The Regina Leader-Post had gone 20-some years without the sports editor asking a thought-provoking question.
Then Taylor Shire arrived and, in an admirable display of courtesy, served up a succulent storyline for himself and his ink-stained predecessor. (Thank you very much.)
To set the scene: Taylor was part of a well-attended Tuesday media scrum that featured Trevor Harris.
The Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting quarterback had made his much-anticipated home debut at Mosaic Stadium on Friday night, when he threw for 413 yards and three touchdowns against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
The numbers have been oft-recycled since then. But Taylor, ever attentive, noticed something that might not have readily met the eye. Hence the question …
“When you ran out of the tunnel on Friday night, I noticed that you kind of took a moment,” Taylor began. “You kind of looked back at the crowd. What did that moment mean to you?”
You could tell right away that Taylor’s question had engaged Harris, who offered the quote of the day.
“It was really cool,” he began. “Something I’ve always kind of longed for is for this stadium and these fans to be on my side.
“I do that every time. This little kid in you gives you chills, just thinking about it. You come out and the crowd’s going wild. You put yourself in those situations where it’s a sellout crowd and you have the best fans and it’s super-loud.
“So you just allow yourself to be that kid for a moment and just say, ‘Wow. I’m here. I get to do this. This is amazing. I get to play football for a living and just praise Jesus.’
“For me, it’s a moment where I take time to reflect and just be thankful.”
Roughriders fans in general should be thankful for the presence of Harris — an 11th-year CFLer who signed with the team as a high-priority free agent on Feb. 14.
In a sizzling-sharp home debut, he fashioned a quarterback-efficiency rating of 127.4. He was just fractionally below the 127.5 figure that appeared beside the good name of Zach Collaros, who piloted Winnipeg to a 45-27 victory.
Harris and Collaros collaborated to produce one of the finest air shows that has been witnessed at Mosaic Stadium in quite some time.
Collaros demonstrated the form that has enabled him to win back-to-back CFL Most Outstanding Player awards. Harris, for his part, delivered one picturesque, precise pass after another.
“I just try to deliver the mail to the right spot at the right time and let them kind of do their thing,” Harris said in response to an inquiry from the erstwhile Leader-Post sports editor, who shall remain aimless.
“That’s kind of what the guys did this week. I just tried to deliver the mail at the right time in the right spot and let them work their magic. That’s what our receivers did.
“There’s obviously some things we want to improve on, but I pride myself on being smart and accurate and throwing on time.
“I’m not like a super-high-talent guy in terms of the things I can do with arm strength and athleticism and stuff so, if I’m not on time or accurate, I’m not going to be very good.”
But when it all comes together, the result is a night (and a sight) like Friday.
“He was really accurate in that game and really had a good command of the offence,” said Head Coach Craig Dickenson, who is preparing the Roughriders for Saturday’s road game against the Calgary Stampeders.
“That’s kind of the Trevor we expected and saw all of camp, so it was good to see. Hopefully he can put back-to-back games together.”
Harris was able to excel on Friday even though the Roughriders were without three front-line receivers — Kian Schaffer-Baker (hip), Brayden Lenius (lower back) and Derel Walker (knee) — due to injuries.
Then Juwan Brescacin left Friday’s contest with a shoulder injury after producing a 24-yard pass-and-run play in collaboration with Harris during the third quarter.
But the diminishing numbers, personnel-wise, did not affect the quarterback’s statistics.
“That’s just a testament to how deep we are in that (receivers) room and, not only that, how deep the trust is in that room in terms of the next guy up,” Harris said.
“We don’t bat an eye in terms of losing Schaeff at the beginning of the year, obviously, and then losing Brayden and then Derel and then Juwan. The list goes on.
“But those guys are going to continue to produce. They hit the right spots. They get separation at the top of the route and then it’s just my job to make sure I deliver the ball to them.”
Harris delivered to the point where he posted an efficiency rate that had been topped only five times over the Roughriders’ previous 77 regular-season or playoff games.
Not that he pays much attention, if any, to statistics.
“I know a lot of people probably think, ‘Bullcrap, you really care,’ but I don’t,” Harris said.
“I care about how we’re executing offensively. Obviously, wins and losses are vital but, at the same time, it’s about who we’re becoming throughout this process of the season.
“Each and every game has a life of its own. If we’re not improving every week, then we’re not putting ourselves in a position to be playing our best football late (in the season).
“So, to me, it’s about execution offensively, not putting our defence in bad spots with turnovers, generating explosive plays, and making sure that we can stay in every game, even if it’s a shootout.”
Harris has been known to shoot out the lights during his time in the CFL.
In 2015, for example, he threw 33 touchdown passes on behalf of the Toronto Argonauts. He followed up two years later by completing 30 scoring strikes for the Ottawa REDBLACKS.
Only five times in Roughriders history has a quarterback thrown for 30 or more touchdowns. Harris has reached that total twice, albeit in a different uniform.
Also of note is his six-touchdown-pass performance for Ottawa in the 2018 East Division final against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
So, Harris was asked by yours truly, “do you at least allow your eyes to bug out a little when you see those kinds of numbers?”
“It’s more just fun,” the personable passer responded with a smile. “When people ask ‘what’s the most yards you’ve thrown for in a game?’ or ‘what is your best game?’ or that sort of thing, those are the things that are just kind of fun to talk about.
“But, to me, that’s just like an enjoyed experience with my team. It’s not really just about how many touchdowns I threw, because if we didn’t block the D-line and our receivers weren’t getting open or our offensive co-ordinators weren’t developing the game plans, it wouldn’t have worked out.
“That’s why it’s the ultimate team game.”
Covered for you by Team L-P — past and present.
