O’Shea defends Jamaal Westerman, fined for the third time this season

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This article was published 01/10/2015 (3734 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea came to the defence Thursday of defensive end Jamaal Westerman, who Wednesday night was fined by the CFL for the third time this season.

O’Shea said he reviewed the film of what the league says was unnecessary roughness by Westerman on the final play of Winnipeg’s 25-23 loss to the Calgary Stampeders last Friday at Investors Group Field, and what he saw was a player simply playing to the final whistle even as Calgary settled into “victory formation.”

“When I see the film, I see a guy who refuses to quit. I don’t see him trying to put his helmet on a knee at the end of the game. I see him reaching for the ball trying to cause a fumble. That’s what he was trying to do,” O’Shea said Thursday following his club’s final full practice at IGF in advance of hosting the Edmonton Eskimos Saturday.

“When I saw it on film, it just reaffirms why you need a guy like Jamaal Westerman on your team. He does not know quit.”

O’Shea — a 16-year middle linebacker in the CFL — says he’s never accepted the idea an offence leading on the scoreboard gets to determine when the game is over. “That’s one of main disagreements I have — who decides it’s victory? For the winning team, for the team who’s leading, it’s victory formation. For the team that’s losing, it’s not — it’s desperate football trying to get the ball back.”

The fine against Westerman — his third in just over a month — came on the same day this week he was also announced as one of the CFL’s players of the month. Westerman had four sacks and 14 tackles in four games in September and is the CFL sack leader with 11.

The Bombers will have a couple of roster changes against Edmonton.

Defensive end Greg Peach, who hasn’t practised all week, has now been ruled out and will be replaced by Derrell Johnson.

Import offensive lineman Selvish Capers will take over at left guard from Sam Longo. Capers — acquired from Edmonton in a trade last month that sent Chris Greaves to the Eskimos — said he has nothing to prove this week against his former teammates.

“I just want to beat Edmonton, win a game and help our playoff chances,” said Capers.

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And import Kevin Cone takes over at wide receiver this week from non-import Kris Bastien. That will reduce Winnipeg’s non-import ratio this week to the league-minimum seven starting Canadians from the eight they’ve been using most of this season.

Cone — who played in 28 games in the NFL over the last three seasons — admitted Thursday he’d never even seen a CFL game until the Bombers signed him as a free agent on Sept. 22.

“I’m a quick learner,” grinned Cone.

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @PaulWiecek