Blue won’t reveal decision on injured QB’s status until game time

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 26/09/2014 (4085 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lingering questions about the health of their starting quarterback are a bizarre kind of comfort food for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and their faithful.

The only thing unusual about the latest episode — will starter Drew Willy be able to go at home on Saturday against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats? — may be that it took 12 games of the CFL schedule to again become a staple of the week’s Bombers storyline.

Other than the fact that Willy directed most practice plays with the team’s offensive starters Thursday, and threw the ball pretty well, the decision for Saturday was no closer to made if you listen to the main characters.

“I feel… definitely progressing,” said Willy to a grilling from reporters after Thursday’s practice ended. “Definitely feeling better than last week. Been working hard to get out here and make some throws. Just pretty much trying to progress.”

Willy, who has started every game so far for the 6-6 Bombers, was asked if he’s going to play.

“I think coach will kind of make that decision,” he said. “I’ve talked to (offensive co-ordinator Marcel Bellefeuille) and then they’ll make their decision tonight or tomorrow. No, I haven’t been told either way, which way they’re leaning.”

Does he feel like he can play?

“I’ll just leave it in the coach’s hands,” he said. “I’ll just try to do everything I can to be ready. I thought I did some good things throwing out here this week and the arm’s definitely feeling better and better.”

Over to you, head coach Mike O’Shea.

“We’ll see tomorrow how he feels,” said O’Shea. Yes, he spoke the words in front of reporters Thursday; it was not a feedback loop.

“It’s going to be a game-time decision,” he added.

O’Shea kept his “Willy or won’t he” answers very short. He clearly didn’t want to tip his hand or be seen to be wading into any kind of optimism.

“I’ll have to watch the film of the offence,” he said of Willy’s practice. “I don’t think he turned down any, that’s for sure.”

Has Willy talked to him about how he feels?

“I think he’s waiting and seeing also,” the coach said. “He’s not that guy who’s going to commit to something then back out of a commitment.

“He wants to wait and see again tomorrow how he feels when he wakes up.

“Over the course of time, there are players you run into that say, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah,’ and can’t. And there are players that say, ‘No, no, no,’ and can. Drew is the guy who’s going to be honest about his situation, how he feels, and he’s not going to put us in a position where we make all these plans and then he’s got to back out. So we have to truly wait and see until the last possible minute as to how that’s going to play out.”

There will be no special plans or protections for Willy, O’Shea said, quite clear on that point.

“If he plays, it’s because he’s ready to play,” he said. “I don’t think you can enter a game plan like that. Either you can or can’t.”

The team has been cautious about other injuries, allowing extra healing time and missed games to be sure of better health.

O’Shea said that’s the case here as well.

“Drew’s had two weeks off,” he said. “He had the bye week and this week here. That was enough and it just happened to be that he got banged up right before the bye week. In that regard, it may prove to be fortunate.”

Willy also said he’s used to playing with some pain.

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.

“I’ve been playing with pain the whole year,” he said. “It’s kind of one of those things that I have a high pain tolerance. That’s all I’m really going to say about the pain.”

He did stress that the situation does leave him thinking about hist teammates.

“Any time you’re playing for your teammates, you want to be reliable, accountable,” he said. “I just really want to be out there for them, they fight so hard for me. I want to give the same respect to them by being ready to go if called upon.”

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca

more cfl coverage on c2