Bombers’ new front office make some good choices; a bit of luck helped, too

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This article was published 13/09/2014 (4112 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

VANCOUVER — You’ve got to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good, and the new Blue Bombers front office has been a bit of both since taking over last year.

The good parts speak for themselves: they’ve made long-term investments in upgrading the team’s scouting department; they’ve gotten active again in chasing free agents in a way Winnipeg hasn’t for years; and they’ve turned a moribund franchise that was hopeless at 2-9 at this time last year into a bona fide playoff contender at 6-5 heading into tonight’s critical matchup against the B.C. Lions at BC Place.

On the other hand, the rookie Bombers triumvirate of CEO Wade Miller, GM Kyle Walters and head coach Mike O’Shea have also been a bit lucky, most notably with a 2014 regular season schedule that was front-loaded for the rebuilding Bombers with East Division opponents in a year in which the East Division has been historically bad.

But on the most important decision this front office has made for the future of the Bombers franchise — at starting quarterback — history is beginning to suggest Miller, Walters et al. were both very good and very lucky they selected Drew Willy as the man to lead this franchise into the future.

Consider: Of the four QBs with bona fide starting potential who were on the CFL open market in the past two years — Mike Reilly, Henry Burris, Zach Collaros and Drew Willy — you could make a compelling statistical case right now that Willy has been the best of the lot.

Statistically, Collaros and Burris aren’t even the conversation right now and the question really comes down to whether you’d rather have Reilly or Willy as your starting QB.

Reilly has a slightly better QB rating than Willy — 91.8 vs. 89.6 — and he has a significantly better TD-interception ratio — 11:6 vs 12:11. On the other hand, Willy leads the league in passing yards and his five 300-plus yards games this season are three more than any other QB in the league has in 2014.

So, you have to tip your hat to the Bombers front office for putting so much trust in a QB in Willy, who prior to this season had the grand total of four starts on his professional resumé.

And the lucky part? Well, let’s face it: The Bombers signed Willy only after they first missed the boat on Reilly, Burris and Collaros.

The Reilly miss had nothing to do with current Bombers management — that happened after former Bombers GM Joe Mack was asleep at the switch in January 2013 when Edmonton GM Ed Hervey engineered a trade with B.C. just prior to Reilly becoming a free agent.

Burris and Collaros, meanwhile, were both pursued aggressively by Bombers management this last off-season but elected to sign in Ottawa and Hamilton respectively, for more money.

All of which left Willy the last man standing — and the Bombers front office looking very smart and very fortunate right now.

So what does Willy think of what he’s done in what is effectively his rookie season as a professional starting QB?

“Obviously I think I’ve shown I can throw the ball with anyone in the league and that kind of stuff. But at the same time I think I’m still learning mentally every single week,” Willy said Friday afternoon.

The latest lesson for Willy, of course, is the adversity that has come with piloting a team that has followed up a red-hot 5-1 start to the season with a 1-4 skid in their last five games.

“You see the guys who’ve played a long time in this league and they’re very, very mentally sharp,” says Willy. “They’ve had their ups and downs and they’ve been able to fight through adversity. So I’m just trying to stay positive and try to learn from every situation.”

His touchdown-to-interception ratio is a bit of a sore spot for Willy. The ideal ratio in pro football is at least 2:1 and Willy knows he needs to throw more TDs and fewer interceptions.

He also points out some of those interceptions have come in desperate situations for his team — he threw two of them last week, for instance, late in the fourth quarter as he tried to rally his team in a losing effort against Saskatchewan — and he’s also missed some TD opportunities simply because his team’s running game has been pretty good with Nic Grigsby, who has a league-leading eight rushing TDs.

“Obviously, I’d like those numbers to be more 2:1,” said Willy, “but sometimes it just depends on situations…

“And at the end of the day, you’re really judged on how many wins you get and if you take your team to the playoffs and win in the playoffs.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek