Bombers making adjustments from lacklustre pre-season

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/06/2016 (3397 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Weston Dressler faked left and then juked right, his quick movements creating a gap between him and the man responsible for covering him. Set in the shotgun formation, quarterback Drew Willy took a step forward before firing a pass to Dressler, who by then had freed up over the middle. As the ball approached his hands, Dressler reached out to grab it, only this time the ball poked free, deflecting off his fingertips before hitting the ground as the whistle called an end to the drill.

It marked a rare blip for Dressler, now on the eve of his ninth CFL season and first with the Blue and Gold, even if it was just practice. And perhaps a moment not even worth mentioning considering he just returned from an undisclosed injury that forced him to miss most of training camp, including the Bombers’ two pre-season games.

“It gets frustrating as a player when you have to watch the other guys go to work every day and there’s not much you can do on the field with them,” said Dressler, who besides a few running routes without shoulder pads last week had not practised in full since June 4. “Everything felt good, just trying to get the wind back and keep breaking the rust off.”

Though Dressler wasn’t able to compete in the two exhibition games, he was able to watch, including going over film of what was a pretty stale effort by the No. 1 offence – a unit that combined for just 10 points and no touchdowns.

“It’s never as bad as you think it is and never as good as you think it is,” said Dressler. “There’s definitely some things that we need to clean up from that game that we’ve addressed and we’re working on right now.”

The Bombers begin their season in a Week 1 rematch with the Montreal Alouettes — who the Bombers beat 36-13 in the pre-season — Friday night at Investors Group Field.

Hard goodbyes: It was the first practice for the Bombers since making their final cuts over the weekend, trimming the team down to its 46-man roster (not included in that group is the 10-man practice roster or players currently on injured lists). Of the notable cuts were veteran offensive lineman Jace Daniels and defensive back Matt Bucknor, both of whom played the last two seasons under O’Shea.

“Jace Daniels is a tough hard-nosed football player. He’s intelligent” said O’Shea. “Matt Bucknor, he jumped into a situation and rose to the occasion and took a job and wouldn’t relinquish it. In that time he just proved to be a tremendous ambassador for our club, he’s a great community guy.”

But football is a business and O’Shea said with the talent that had arrived to camp this year, difficult decisions had to be made.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

“Those are tough decisions, not only for the football side but just the people you’re dealing with,” he said. “They’re good men.”

Injury report: Linebackers Ian Wild and Sam Hurl returned to practice after missing a number of days, while defensive tackle Euclid Cummings sat out Monday. Head coach Mike O’Shea said after practice he expects Cummings’ injury to be minor, adding he could be back as early as Tuesday.

O’Shea added defensive back Johnny Adams, who pulled up lame in the first week of training camp and hasn’t been on the field since, is close to returning and might even be ready for Friday’s game.

“It’s going to come down to the wire whether he can play or not,” said O’Shea.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.catwitter: @jeffkhamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton is a sports and investigative reporter. Jeff joined the Free Press newsroom in April 2015, and has been covering the local sports scene since graduating from Carleton University’s journalism program in 2012. Read more about Jeff.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.