Blue expect no favours from Stamps

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This article was published 31/10/2017 (2933 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As the Winnipeg Blue Bombers head into Friday’s important regular-season finale, cornerback Chris Randle isn’t expecting any favours from the first-place Calgary Stampeders.

“I don’t think they’re going to rest anyone, to be honest,” said Randle. “I mean, they wanna win. I don’t think anyone wants to lose at home. And they defend their home, they’ve been doing it for years. They take pride in winning those games and I expect them to come fully ready.”

The Stamps, like the Bombers, have lost two consecutive games, but have nothing to gain with top spot in the West Division already secured.

Winnipeg needs a win in Calgary or a loss by the Edmonton Eskimos against the Saskatchewan Roughriders to sew up host duties for a Nov. 12 West Division semifinal.

Randle admits it’s incumbent on the defence to step up after being torched for a total of 831 passing yards and a combined 1,115 yards by opposing offences in their previous two games.

“I can’t tell you the sense of urgency there is for us to win this game,” Randle said. “We’ve been wanting to win these last few games, it just hasn’t worked our way, so it’s coming down to the last one. This is playoff football. We’ve gotta right this ship.”

NEW-LOOK DRESSLER: slotback Weston Dressler, having shaved off the lumberjack beard he had been sporting since mid-February, was not immediately recognizable Tuesday afternoon.

Practice also had a different look, but the 10-year CFL vet said working with backup quarterbacks Dominique Davis and Dan LeFevour, one of whom will be the starter Friday, did not change his approach.

“It doesn’t change how you prepare for a game a whole lot as a player,” Dressler said. “You’ve gotta know what your responsibility is each play, what your role is. If you don’t know that, it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is because you’re not going to be successful if you don’t have your stuff down first.”

But overcoming the absence of No. 1 man Matt Nichols will take some work.

“That feel, that receiver-quarterback connection, that comes with reps,” Dressler said. “It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s not just, ‘Hey, on this play I’ll be right here for you.’”

Should Davis and LeFevour have received more playing time to prepare for situations such as this?

“If we could of had some more blowout victories during the season, maybe,” Dressler said. “That would’ve been nice, but there wasn’t a whole lotta situations where those guys would be in the game.”

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FORGOTTEN MAN? Veteran receiver Clarence Denmark has been the fourth most productive receiver in the Winnipeg offence, being targeted 84 times while catching 57 passes for 600 yards. That has him on pace for the lowest yardage total of his seven-year career.

Denmark didn’t catch a pass during Week 19’s loss to the B.C. Lions, but he remains tied with Darvin Adams for the team lead in receiving touchdowns with seven.

“Never man,” said Denmark, when asked if he was worried about his declining workload. “It’s all about winning games. It’s all about knowing your role and playing it. One week you may not get a ball and the next week you may get 10 balls.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @sawa14