Davis or LeFevour at QB for Bombers Friday? O’Shea not ready to say

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This article was published 31/10/2017 (2931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg head coach Mike O’Shea would not commit Tuesday to a replacement for injured No. 1 quarterback Matt Nichols when the Blue Bombers travel to Calgary for a crucial regular-season finale against the first-place Stampeders.

“You guys will know soon enough — tomorrow probably,” O’Shea told reporters at his daily press briefing following a closed practice at Investors Group Field.

On his weekly CJOB radio show Monday night, O’Shea confirmed Nichols’ status; he appeared to injure the calf muscle on his left leg early in the first half of Saturday’s 36-27 loss to the visiting B.C. Lions. Nichols was ruled out of further action at halftime.

Both Dominique Davis, annointed in training camp as the club’s No. 2 quarterback, and Dan LeFevour saw duty against the Lions after Nichols went down. Davis completed seven of 12 passes for 82 yards and no touchdowns before giving way to LeFevour, who fared even worse, completing five of 12 passes for 42 yards, two interceptions and no touchdowns.

“I think he still has the opportunity to play this game, I really do,” O’Shea said, referring to Davis. “We’ve got another day of practice and we’ll see how it goes. But to be honest, Dan’s also had more starts and some more successes as a starter.”

The loss to B.C., Winnipeg’s third in four games, dropped the Blue Bombers to 11-6 and put them in jeopardy of missing out on a home playoff date.

A victory Friday in Calgary would give the Blue Bombers the right to host the West Division semifinal. However, a loss and a win by Edmonton over the 10-7 Saskatchewan Roughriders would give the semifinal host duties to the 11-6 Eskimos. Winnipeg, which holds the tiebreaker edge on the Esks, has not hosted a home playoff game since 2011.

Nichols has started all 17 games for the Blue Bombers.

O’Shea was also asked about three other injured players:

• Tailback Andrew Harris, who left Saturday’s game in the fourth quarter looking woozy after a helmet-to-helmet hit with B.C. linebacker Dyshawn Davis, has not been ruled out for Friday night.

“He ran around today, we’ll see tomorrow,” O’Shea said.

• Offensive lineman Travis Bond (upper body) did not practise Tuesday but O’Shea seemed to leave the door open for his return.

• O’Shea wouldn’t confirm the return of running back/slotback Timothy Flanders, who practised Tuesday after missing the last three games with a lower-body injury.

“I’m still in shape and everything went as planned,” Flanders said. “I’m happy to be back.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14