Bombers stick with winning line up

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/10/2011 (5163 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

EDMONTON — The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have made just one change to their roster this week heading into Saturday night’s game against the Edmonton Eskimos here at Commonwealth Stadium.

Defensive end Kenny Mainor — who returned home earlier this week following the death of his grandmother — has been scratched and replaced on the club’s 46-man roster by rookie Quentin Davie, a 6-4, 240-pounder out of Northwestern University.

Mainor platoons in and out of one defensive end position with fellow lineman Fernand Kashama and Jason Vega. Those two men will now be expected to take on more responsibilities this week, but head coach Paul LaPolice said Davie will also get some snaps on Saturday.

“Quentin Davie will definitely play on special teams and he’ll also play in some form of a rotation too,” LaPolice told a news conference here Friday afternoon.

The Bombers flew to Edmonton Friday morning and staged a light workout at Commonwealth Stadium Friday afternoon.

Afterward, Davie — who attended training camp with the Detroit Lions this summer, but was released after three weeks — said he is pumped up about the opportunity to make his professional football regular season debut here tomorrow night.

“I’m excited. It’s a blessing just to be out here playing football again,” said Davie. “I’d been sitting at home, just working out, not knowing what was coming next in my life. And so to get the call (from Winnipeg) and then now get a chance to play, it feels good.

“It’s always fun to get a chance to get after a quarterback.”

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

The Eskimos held their workout Friday morning and Edmonton quarterback Ricky Ray said afterward that his club is motivated by a 28-16 loss the Bombers hung on them at Canad Inns Stadium way back in Week 6 — a loss that spoiled a perfect 5-0 start for the Eskimos and sent them on a skid that saw them lose three of their next four games.

“They took it to us in the second half of that game out there,” said Ray, “and we definitely want to defend our home turf the same way they defended their home turf. It’s a big game for both teams and we’re trying to get the win.”

The Eskimos are in a three-way tie for first place in the West Division heading into this weekend, while the Bombers are tied with the Montreal Alouettes for first place in the East Division.

Edmonton receiver Fred Stamps was kicked in the groin on the first offensive play of the game against Winnipeg back in August and had to have emergency abdominal surgery following the game because of internal bleeding. Stamps subsequnetly missed three games to recuperate, but he continues to lead the Eskimos in receiving yardage and needs just 89 yards this week to go over 1,000 yards.

“I never really had a chance to play in that last game because of what happened,” Stamps said Friday. “I was in a lot of pain — let’s put it like that.”