Bombers hope to snap out of bind

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This article was published 04/09/2019 (2197 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The CFL has decided not to punish Saskatchewan Roughriders defensive lineman Lavar Edwards for knocking Winnipeg Blue Bombers long-snapper Chad Rempel out of the Labour Day Classic.

While Edwards can wash his hands clean of the incident, the Bombers unfortunately cannot do the same, as there’s a good chance Rempel won’t be suiting up for the rematch against the Roughriders on Saturday at IG Field in the Banjo Bowl.

In the second quarter of Sunday’s 19-17 loss to the Riders at Mosaic Stadium, Rempel snapped the ball to Justin Medlock for a punt before he was bulldozed by Edwards. Rempel fell back and hit his head on the turf, forcing him to leave the game and be replaced by linebacker and special-teams ace Thomas Miles — who snapped at Churchill High School and for the University of Manitoba Bisons in his senior season.

There was no penalty on the play, which was rather questionable. In April, the CFL’s board of governors approved a rule that makes it illegal for a defender to deliver a forcible blow to a long snapper while the snapper’s head is down and in a position where he cannot protect himself.

Bombers head coach O’Shea, a member of the CFL’s rules committee, was visibly upset with the officials at halftime.

“Well, any time you lose a guy, you don’t like it,” O’Shea said after Wednesday’s practice at IG Field. “I like our players and I like when they stay healthy. When a guy’s got to leave the game, I just wanted to voice my displeasure and see where that took us. But, it didn’t take us anywhere, really.”

O’Shea was also heated after the game, as he had some words for Saskatchewan head coach Craig Dickenson, likely about the hit on Rempel, before being pulled away by the team’s director of public and player relations, Darren Cameron.

“I don’t have issues with Craig,” said O’Shea, downplaying the situation. “He’s a good coach. He’s got his team playing extremely well. I think it was blown out of proportion.”

Rempel was a non-participant at Wednesday’s practice, but he was around to help Miles and newly signed long-snapper Maxime Latour, who was signed to the practice roster on Wednesday. Latour, a 26-year-old from Valleyfield, Que., played at the University of Sherbrooke before spending time with the Montreal Alouettes in training camp this year. He also had a workout with the Toronto Argonauts last month.

O’Shea wouldn’t confirm if Rempel would miss Saturday’s game, but clearly the signing of Latour is not an encouraging sign. You won’t find many fans walking around IG Field wearing Rempel jerseys, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a crucial member of the team.

O’Shea wouldn’t confirm if Rempel would miss Saturday’s game, but clearly the signing of Latour is not an encouraging sign. You won’t find many fans walking around IG Field wearing Rempel jerseys, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t a crucial member of the team. Veteran kicker Medlock, who’s 22-for-26 on field-goal attempts this year, has a long history with Rempel as the duo played together in Toronto for a year before spending the past four seasons with the Bombers. Medlock said it was an adjustment to finish the game with Miles, but he was impressed with how the Winnipegger did in his first professional game action as a snapper.

“He got it back there. The get-off times were good,” Medlock said. “It obviously changes up the rhythm, right? That was a little tougher. But at the same time, we made a field goal when we needed to make a field goal and made an extra point when we needed to make an extra point. He did a great job.”

Despite the strong long-snapping debut, Miles said he wasn’t surprised to see the team bring in another option.

“No, I mean, it makes sense,” said Miles, who has 10 tackles this year. “It never hurts to have another guy that’s capable of snapping on the roster. And Max looks really good. I’m not sure what the plan is for the week, but we’ll be good either way.”

Miles might’ve made the decision a little easier for the team on Wednesday. The special-teams unit was on the field to practise punting and Miles bounced one snap to Medlock and had another one roll past the kicker into the end zone. If that leads to the team choosing Latour, don’t expect Miles to be heartbroken.

“There’s no issue with snapping for me, or snapping itself. But it takes me off of kickoff, kick return and punt return, so my role gets smaller,” Miles said.

“It’s critical, obviously. But I don’t know, I enjoy being out there as much as I can.”

Even though the choice of long snapper affects Medlock more than anyone else, he said he won’t have much say in who the team elects to roll with on Saturday. But Medlock has confidence in both options, even though it’s a short week and there isn’t much time to build chemistry.

“It all starts with the snap. I’ve always said that,” Medlock said. “I feel like I’ve been kicking great this whole year. Obviously, there’s been a lot of hiccups this year. But at the same time, I feel like I’m swinging the leg pretty well.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

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