Willy earns CFL top performer award for Week 6

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This article was published 05/08/2015 (3956 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Drew Willy has been named Shaw CFL Top Performer of the Week.

Willy helped lead the Blue and Gold to a 23-13 win over the B.C. Lions last Thursday night in Week 6 of CFL action, completing 17 of his 25 passes for 269 yards and two touchdowns. The Bombers pivot also racked up a career-high 72 yards on the ground, smashing his old record of 52.

Asked what inspired such a performance from the second-year starter, Willy credited a growing frustration over the past week, which included an early exit from a 32-3 loss to the Edmonton Eskimos in Week 5 that included a numbers of tests on his injured right knee.

“Maybe a little frustrated, a little angry but at the same time focused,” Willy said. “Just trying to put those three all together and really try and bring your teammates up to a higher level.

“I thought we had good communication as a offence out there, everybody was picking each other up and confidence was high.”

Willy, often robotic in nature, hardly every sways from the mean, but he has his moments, as he puts it. And while he never alluded to what made him bitter, Willy did say he needs to be cautious about it in his repertoire.

“There’s sometimes, just like any individual – any human – there’s some anger,” Willy said. “But for me, playing the quarterback position, you want to stay calm, cool and collected inside. It’s just one of those things, you have to have a good balance.”

It wouldn’t be Willy, or any other quarterback for that matter, if he didn’t deflect most of the honour onto his teammates.

“It’s a team award,” Willy said. “I couldn’t do it without the guys that I have, so anytime we can get an award like that probably means whe won the game. That’s the main focus and I’m just glad we got the win.”

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O’Shea, meanwhile, said he’s going to make sure to agitate Willy as the week progresses heading into the Blue Bombers Week 7 contests in Hamilton.

“I’m going to poke him with pins,” O’Shea said, jokingly.

“You want him to play at a consistent level and you want to prepare consistently every week and sometimes you find yourself in a frame of mind you might not have ventured before, and if it lends to success then you try and look for that again.”

It’s the second time this season Willy has earned the top performer award, claiming the title the first time following a 30-26 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders in week 1.

Willy currently has the highest QB rating in the entire CFL at 113.3 through six games, throwing for seven touchdowns and just two interceptions. The Bombers are 3-3 on the year and sit in third place in the West Division.