The way Trevor Harris was asked to operate\u00a0for large stretches of last Friday\u2019s win over the Ottawa Redblacks was unconventional for him, not that he minded one bit.<\/p>\n
The most notable alteration was how often the Saskatchewan Roughriders quarterback led a no-huddle or tempo offence, something usually reserved for trying to press for offence before the first half expires or when trailing late in a game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a good change-up for us to do,\u201d Harris said to reporters in Regina on Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m not sure if it\u2019s something we\u2019ll do all the time, but it\u2019s definitely fun because you get a lot of plays in, especially because you can kind of just feel a little bit of a rhythm.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe operate pretty fast, and we\u2019ve got a pretty wide variety and array of things that we can do out of our no-huddle (offence).\u201d<\/p>\n
Not only was it unusual to use a hurry-up style so often during the normal course of action, on the surface it was extra odd given that the Riders were without their two of their top receivers.<\/p>\n
The absence of Kian Schaffer-Baker and Sam Emilus elevated players like Johnny Johnson III and D\u2019Sean Mimbs into larger roles, while Dylan Djete was required to start his first CFL game.<\/p>\n
Conventional wisdom suggests it would have been more helpful to use every second on the play clock to ensure everyone was on the same page. Harris didn\u2019t see it that way.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little less time to think, but more reactionary stuff,\u201d Harris said of what the approach meant to his receivers. \u201cBut those guys are in their books. I said after the game, I\u2019m not sure that (receivers coach) Marquay McDaniel gets the credit he deserves for the array of receivers that we\u2019ve had funnelled in and out over the last three years here.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery single time they go in there, they\u2019re ready to play. They\u2019re on point with their depths and timing and knowing where they\u2019re at and where they\u2019re supposed to be. \u2026 We have full belief in those guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The belief in the receivers and the tactics was well-founded. The Riders took over in the second half of the game and won 42-20 on the strength of five touchdowns over the final two quarters. Four receivers had multiple catches in the game, and six different players caught balls.<\/p>\n
With the outcome secured in the fourth quarter, Harris was tasked with his next atypical offensive look. This one needed a double take.<\/p>\n
The Riders tried formations with two quarterbacks on the field. However, it was Tommy Stevens behind centre and not Harris. The latter, instead, was lined up as a wideout.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe actually have like an extra wristband that we call our plays on. Trevor doesn\u2019t have that wristband because he\u2019s not going to call those plays unless I\u2019m in the game,\u201d Stevens explained. \u201cI come in, I call the plays, and Trevor\u2019s been great, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can watch him on the edge. He\u2019s telling the (Ottawa) DBs to come guard him. It\u2019s been really fun. The guys in the huddle, their eyes light up and they\u2019re ready to go.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stevens joked that his advice for Harris was simple: \u201cStay out of the way and don\u2019t get hit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris lining up as a receiver brought some levity on the field and on the game broadcast, but he insists such an alignment isn\u2019t strictly a gimmick.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know who I am. Hey, anything’s possible, right?\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s essentially the threat of us shifting or whatever. We want to make sure that that is in the back of their mind.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Offensive coordinator) Marc (Mueller) does a tremendous job and keeps the defence guessing. There\u2019s a reason I’m out there, so we\u2019ll just keep it moving.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The way Trevor Harris was asked to operate\u00a0for large stretches of last Friday\u2019s win over the Ottawa Redblacks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":855392,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[437],"tags":[3878,49,48,521,522,520,3290,4398,27684,27683,1893,4401,27682,4400,4399,82],"class_list":["post-855391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cfl","tag-agriculture","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canadian-football-league","tag-canadianfootballleague","tag-cfl","tag-contests","tag-country-music","tag-gx94","tag-manitoba-news","tag-radio","tag-rider-radio","tag-saskatchewan-news","tag-saskatchewan-roughriders","tag-saskatchewan-sports","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855391","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=855391"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855391\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855392"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}