No more Dressler rehearsal

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This article was published 05/07/2016 (3361 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Drew Willy knows what he gets in receiver Weston Dressler.

Asked after Monday’s practice what he thinks Dressler brings to the Winnipeg Blue Bombers offence, the quarterback was sure in his assessment. In it, a checklist of positives ranged from Dressler’s leadership and experience from playing eight seasons — all with the Saskatchewan Roughriders — in the Canadian Football League, to his ability to free himself from defenders and penchant for the big play.

In the seven seasons in which Dressler has played at least 14 games, he’s recorded no fewer than 941 receiving yards, eclipsing the 1,000-yard mark five times. In 2012, he caught 94 passes for a career-high 1,206 yards and led the CFL in touchdowns with 14, another personal best.

What Willy is less sure about, is whether Dressler — and all that he brings to the field — will be enough to fix the ailing problems on an offence that has sputtered in back-to-back weeks.

“It’s hard to tell, because I really haven’t played with him yet,” said Willy. “(It’s) hard to tell what kind of impact he’ll make. I know he’s a great player, obviously, from his past and he’s been great for the time we’ve had him in training camp.”

Willy and the rest of the Bombers will get a better answer to that question later this week, as head coach Mike O’Shea confirmed Monday Dressler will play Thursday in the team’s Week 3 matchup against the Tiger-Cats in Hamilton. Monday marked the first full practice Dressler had taken part in since suffering a head injury eight plays into the Bombers’ Week 1 loss to Montreal at IGF.

Dressler, who signed as a free agent with the Blue and Gold in the off-season, had three catches in that game, the last ending in a helmet-to-helmet collision with Alouettes corner Ethan Davis. Dressler opted to fight for more yards instead of going out of bounds in what turned out to be a 10-yard gain on first-and-25.

“Some people will say ‘get out of bounds’ in that situation,” said Dressler, who also missed the Bombers’ two pre-season games with a lower-body injury. “In my eyes, at that time, second-and-long is a bad situation for the team, so I thought if I can fight for a few more, get us into a manageable situation, we can convert the first down.”

It was a play that opened a new conversation around football and head injuries, and whether players should protect themselves by “playing smarter, rather than tougher” (http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/sports/knocking-heads-384633431.html). With the benefit of hindsight, Dressler, at 5-7, 167 pounds, agreed in that case he would have been better served stepping out of bounds. That said, he also doesn’t regret trying to push the ball upfield.

“I understand where they’re coming from, definitely,” said Dressler. “This is my ninth year in the league, I’ve played a lot of games. I’ve missed a few here and there, but I feel I’ve always been a smart player.”

Dressler added: “Sometimes you’ve got to take calculated risks. That’s football — you can’t play scared of getting hit, you can’t play scared at all.”

The Bombers will welcome his help on an offence that has struggled through the first two weeks. The team is 0-2 — Edmonton and Saskatchewan are both 0-1, having already faced a bye week — and most of the blame has landed on the offence.

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Willy has put up respectable numbers through two games, but most of that has come in the fourth quarters with the games already out of reach. Against Montreal, the offence put up just 77 yards of offence by halftime before adding more than 300 yards in the second half. It was much the same in last week’s loss to Calgary, where the Bombers, down 36-7 heading into the final quarter, put up 257 yards and two touchdowns in an effort that was once again too little, too late.

“You expect more, you expect to win,” said O’Shea. “You go out every game and you expect to win. You don’t expect to lose.”

O’Shea doesn’t expect Dressler to be a quick fix to the offence, nor does he believe his absence to be an excuse for why the unit has played so poorly. But that doesn’t mean his return doesn’t bring hope. O’Shea called Dressler “a hell of a player” and for the Bombers, a spark — any spark — at this point is certainly welcomed. Not only by O’Shea, but by the rest of the offence, too.

“The more weapons, the better,” said running back Andrew Harris. “Weston is one of those guys that’s a game-changer.”

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.