Working hard is easy for new receivers

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This article was published 30/05/2016 (3398 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It took one rep at the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive mini-camp in late April to verify to head coach Mike O’Shea why the team went after two of the league’s top receivers in the off-season.

Even at that off-season camp, both Weston Dressler and Ryan Smith practised like they would mid-season, like there was a meaningful game on the horizon and they were in a game itself.

“They’re extremely professional,” O’Shea said, noting a time at camp he caught Dressler in the film room late into the night by himself. “They’re going to lead that way. They’re going to make sure guys are doing the right thing. There are all these intangibles beside the fact they’re both extremely fast, very smart football players — highly competitive guys. I don’t know any other word to sum it up.”

For fans of the team, superlatives aside, what happens on the field will matter most from a team going into it’s 26th year of Grey Cup drought.

The good news, then, is that production from either player — the wily vet in Dressler, or the relative newcomer in Smith — has never been an issue.

In fact, the duo’s numbers in 2015 for the Saskatchewan Roughriders in some cases combined to be nearly three quarters of total offence the Bombers put up in the receiving game.

Dressler and Smith combined for 13 receiving touchdowns, six and seven, respectively. The Bombers had 19 total as a team split between eight players. The duo combined for over 1,900 yards receiving, the Bombers had just over 4,100.

Both are looking to build off near-1,000-yard seasons.

“I’m going to work hard, outwork my opponent and play fast and relentless, that’s what I’ve been taught my whole life,” Smith said. “It was just the way I was taught. When I was in college, in high school, you can only get better if you try harder.”

Dressler carries with him nine years of CFL experience and wisdom, both of which he hopes to impart on a team of young receiving hopefuls.

“Hopefully I can help a lot of the younger guys understand that in order to be successful, everyone in the unit has to be working together,” Dressler said.

Shedding some light on Paul LaPolice’s newly installed offence, Dressler said the team concept rings especially true in the new offensive co-ordinators scheme.

“Obviously, there are times where you’re isolated as a receiver and you’re one-on-one with the quarterback working together to make a play, but under coach LaPo’s offence, there’s a lot of concepts that require us to work together to make sure everyone has the spacing properly,” he said.

Dressler said the Bombers’ front office has done its job, one of the main reasons he decided to sign here in in the first place.

“It’s headed in the right direction,” he said. “They want to win now and they are doing everything they can to do that. It’s on the players and the coaches now to play and win games. The pieces are here, we have to put them together.”

Twitter: @scottbilleck

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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