HALIFAX — The Saskatchewan Roughriders traveled East to Halifax, N.S. to face the Toronto Argonauts on Saturday for this year’s Touchdown Atlantic.

Head coach Craig Dickenson, defensive lineman Anthony Lanier and running back Jamal Morrow talked to the media after arriving Thursday night on a long flight from Regina to the Maritimes.

Dickenson started by sharing his feelings about the devastating flash floods that have occurred recently in Nova Scotia. Saskatchewan’s head coach also talked about quarterback Mason Fine‘s opportunity to lead the team in the absence of injured starter Trevor Harris, his thoughts on Argos’ quarterback Chad Kelly and Lanier’s versatility.

The defensive lineman meanwhile also shared his prayers for everyone affected by the recent events and talked about Fine doing a good job after taking over for Harris. The defender mentioned that his team is trying to keep moving forward despite losing key players early in the season. Morrow relayed his team’s approach to a big game against the Argonauts, how they have been dealing with adversity early in the season and the return of wide receivers Jake Wieneke and Brayden Lenius.

Here are some highlights of those conversations:

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“Our thoughts are with the families affected by the flooding. Wishing them healing and peace with all the tragedy that has happened.”

— Head coach Craig Dickenson on the recent flash floods in Nova Scotia

“Halifax is a great place, great people. I want to say to the people outside right now going through the tragedies and floods in the area, we are praying for you all.”

— Defensive lineman Anthony Lanier on being in Halifax for the second consecutive year and the recent tragedies in the province

“Mason (Fine) is our quarterback. Trevor (Harris) is not coming back anytime soon. We’ve got other quarterbacks on the roster we like but Mason’s our starter and he’ll get ample opportunity.”

— Dickenson on quarterback Mason Fine

“Doing a great job. He’s taking control of the team, getting in there and making sure that he’s being very vocal and taking on the leadership role. It’s time to step up and he’s getting that done.”

— Lanier on Fine’s performance so far after taking over for Harris

“He is a good quarterback. They’ve got a good system you can see he’s very competent. Our guys are gonna have to play well to beat them.”

— Dickenson on Argos quarterback Chad Kelly

Morrow said he’s excited to have WRs Jake Wieneke and Brayden Lenius back in the lineup (Kevin Sousa/CFL.ca)

“There’s a reason he’s a great D-lineman in the league. He can play inside if you need and if you kick him out he’s good out there, and he plays so hard. Sometimes he plays so hard he ends up hurting himself in a lot of ways. It’s good to have Anthony back. He’s kind of the straw that stirs the drink for our defences.”

— Dickenson on Lanier’s versatility and hard work

“Just like every other week. We know obviously it’s a big game, but we’re just gonna go in and execute our game. There’s nothing that we can really do. We have to control what we can control but for us it is to go out there and play our best brand of football like we try to do every week.”

— Running back Jamal Morrow on his approach going against an undefeated Argonauts team

“Adversity is obviously one of the toughest things in football, right? And the true definition of a team is how do we respond when things hit the fan? I think we’ve done a great job at it, but there are always things we can improve on and then there are things that we will improve on.”

— Morrow on dealing with adversity early in the season

“One day at a time. Everything is not gonna be perfect. You always prepare for the worst but you hope for the best. We’ll go through what’s going on and who’s not here and just trying to keep on moving. People get plugged into the position and they do what they have to do.”

— Lanier on how the team has handled adversity

“Absolutely. You get guys like Jake (Wieneke) and (Brayden) Lenius back that helps the offence tremendously and improves the morale of the team. We’re super excited to have them back.”

— Morrow on if the return of wide receivers Brayden Lenius and Jake Wieneke helps with the running game