The Saskatchewan Roughriders (4-4) will head to Montreal this week to face the Alouettes (4-3), now home to the Riders’ former quarterback, Cody Fajardo, and former offensive coordinator, Jason Maas.
Riders’ head coach Craig Dickenson said the Alouettes are a good football team, and said Maas, who is now the head coach, will have them ready to go.
“I’m sure Cody is motivated to play well,” Dickenson said. “It’s going to be a tough game regardless of who’s over there. The fact that it’s Jason and Cody maybe that will add a little motivation on their side but not really for us.”
Despite the positivity and optimism from Dickenson, he was fielded a few questions on Wednesday regarding how things were left with both Maas and Fajardo at the end of last season.
“Cody and Jason have said that they kind of feel like they were the scapegoats for what went on last season, the struggles. Your response to that?” asked a reporter on Tuesday.
“It’s too bad they feel that way, that’s my response,” Dickenson stated.
He then went on to say he has no ill will toward them.
“I wish them all the best, except for this week,” he joked. “We weren’t good enough on offence last year. If we had been successful, they’d still be here. But we weren’t good enough on offence and we felt like we needed to make changes,” Dickenson explained.
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The end of last year saw Dickenson choose to forego Fajardo as his starting quarterback in the final two games of the regular season and give the opportunity to backup Mason Fine.
“I think it went better than people probably would’ve expected in that situation, you know you’re losing your job right? We’re highly competitive. In his situation, I’m sure he was upset. But in the same way he was still able to be a professional and try to make me the best quarterback I could be,” Fine said.
Fine added he and Fajardo have a great relationship to this day.
“We’re still pretty close. We talk after almost every day. We’ve been knowing around about this week ad it’s going to be a fun time. I’m excited to see him, talk to him. Cody has been and is still a good friend to me,” Fine shared.
Quarterback Trevor Harris will not get the chance to face off against his former squad in their only regular season matchup due to his injury. However, receiver Jake Wieneke will get the opportunity this week.
“Left on good terms, definitely enjoyed my time there. I think every game you play, you obviously want to win, so nothing different than any other game but I definitely am looking forward to it,” Wieneke said.
The Riders will hold their walk through practice at Mosaic Stadium on Thursday before they hit the road to Montreal for Friday’s game.
