EARLY MISTAKE FROM HARRIS SETS TONE FOR ENTIRE GAME
Redblacks never really got back on track after quarterback threw an interception
It started out looking like it would be a slugfest.
Advancing to the East Division final in Toronto, it appeared, was going to be the team that had the ball last on Sunday.
Basketball on turf, Murray McCormick of the Regina Leader-Post called it, as the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Ottawa Redblacks took turns scoring touchdowns on their first possessions and the visitors found the end zone again with their second.
Poised to keep pace, Trevor Harris made the first mistake of the day. Instead of leading Juron Criner with a short pass, he threw the ball a little behind his big receiver. It was intercepted by linebacker Samuel Eguavoen at the Saskatchewan five.
Asked after the game what happened on that play, the Redblacks quarterback was initially stumped.
“I honestly don’t even remember it,” Harris said, before his memory returned. “Oh, I just left it a little inside. It was a tight coverage throw, but it’s a throw I make 99 times out of 100. It didn’t sway my confidence or anything.”
Maybe not, but it did set the tone for the game. Hell, it might have even cost Ottawa the game.
The Redblacks wouldn’t get that close to the end zone again until Harris threw a scoring pass to Criner with 1:50 left in the fourth quarter. By then, the game was out of reach.
The Harris mistake, on a throw he makes 99 per cent of the time, surely put a dent in the Redblacks chance to defend their title at TD Place in two weeks time. It was a doozy. Harris threw the ball 60 times as the Redblacks were forced to play catchup. He connected on 37 attempts, for a 61.7 per cent completion rate, and 457 yards. There would be another interception, and could have been about four in total if not for the slippery fingers of Saskatchewan defenders.
In other words, he did not have a good afternoon.
At least, not nearly as good as it needed to be.
“I know he would say he’d want to play better,” Redblacks head coach Rick Campbell said when asked to evaluate the play of his quarterback. “Our whole football team needed to play a little bit better.
“Football is a team game, and everybody can make each other look good. We didn’t make ourselves look good today.”
Indeed, Harris was not helped by his receivers. Among the drops was one by the normally sure-handed Greg Ellingson inside the Roughriders 10-yard line in the second quarter. Dionta Spencer also dropped a ball in the end zone in the fourth quarter.
But throughout the day, usually on short passes, Harris appeared to be a little off.
“The whole goal of the season is to get to the Grey Cup, and win the thing, that we’re not going to be in … it’s tough,” he said. “We had opportunities today and we just didn’t capitalize.”
Harris did not shoulder the blame for that, as men in his position of leadership often do.
“It was the whole team,” he said. “I don’t think we can sit here and point at one person, or two people or three people. It was a team thing. We all made our fair share. It’s one of those things I’ll be thinking about for quite a while.
“Any time you lose your No. 1 receiver and your No. 2 receiver on the season, it makes for tough sledding,” he added when presented a chance to lean on the absence of Brad Sinopoli, and the fact Greg Ellingson was playing hurt. “But we’re not going to sit here and make excuses. We just didn’t get it done today.
“It hurts. But if it didn’t hurt, that would mean it didn’t mean anything to me so, it hurts.”
Asked if he could have a doover on one play, Harris again forgot about the early interception deep in enemy territory.
“I don’t know,” he said. “There’s a few plays that stick out in your mind every game. I don’t know how many times we put it up. We threw the ball quite a bit. You take all those, and you’re going to miss a few. Tom Brady misses some. It’s football.”
Did he ever feel like he was in a groove?
“Rust wasn’t a factor,” said Harris. “We were fine. We shot ourselves in the foot early. Second down a few times, a couple of mishaps here and there. We just didn’t get it done. But there’s not a group of guys I’m more proud to stand next by than these guys.”
Whether or not to give him that chance again is something the Redblacks must seriously consider. Harris’ contract is done. He will become a free agent unless management tenders him an offer that, you’ve have to think, will need to come with at least the $450,000 salary he had this year.
Asked about his plans for the off-season, Harris was coy.
“I’m going to outwork every person,” he said. “That’s really all I try to do, all I aim to do. I outwork everybody. I’ll let the chips fall where they may.”
Does he hope to be back in Ottawa?
“Yeah, with this taste in your mouth,” Harris began. “But I mean let’s be honest, the season just ended 10 minutes ago, I’ve got a lot to digest right now.”
With the off-season just 10 minutes old, he needed to step up and vow to avenge this defeat. At that point he had to want more than anything to return to Ottawa and right the wrong.
That he instead has a lot to digest tells you he wants to explore other options. Just as the management needs to do at the quarterback position.
Our whole football team needed to play a little bit better. Football is a team game, and everybody can make each other look good.