another bold call by Mueller generated a buzz after figuring in a Saskatchewan victory.<\/p>\n
Harris was asked to punt on third-and-six from Winnipeg\u2019s 44-yard line with less than a minute and a half remaining in the 60th Labour Day Classic.<\/p>\n
The quarterback\u2019s first punt since 2008 caught the Blue Bombers, and virtually everyone else in the stadium, off guard.<\/p>\n
The punt travelled 45 yards (after 1.98 seconds of hang time and several bounces) and resulted in a rouge that put Saskatchewan ahead 32-24.<\/p>\n
That single point became crucial when Winnipeg answered with a touchdown drive. Trailing 32-30, the Blue Bombers were forced to attempt a two-point convert with 30 seconds remaining in the game.<\/p>\n
Tevaughn Campbell proceeded to intercept Zach Collaros and sprint 112 yards to give Saskatchewan the final two points in a 34-30 win.<\/p>\n
After back-to-back games with an unconventional \u2014 and successful \u2014 call, is Mueller becoming a mad scientist of sorts?<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, maybe you\u2019ll see A.J. (Ouellette, running back) line up at quarterback and hand off to me on an inside zone,\u201d Harris joked on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe (punt) was a game-management situation. The second one was a situation where, \u2018Hey, we\u2019re backed up \u2026 this could be a turning point in the game,\u2019 and he trusts us.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou walk away from that moment being thankful that your offensive co-ordinator trusts you in those moments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trust between quarterback and play-caller was instantly established after Mueller was hired in December of 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has always had a calm demeanour and an ability to laugh at himself, which is maybe second only to you,\u201d Harris told an inveterately self-deprecating scribe.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe makes football fun, he\u2019s hyper-intelligent, and he was willing to listen to me from the experiences I\u2019ve had through the years of, \u2018This is kind of how I see this play sorting out in my mind with timing and footwork.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has been very open in allowing me to kind of be myself within the structure of this offence. He\u2019ll put his foot down in certain areas where it\u2019s, \u2018No, I don\u2019t want it done this way.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been one of those things where we\u2019ve grown together. He has helped me grow a lot as player, so I can only hope that I\u2019ve helped him a little bit along the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarc is someone who has always had such a diverse, great personality for this role. He gets people to all pull in one direction.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the mark of not only great co-ordinators, but future head coaches. They\u2019re able to pull people in the same direction and they\u2019re someone you\u2019re always willing to follow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mueller has followed in famous footsteps.<\/p>\n
His iconic grandfather, Ron Lancaster, doubled as the Roughriders\u2019 offensive co-ordinator during his latter years as the starting quarterback.<\/p>\n
The Little General was known for fearless and unpredictable play calls, regardless of the job description or the magnitude of the moment.<\/p>\n
In the 1973 West semi-final, for example, he threw a three-yard touchdown pass to a linebacker \u2014\u00a0Charlie Collins lined up as a tight end in short-yardage situations \u2014\u00a0to provide the capper as Saskatchewan defeated the B.C. Lions 33-13.<\/p>\n
Fast forward to 1999. In the East final against the host Montreal Alouettes, the Lancaster-coached Hamilton Tiger-Cats shockingly opted to pass on third-and-inches with under two minutes left.<\/p>\n
Tiger-Cats quarterback Danny McManus aimed the football toward Joe Hagins \u2014 a linebacker, of course \u2014 and he made a contested catch for a 27-yard gain. Hamilton scored the winning TD three plays later.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe play either surprises them or it doesn\u2019t,\u201d Lancaster told reporters after the game. \u201cI don\u2019t care. You can\u2019t sit back. You\u2019ve got to take chances.\u201d<\/p>\n
The calculated risk paid off handsomely for the Tiger-Cats \u2014 who went on to win the Grey Cup \u2014\u00a0and for Lancaster, whose \u201caudacious gamble\u201d was referenced in the lead paragraph of a Canadian Press story.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, he was the ultimate gambler,\u201d Mueller said of his late grandfather. \u201cYou don\u2019t throw more than 450 interceptions (playoffs included) without being a gambler, right?<\/p>\n
\u201cIn our case, it was an opportunity for our guys, who we trust to make plays. They do it in practice all the time, whether it\u2019s a simple six-yard route or a 25-yard route. We have confidence that those guys will get there and that Trevor will give them the chance to catch it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The confidence in Mueller is such that he was handed a game ball by Harris after Saturday\u2019s Labour Day Rematch.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has just done a tremendous job of leading us all year,\u201d Harris said. \u201cWe\u2019re very, very lucky to have him.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the detail that he goes into with his prep every week, he could get a game ball every week, so I just thought it was time.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody had any of those outstanding, standout, crazy-stat games, so it was one of those times where it was, \u2018I think he has earned it.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
Which brings us to one more question: Before Saturday, had Mueller ever received a game ball?<\/p>\n
\u201cI might have stole one,\u201d he replied, \u201cbut that would be about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Marc Mueller was asked if he could recall a pass from the past. Was there a time in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[49,48,521,522,520,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-136041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cfl","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-canadian-football-league","11":"tag-canadianfootballleague","12":"tag-cfl","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}