The Saskatchewan Roughriders\u2019 organization is poised to celebrate the team\u2019s 2025 Grey Cup championship on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium.<\/p>\n
A banner unveiling, to precede the Corey Mace-coached Roughriders\u2019 season opener against the B.C. Lions, will proceed as planned despite the following development.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hate to say it, but 2025 died,\u201d offensive lineman Jermarcus Hardrick said. \u201cWe have to move on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t even live there anymore. It\u2019s almost like rat poison. I can\u2019t even bring it up at home. My wife always says \u2018that\u2019s in the past,\u2019 so that\u2019s just the way we\u2019re looking at things. I\u2019m trying to pass it down that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got great leadership. We always talk about winning today and putting things in the past. I think Mace is doing a great job and the leaders are saying \u20182026 is the only thing that matters.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in 2025 isn\u2019t going to help us. There are guys (from the 2025 team) who are not here. A lot has changed since then. If you go in (thinking about 2025), you\u2019re going to get hit in the mouth pretty fast.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mace reinforced that message after Tuesday\u2019s practice.<\/p>\n
\u201c(The 2025 Grey Cup win) doesn\u2019t have anything to do with this year, period,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re a new team. We\u2019ve got to go out there and prove that we\u2019re still a good team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Roughriders were a great team in 2025 \u2014 finishing with a 12-6 record and first overall in the CFL\u2019s regular-season standings before winning the Western Final and the Grey Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s just the bar we set for ourselves,\u201d the Roughriders\u2019 third-year field boss said. \u201cWe set it for ourselves in \u201924 when we first got here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHard work works. If we\u2019re not afraid to put the work in, then we\u2019ll be in a position to potentially play in a big game like that.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is a theory that the importance of each game will be elevated in the eyes of opposing teams that aspire to knock off the defending Grey Cup champions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t look at it as being a target,\u201d Hardrick said. \u201cYou\u2019re going to get your best shot every game.<\/p>\n
\u201cI respect every player that I play against. I lose sleep over every player that I play against. There are some guys you lose a little bit more sleep over.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just respect the game and I respect all the players. Even if we didn\u2019t win last year, I always try to play with a target on my back. I hope we all do. That\u2019s just the way I look at it.\u201d<\/p>\n
In other words, complacency will not be an issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t get too comfortable,\u201d Mace told reporters<\/a>. \u201cIf you get comfortable and go through the motions, you guys can do that for us.<\/p>\n \u201cYou just keep pushing the envelope. We set a new bar for ourselves the last two years, so we can\u2019t slip on our expectations for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n What are the expectations?<\/p>\n \u201cThe sky\u2019s the limit for this group,\u201d quarterback Trevor Harris said<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to make sure that we\u2019re pressing on the gas pedal every day.\u201d<\/p>\n