The Montreal Alouettes\u2019 defence could not lay a finger on Trevor Harris, who is now untouchable in a larger context.<\/p>\n
Nobody can question his status as a legend \u2014\u00a0a future Canadian Football Hall of Famer \u2014\u00a0after he quarterbacked the Saskatchewan Roughriders to a 25-17 victory over the Montreal Alouettes in the 112th Grey Cup Game.<\/p>\n
In the biggest game of his 13-year CFL career, he completed 23 of 27 passes for 302 yards and established a Grey Cup single-game record for completion percentage (85.2).<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think I took a single hit,\u201d Harris said after the Nov. 16 contest at Winnipeg\u2019s Princess Auto Stadium. \u201cI could have not worn shoulder pads.\u201d<\/p>\n
What did take a hit? The narrative that Harris had not won a Grey Cup as a starter.<\/p>\n
Conveniently overlooked or downplayed before Sunday was the fact that Harris had earned East Division All-CFL honours for the Ottawa REDBLACKS in 2016.<\/p>\n
Although Henry Burris was the starting quarterback when the 2016 REDBLACKS won the Grey Cup, Ottawa would not have reached the big game without integral contributions from Harris.<\/p>\n
Also overlooked, but no less relevant: Harris threw six touchdown passes \u2014\u00a0an enduring CFL single-game playoff record \u2014\u00a0for Ottawa in 2018.<\/p>\n
Using that statistical marker, it was an unrivalled pressure-packed performance.<\/p>\n
Yet, in the assessment of some observers, the one unchecked box was the sole criteria by which an already-outstanding career should be appraised.<\/p>\n
It rankled me leading up to the 2025 Grey Cup Game. It still irks me still. Too much rankle and irk is never a good thing.<\/p>\n
The maddened mind rewinds to 1989, when Tom Burgess led the Roughriders in touchdown passes (22). He also came off the bench, in place of an injured Kent Austin, in the second quarter and helped Saskatchewan upset Edmonton 32-21 in the \u201989 Western Final.<\/p>\n
Austin returned for the Grey Cup and enjoyed a performance for the ages, throwing for 474 yards and three TDs in a 43-40 victory over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.<\/p>\n
If not for Burgess, however, the Roughriders\u2019 season would have concluded one week earlier.<\/p>\n
There were reminders of a comparable scenario during Grey Cup Week in 2025. Jason Maas, now the Alouettes\u2019 Head Coach, was Ricky Ray\u2019s backup with Edmonton 20 years earlier.<\/p>\n
Ray earned Grey Cup MVP distinction in 2005 after leading Edmonton to a 38-35 double-overtime victory over Montreal.<\/p>\n
A masterful and memorable performance, undeniably, but Edmonton would not have advanced to the Grey Cup without Maas. He came off the bench in relief of a struggling Ray and helped Edmonton earn back-to-back comeback victories in both West Division playoff games.<\/p>\n
Harris, Burgess and Maas all seized the moment at pivotal junctures in Grey Cup-winning seasons.<\/p>\n
In the case of Burgess, he eventually won a championship as a starter \u2014 adding Grey Cup MVP laurels to his resume when the Winnipeg Blue Bombers routed Edmonton 50-11.<\/p>\n
When Burgess had previously faced an Edmonton defence in a must-win game, his back-to-back third-quarter touchdown passes (to Ray Elgaard and Jeff Fairholm) tipped the balance in Saskatchewan\u2019s favour on Nov. 19, 1989.<\/p>\n
Burgess spotted a flaw in Hamilton\u2019s defence a week later and suggested a play \u2014\u00a0a bomb to Fairholm \u2014\u00a0in the second quarter of the 79th Grey Cup Game.<\/p>\n
Good idea. Austin hit Fairholm for a 75-yard TD.<\/p>\n
That is how it is done in the ultimate team sport. Everybody plays a part. Even on the sideline, invaluable contributions can be made.<\/p>\n
It is an oversimplification to attach wins and losses to a player\u2019s name when there are 24 moving pieces every time the ball is snapped.<\/p>\n
Oldsters like me remember a classic example \u2014 Tom Clements with the 1979 Roughriders.<\/p>\n
Before and after spending time in Saskatchewan, Clements performed like the Hall of Famer he turned out to be.<\/p>\n
Playing behind a porous offensive line in the early weeks of a rebuilding process, Clements was a pinata in a mercifully abbreviated, eight-game stay in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n
The interceptions (11) greatly outnumbered the touchdown passes (2) for Clements as a Roughrider. With a superior supporting cast at three other CFL stops, he was one of the league\u2019s elite.<\/p>\n
That description has fit Harris for a decade, ever since he threw 33 touchdown passes for the Toronto Argonauts in 2015.<\/p>\n
Long a premier passer, Harris is now second All-Time in accuracy (71.1 per cent), ninth in completions (3,097), 13th in aerial yards (37,697) and 15th in touchdown passes (204).<\/p>\n
Directly above him on the TD passes table: Dieter Brock (210).<\/p>\n
Brock never quarterbacked a team to a Grey Cup win. But no fair person, or anyone who saw him play, can in good conscience contend that he is not one of the greats.<\/p>\n
The previous sentence also applied to Harris leading up to the 2025 Grey Cup Game. The credentials were already impressive. Then he led the Riders to the fifth championship in franchise history, incinerating a tired yet persistent narrative in the process.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, if anyone says anything about Trevor, the first thing they should say is that he has done everything, including win the Grey Cup as a starting quarterback,\u201d Offensive Co-ordinator Marc Mueller said the other day.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the best players this league has ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n
REMEMBERING COLLEEN JONES<\/p>\n
I had the honour of running into CBC\u2019s Devin Heroux in Winnipeg after the Roughriders\u2019 2025 Grey Cup win. A staunch supporter of the Green and White \u2014\u00a0and Canadian sports in general \u2014\u00a0Heroux was elated when we last crossed paths.<\/p>\n
At the time, he was one of the few who knew that curling legend Colleen Jones had been battling cancer for three years.<\/p>\n