Ian Wild and Jason Vega return to Bombers lineup for Edmonton game next week

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This article was published 07/10/2014 (4075 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Help is on the way for the beleaguered Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea, speaking to reporters Tuesday afternoon in his first media availability since the club lost their fifth game in a row last Friday in Ottawa, said injured defensive end Jason Vega and linebacker Ian Wild are both expected to return to the Bombers lineup when the club plays the Eskimos in Edmonton next Monday.

O’Shea said injured receivers Nick Moore and Cory Watson — who was hurt in Friday’s loss to the Redblacks — also might play against Edmonton. O’Shea added that DB Demond Washington and LB Ejiro Kuale are questionable.

The Bombers have lost seven of their last eight games and are last in the West Division at 6-8, a win behind the 7-7 BC Lions who host Ottawa this week.

The Bombers best chance to make the playoffs is by finishing 4th in the West and hoping their record is good enough to earn a crossover spot in the East Division. But the Bombers remaining schedule doesn’t favour them — their last four games are in Edmonton, at home versus BC and Calgary and then on the road in Calgary to finish up the year.

The Bombers haven’t won in Edmonton since 2005 and haven’t won in Calgary since 2002. They are also just 1-5 this year against the West Division.

O’Shea — who has remained relentlessly upbeat in public even as his team’s season increasingly swirls the drain — was asked if his club’s troubles have reached the point where he needs to get loud and start confronting his players for their poor play.

“How do you know I haven’t.” asked O’Shea. “What we talk about in the locker room and how I conduct our business is generally going to stay in there.”

But O’Shea also added that he’s skeptical about the efficacy of yelling at his players. “Yelling at a guy to make a tackle, I don’t think is going to have the desired effect,” said O’Shea. “If you’re an accountant and you add up a column wrong, does your boss come in and scream and yell at you?”

The Bombers haven’t practiced since the loss to Ottawa on Friday and won’t return to the practice field until Thursday.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek