Willy’s optimism is predictable – and maybe cockeyed

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This article was published 30/09/2015 (4001 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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Drew Willy said all the right things. Drew Willy always does.

Making his first public comments Wednesday since he injured his knee Aug. 9, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback spoke about how hard it’s been to be unable to play since he got injured and how helpless he’s felt as his team went into a nasty skid that’s seen them lose six of the seven games they’ve played since Willy went down.

“It’s been very tough. Obviously you want to help your teammates and coaches,” Willy told reporters at a news conference at Investors Group Field. “And that’s probably the hardest part — not being able to be out there for your teammates.”

Willy also talked about how hard he’s worked to rehab his injured knee and how determined he is to play again this season.

“I hope so,” he said. “It’s kind of a week-by-week thing right now. The rehab’s started to progress a lot quicker, and I’m hopeful. We’ll see how each week goes, and we’ll just kind of go from there.”

Left mostly unsaid was this: Willy’s recovery has been slower than the team’s original six-to-eight-week forecast, and if he’s going to make good on his pledge to play again this season, he is going to have to heal more quickly than he has been to this point.

It has taken Willy seven weeks to get to the point where — as he revealed to reporters Wednesday — he now feels comfortable using an underwater treadmill in the Bombers’ training room and doing a little light cycling.

Willy also revealed he has yet to begin jogging again, much less running, and said the doctors have told him the tibial plateau fracture and partially torn PCL he sustained is still not fully healed.

Even when it all does finally heal, Willy said he’s going to have rebuild the muscles in his right leg after a convalescence that saw him unable to walk for the first four weeks.

Put it all together and what emerged is Bombers fans can continue to pray alongside Willy for a miracle recovery, but with just five weeks left in the regular season, they should also probably get used to the idea their team is going to live and die on the arm of backup quarterback Matt Nichols.

Always the voice of optimism, Willy insisted even at 4-9 the Bombers aren’t out of the playoff picture yet, noting they’re just two points out of a post-season spot.

“We’re only one game out,” he said. “Montreal has a game on us and we’re tied with B.C. And if you get in the playoffs, anything can happen.

“We’ve shown we can play against the best teams in the league. And if we get a couple plays in the end against Calgary (last Friday), you never know what’s going to happen in that game.”

Willy said he has continued to attend all the team’s meetings and practices and has even been studying game film of upcoming opponents, so if he is deemed healthy enough to play, he’d be able to take over the Bombers offence again quickly and seamlessly.

But what if the Bombers are out of the playoff picture by the time he’s finally ready to return, Willy was asked? “If I’m ready to go, I’m going to play. I love football way too much. I came to Winnipeg to play,” said Willy.

Whether Bombers management would risk rushing their franchise QB back to play in a meaningless game is another matter, however. Asked about that scenario on Wednesday, Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea hedged.

“It will come down to that situation being presented at that moment. Pain management is one thing, and assessing risk is another. We’d have to assess the risk right at that moment. But we will not put him in harm’s way if he was not able to get himself out of trouble.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek

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