Flanders field time goes up with addition of receiving duties

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This article was published 27/09/2017 (2912 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Timothy Flanders was normally used to complement featured tailback Andrew Harris since joining the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in 2016.

That has changed in recent weeks as the club’s offensive co-ordinator, Paul LaPolice, has looked for ways to get the talented 25-year-old on the field. That meant some receiving duties for Flanders as well as some work at tailback. This development fits in nicely with Flanders’ off-season plan to make himself indispensible.

“I told myself that I wanted to learn another position, just in case, so I can get on the field more and I can really help out this offence,” said Flanders after practice Wednesday afternoon. “Another thing is it was a trust thing. I gained the trust of LaPo for me to go out and play the position. Now, we just making everything happen.”

Last week, the proof was on the field. During a 29-9 win over the visiting Ottawa Redblacks, Flanders was an integral part of the attack, carrying the ball seven times for 55 yards and added 28 receiving yards on five catches.

“It’s a different playing running back and then going out to a receiver position,” said Flanders. “At the same time, it’s stuff we’ve been doing… It helps us out, especially when we’re dealing with injuries and we can open things up with everyone else on the field.”

UP NEXT: Winnipeg, sitting second in the West Division at 9-3, heads to Edmonton for Saturday’s crucial matchup with huge playoff implications. The third-place Eskimos are 7-5 but losers of five straight games and coming off a bye week.

A win would give the Blue Bombers the tiebreaker based on the season series and push them closer to clinching second place and a home playoff date.

“It’s kinda a two-game swing when you play these types of games, so we know how important it is for them, we know how important it is for us,” said quarterback Matt Nichols. “You go in fully anticipating a tough game.”

LORDS OF DISCIPLINE: The Blue Bombers are currently the CFL’s least-penalized club, getting flagged an average of 6.2 times per game. They are particularly good with league-low totals of offside/procedure (14), objectional conduct (two) and defensive pass interference (five) penalties.

“Taking less penalties isn’t going to guarantee you wins but it was something I thought over the course of my time here was we did take too many penalties,” said head coach Mike O’Shea. “It’s one of another of things you talk about as a staff and a team and you work towards being better at.”

LINEUP CHANGES: With an upper-body injury expected to keep slotback Weston Dressler sidelined for at least two weeks, don’t be surprised to see second-year CFLer Ryan Lankford fill his role.

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“We’ve seen Ryan work extremely hard from training camp on,” said O’Shea. “One of his major attributes is his speed, but yeah, in terms of the roster, we won’t have that determination until the end of Day 3 (of practice).”

Veteran linebacker Ian Wild, meanwhile, should return to practice next week after an extended stay on the six-game injured list with an upper-body injury. Wild had five tackles in two games this season but conditioning is unlikely to delay his eventual return to game action.

“I don’t think Ian Wild has ever been out of shape,” said O’Shea. “He was born in shape.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14