Dressler likes playoff swagger

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This article was published 13/11/2018 (2489 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Not all championships are won the same way. But they all require something special to achieve, Winnipeg Blue Bombers receiver Weston Dressler said.

Dressler understands what it takes to cross that finish line in the CFL. He went all the way with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2013, fending off the B.C. Lions and Calgary Stampeders before dismantling the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, 45-23, to clinch the 101st Grey Cup on home soil.

A veteran wide receiver now in his 11th season in the league and third with the Bombers, Dressler said there are many things at play when fighting for a CFL title. But of that to-do list, there is one thing that sticks out.

“The biggest and most important thing is the will and the desire to do it. I’ve been on a lot of teams that thought they had it, that say they want to win and feel like they want to win, but when you really, really have it, you can feel it,” Dressler told the Free Press in a phone interview Tuesday.

“To get over that hump and prove that we’re capable of winning in the playoffs was a big step for us. But now it’s time to move on to Calgary and try to find a way to win again.”
– Weston Dressler

“It’s just a different type of feeling within the room, a different kind of confidence level. I felt that in the locker room before the game in Saskatchewan and I’m happy I felt it and I want us to continue moving forward with it.”

The Bombers have made it through the first of three check stops en route to what would be their first Grey Cup title in 28 years. Winnipeg defeated the Roughriders 23-18 in Sunday’s West Division semifinal at Mosaic Stadium, in what was the first post-season victory for the Blue and Gold in seven years.

More specific to this current group, many of whom have been around for the past few years, the win was especially fulfilling because it came after back-to-back years of falling short in the first round.

“Obviously, everyone was really excited,” said Dressler, who had four receptions for 50 yards against the Riders. “We put a lot of work in just to get to this point and to have that satisfaction of getting a playoff win, it just kind of validates everything we’ve been doing.

“The last couple of years have been tough. Any time you lose to end the season, it’s never a good feeling and to get over that hump and prove that we’re capable of winning in the playoffs was a big step for us. But now it’s time to move on to Calgary and try to find a way to win again.”

The next stop for the Bombers is Calgary to take on the Stampeders in the West final Sunday at McMahon Stadium, with the winner moving on to Edmonton to compete in the 106th Grey Cup at Commonwealth Stadium on Nov. 25.

The Bombers were able to beat the Roughriders by playing mostly mistake-free football — they didn’t record one giveaway on offence and executed well on defence — and establishing a sound ground game. Running back Andrew Harris rushed for 153 yards on 19 carries, while backup quarterback Chris Streveler pounded out 41 yards on seven runs. In total, Winnipeg racked up 201 of its 358 offensive yards on the ground.

“It was loud there, it was rowdy. I was so proud of our guys on offence. We talked about it all week and we worked on it all week with the silent count and working with the crowd noise,” Dressler said. “We didn’t have any procedures, no offsides, no time-count violations, no offensive penalties, no pre-snap penalties offensively. That was huge for us, that we didn’t make any of those mistakes that would put us in a hole.”

The Bombers won’t likely encounter as hostile a crowd in Calgary, though the Stampeders do bring their share of challenges. They finished with the league’s best record (13-5), and have a much better offence than the Riders, led by quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, the West nominee for most outstanding player.

There’s an argument to be made that riding the high of an emotional playoff victory should help Winnipeg and its confidence level.

But as big as the win over Saskatchewan was, Dressler noted Winnipeg has felt an intense pressure to win for much of the past month, ever since the Bombers were forced to rally from a four-game losing streak that had them slated last in the CFL’s West Division 12 games — or two-thirds — into the season.

“I don’t think it hurts your team to get that first-round bye. Obviously, that means you did a lot of good things throughout the entire regular season. For us, it almost feels like we’ve been in playoff mode for a little over a month now,” Dressler said. “If you look back at the way the end of the season played out and everything, had we stumbled at any point in the last four or five games, we would have been in trouble and not even had this opportunity. It’s been fun being in that grind for awhile now and we’re happy that we found a way to win and get another opportunity in front of us.”

The Bombers tied the Stampeders in the season series, with each team winning a game apiece. Winnipeg edged Calgary in the most recent game — a 29-21 home victory on Oct. 26 — to clinch a playoff berth. They’ll now have the chance to punch their ticket to the Grey Cup with a win Sunday.

“We know we got a lot of work to do to get to that point,” Dressler said. “We’re going to focus on Calgary and hopefully the guys bring that same passion and will last week into this week.”

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Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said on his Monday radio show on CJOB that he expects middle linebacker Adam Bighill to be ready go against the Stampeders. Bighill was injured late in Sunday’s game and didn’t play the final three minutes against the Roughriders…

Bombers linebacker Jovan Santos-Knox, who missed last week’s game due to an undisclosed injury, isn’t expected to practise today but hasn’t been ruled out for Sunday…

Stampeders receiver DaVaris Daniels has been cleared to play after recovering from a broken collar bone. In 12 games, Daniels had 50 receptions for 747 yards and seven touchdowns.

jeff.hamilton@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @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.