Time for the backup to step up: O’Shea

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This article was published 13/08/2015 (3951 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MIKE O’Shea isn’t going to ask anything of Robert Marve he wouldn’t of Drew Willy or Brian Brohm.

Move the chains, put the ball in the end zone and at the end of the night if the scoreboard reads right, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have evened their record at 4-4.

“Quarterbacks are in charge of winning. It starts with winning,” said the Bombers head coach Wednesday after confirming Marve will make his first pro start Friday against the Toronto Argonauts. “Get that win, get those two points, and then we’ll assess how it looks after.”

Marve began the season as the Bombers’ third-string QB, but gets a real opportunity to establish himself now with Willy out for six to eight weeks with a knee injury and with the decision to have him jump over Brohm into the starter’s role.

“It’s going to look different. Absolutely,” said O’Shea of a Marve-run offence. “They have different skill sets. Robert’s going to run the offence how he’s going to run it, and there is going to be an element of creativity there, and it’s not going to look exactly the same. But I’m sure he’s going to run it well, and I’m sure it’s going to have Robert Marve’s stamp on it.

“He’s been working hard since he’s been with us down in Florida a year and a half ago. It’s his time. We need to see what we have in Robert, too. He needs to get out there and play, and get live reps and show us what he’s got.”

Marve does give the Bomber attack a different dimension with his escapability. The knock on him previously was he wasn’t being patient enough with his reads and was pulling down the ball too soon. But O’Shea & Co. don’t want to force him to become a Willy clone, either.

“I don’t believe you want to bridle a guy with his athleticism, either,” O’Shea said.

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“I don’t think we call it that, when a guy makes plays with his feet. He’s not ad-libbing. He’s reading what the defence gives him, understanding what he can take and taking it.

“Earlier on, last year and the beginning of this year, you would’ve liked him to go through a longer portion of progression. I believe he’s there, so let’s get him out on the field and get him against an opponent and see what he can do.”

O’Shea said there are no plans to have both QBs get time against the Argos. He was quick to defend the work of Brohm, who has been unimpressive in mop-up duty this season.

“We’ve put him in tough situations,” said O’Shea. “Besides the Calgary game last year (when he started), he’s always come off the bench and not had a full week of prep. He’s been put in some tough situations. The last few times he’s been (put in), it’s when Drew’s been hurt and he’s behind the sticks. Brian and I talked about it. It’s just this week we’re going with Robert. That doesn’t mean that Brian’s not going to get a chance to play again, and it certainly doesn’t mean that I don’t trust Brian. They have different skill sets, and this week we wanted to utilize Robert’s.”

ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @WFPEdTait