Mason Fine may soon be thrust into the crucible as the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ starting quarterback for their home opener, but the third-year backup is still choosing to approach the week one day at a time.
“(I’m) not even focused on Friday, just continuing to prepare throughout the week in practice,” Fine told the Regina media on Wednesday. “Again, what can I do to be the best quarterback I can be for my teammates and all that? Just gonna continue to do what I’ve been doing since the beginning of training camp and see what happens.”
New franchise quarterback Trevor Harris was supposed to make his Mosaic Stadium debut on Friday, June 16 against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, but a hip injury suffered on the final offensive play of last week’s win over Edmonton has complicated matters.
The Riders held a closed practice on Wednesday but Harris did not participate according to the team’s injury report. He took snaps during the team’s walk-through on Thursday but was listed as a game-time decision on the depth chart, raising the possibility that Fine will be on the field come kickoff.
Head coach Craig Dickenson has played coy with his quarterback situation throughout the week and Fine toed the company line as well, providing no insight on how likely it is that he will be making the start.
“Honestly, we haven’t even talked about the quarterback situation,” he said. “We just come in there, we go through our routine with Coach Jeffrey going over the game plan and going over the script for practice and then running those plays and executing those. Just trying to get better every day during practice.”
Since joining the team in 2021, Fine has dressed for 19 career games as the team’s primary backup. He has completed 64.9 percent of his passes for 754 yards, three touchdowns, and three interceptions.
After the Riders benched former starter Cody Fajardo late last season, the North Texas product made the final two starts of the season. He suffered a pair of losses to the Calgary Stampeders but believes the experience has better prepared him for this moment.
“I felt like coming in here I was one step ahead of where I was last year and I think I’ve kind of shown that to the coaches, but more importantly to my teammates, that I’m ready to step in whenever my number is called,” he explained.
“I feel very confident. Just been building chemistry with these guys since the beginning of training camp. I think we did that well throughout the preseason and then this week of practice, I really feel like I’ve been playing well, been throwing well and I even got better from yesterday.”
Fine’s lacklustre performance at the end of last season triggered a heated battle for the backup role during training camp, but the five-foot-11, 190-pound pivot ultimately beat out Shea Patterson and Jake Dolegala to keep his job. He credits the team’s close-knit quarterback room for providing support despite the competition.
“The quarterback room is great. We’re all friends, we try to help one another, and we’re all in it together because, at the end of the day, we’re here for the team and trying to win games and bring back a championship. We are trying to do whatever we can to put the team in the best position to win,” Fine said.
“I’ve been learning a lot from Trevor on and off the field. It’s everyone’s trying to help each other out and be the best quarterback they can be.”
Whoever is under centre, the Riders will face a tremendous test against the visiting Blue Bombers, who are point favourites heading into the matchup. Though the defence impressed in a 17-13 win against the Elks last week, the offence struggled for long stretches and will now face the league’s reigning powerhouse while short-handed.
“Winnipeg has a great defence, great culture, great team overall. They’ve been successful since I’ve been up here and Week 1, they put out some really good film,” Fine said. “They have a lot of strengths and not very many weaknesses, so we’ve just got to have trust in the game plan, go out there and execute and not try to do too much.”
“Winnipeg gets paid and they play and they practice so they’re going to make some plays. It’s gonna be a dogfight no matter what.”
The Riders (1-0) will kick off against the Bombers (1-0) at 9:00 p.m. EDT on Friday.
