Big Blue remain mum on Willy’s status

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This article was published 03/07/2015 (3753 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg Blue Bombers say quarterback Drew Willy is “day to day” and his status for next week’s game against the Montreal Alouettes is “unknown.”

The club issued a statement Friday morning that essentially repeated what head coach Mike O’Shea had to say about his injured quarterback Thursday night following a 52-26 loss to the Hamilton Tiger-Cats at Investors Group Field in which Willy left the game in the first quarter after taking a helmet-to-helmet hit.

The following is the Bombers’ statement:

“The Winnipeg Blue Bombers would like to advise media of an update regarding the injury to quarterback Drew Willy, sustained last night in the game against Hamilton. Drew continued to see team medical staff this morning, and is currently day-to-day, while continuing to be evaluated. His status for next Friday’s game against Montreal is unknown at this time. Coach Mike O’Shea will update Drew’s status during the team’s next media availability on Monday, July 6.”

Willy was down on the field for several minutes after taking the hit as concerned teammates gathered around, but the Bombers QB ultimately walked off the field on his own.

O’Shea said Thursday night Willy watched the second quarter of the game from the tunnel leading to the team’s locker-room and expressed optimism his QB might be back sooner than later.

“We’ll see,” O’Shea told reporters. “Drew’s tough.”

Willy missed just one game due to injury in 2014, starting 17 regular-season games.

The Bombers did not practice Friday and will not return to the practice field until Monday in preparation for next Friday’s home game against the Als.

The Als have even bigger quarterback problems of their own — starter Jonathan Crompton and backup Dan LeFevour both sustained serious shoulder injuries in Week 1. Crompton is on the six-game injured list and LeFevour is gone for the year.

While the Bombers were careful Thursday night not to criticize the officials for failing to throw a flag on the play late in the first quarter in which Willy was injured, privately the front office was livid.

The Bombers feel Hamilton defensive end Adrian Tracy should have been penalized for a helmet-to-helmet hit on Willy, who was defenceless on the play as he was already wrapped up by middle linebacker Taylor Reed and falling to the turf when the hit occurred.

CFL vice-president of officiating Glen Johnson did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Friday.

It will be interesting to see how CFL commissioner Jeffrey Orridge handles the possibility of supplemental discipline against Tracy.

In Week 1, Edmonton Eskimos fans were livid when there was no flag on the play in which their starting QB, Mike Reilly, suffered a serious knee injury that will keep him out 10-12 weeks.

Earlier this week, Orridge announced he wasn’t imposing any supplemental discipline on Toronto Argonauts defensive lineman, Cleyon Laing, for his low hit on Reilly as the latter was in the act of throwing.

Orridge ruled Laing had tripped on an offensive lineman’s foot and was shoved by another offensive lineman and his contact with Reilly was “unavoidable.”

Lost amid all the talk about how bad the Bombers played and the loss of Willy, is a Hamilton squad which is looking every bit this season like the Grey Cup finalists they were last year.

“That’s just a good football team,” said Bombers defensive end Greg Peach. “We’ve got to play better if we want to beat them. The Ticats — they went to the Grey Cup last year. They’re solid. We’ve just got to be better, that’s all.”

Defensive tackle Bryant Turner said he had to tip his cap to Hamilton QB Zach Collaros, who had a monster game against the Bombers — 26-of-33 for 354 yards and two TDs.

“They do a good job at what they do. They get rid of the ball fast,” said Turner. “We were a step away a lot of times, but they get rid of the ball fast.”

Still, Turner said the larger problem was the in the Bombers locker-room, not Hamilton’s.

“It was a game that we mentally lost more than anything,” said Turner,. “We had so many penalties, we had turnovers — just mental problems, a lot of them across the field…

“We had a big Week 1, made some really good things happen. And we come out in Week 2 and we really stunk it up. It’s definitely something we can learn from and there is definitely a mental maturity that comes from this game.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek