Pressure? What pressure?

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This article was published 16/06/2016 (3399 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

With training camp now in the rear-view mirror and the regular season fast approaching, a sense of optimism is starting to build around the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.

As is the case for all nine teams across the CFL, a new season not only offers a clean slate for players and coaches, it also provides the opportunity to amend the past — last year’s misfortune be damned, replaced by a week-to-week battle to become the league’s newest champion.

But for the Bombers, a team eager to erase its current era of futility that includes missing the playoffs in four straight seasons and a 25-year Grey Cup drought, you’d think there would be an even heartier dose of pressure mounting as the June 24 season opener against the Montreal Alouettes inches closer.

If you thought that, however, you’d be wrong.

Not from the players, new and veteran. Not even from head coach Mike O’Shea, who doesn’t have a contract beyond this season and may have the most riding on success in the upcoming campaign.

Instead, when asked if he felt the pressure — the pressure to succeed, the pressure to perform early, the pressure to return to a winning culture — the coach remained calm, even confused a bit, by the notion.

“I don’t feel it like that,” said O’Shea following a two-hour a practice Thursday at Investors Group Field.

It’s not that O’Shea doesn’t get the idea of pressure. You don’t spend 16 seasons in the CFL and become one of the league’s top middle linebackers without feeling a little heat.

He just doesn’t have time for it. He’s too busy focusing on other, more important items, including what his players need to succeed — “I think about winning all the time,” he said — and on his ongoing meetings with general manager Kyle Walters to determine a final roster by early next week.

“But it doesn’t amount to pressure I don’t believe,” said O’Shea.

Whether or not you believe O’Shea, it’s hard not to feel for him. Many hours will have gone into those final decision and even then, the results are far from predictable. The expectations are only higher this season after major upgrades at receiver, running back, on the defensive line and at kicker.

But as tough as it may be to understand, or care, for how level-headed O’Shea remains despite his circumstances, it has earned him respect from his players.

Jamaal Westerman, a defensive end for the Bombers and a leader in the locker room, said his coach’s calm demeanour through last year’s struggles — a season the Bombers finished 5-13 — has only helped the team prepare for this season.

“He didn’t ride the wave, there was never highs and lows or days where he was chewing us out and then days where he was praising us,” said Westerman. “He stayed pretty steady and preached preparation and focus.”

Like O’Shea, Westerman also balked at the idea of pressure — “That stuff can sidetrack you,” he said — but he did admit there was an urgency to the season.

Not only for a city that longs for a winner but also because of the sport itself. As unforgiving as football can and has been for the fans in Winnipeg, it’s even worse for the players, where losing takes a toll on both the mind and body.

“It’s not a game that you can play for a long time, so it’s never about next season,” said Westerman. “From last year to this year it’s a new team, the guys are different.”

In that group of new faces for the Bombers this year is defensive tackle Keith Shologan, who signed with Winnipeg as a free agent after two seasons with the Ottawa Redblacks and six before that with the Saskatchwan Roughriders.

Shologan was part of the resurgence in the nation’s capital two years ago, picked in the second round by the Redblacks in the expansion draft. In the first year, the Redblacks won just two games. Last year, they made it to the Grey Cup, losing 26-20 to the Edmonton Eskimos.

Shologan can see the similarities between Ottawa and Winnipeg. In that 2-16 season, Ottawa lost a number of close games. Of Winnipeg’s 13 losses last season, seven were within seven points, four of which were lost by three points or less.

Ottawa saw a need for talent and brought in more playmakers. This season, in addition to Shologan, who finished with seven sacks last season, the Bombers have added defensive tackle Euclid Cummings, a fiesty player from Toronto; receivers Ryan Smith and Weston Dressler, both of whom eclipsed 900 receiving yards last season with the Roughriders; Andrew Harris, who was the league’s No. 2 rusher and first in total yardage; and kicker Justin Medlock, the most accurate foot in the CFL.

Most importantly, though, Shologan said they kept a positive attitude, ignoring the pressures created from outside the team and instead continued believing in the guys on it.

“Everybody here is behind us,” he said. “The guys really care about each other, coaches really care about the players and it’s a great feeling when you walk in. Now we just need to translate that onto the field.”

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

twitter: @jeffkhamilton