Bomber coach not ruling Picard, Leggett out for Saturday game

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This article was published 22/07/2015 (3708 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers centre Dominic Picard and safety Maurice Leggett left Bombers practice early today but head coach Mike O’Shea remains hopeful both men will still play this coming Saturday in Edmonton.

Picard missed practice on Tuesday with what was described as a virus but attempted to return to practice on Wednesday.

It didn’t go well — or last very long. “He came to practice, we had a nice chat and then part way through practice, he had to run (to the bathroom),” O’Shea said of Picard.

Leggett, meanwhile, sustained an undisclosed injury near the end of practice and did not finish the session, but O’Shea was not concerned. “From what he said, he’ll be fine,” said O’Shea.

The Bombers are preparing this week to face the Edmonton Eskimos, who have the best defence in the CFL. O’Shea was asked if taking on a team with a defence like that means his defence will also need to rise to the occasion for the Bombers to be competitive.

“No, in that particular matchup, you want our offence to be able to take what Edmonton gives up and then also push a few things down their throat. You want to be able to dictate to them also.

“But there is that school of thought that says whatever Edmonton does, our defence needs to match their production. But I think our reality is our offence needs to produce against their defence and our defence needs to produce against their offence.”

With two starting defensive linemen out this week — Bryant Turner is still nursing a broken thumb and Greg Peach sustained a lower body injury in a loss to Calgary last Saturday — the Bombers will rotate a commitee of players through those two spots.

Nate Collins and Deantre Harlan both replaced Turner at tackle last weekend and O’Shea said Harlan could also see reps at Peach’s end position this week. The Bombers have also had Derrell Johnson and Thaddeus Gibson rotating through Peach’s spot this week and O’Shea said Kashawn Fraser could also see some action.

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Turner has missed one game already and has been placed on the six-game injured list, although O’Shea said as recently as Tuesday that Turner would soon be fitted with a playing cast and could potentially return as early as next week.

Meanwhile, at right tackle, starter Jace Daniels returned to practice on Wednesday but Devin Tyler continued to take the starting reps.

“We’ll have to break down the film and take a good hard look at how Jace is moving before we (decide who will start at right tackle in Edmonton),” said O’Shea.

email: paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek