Streveler adds legs to budding legacy

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This article was published 19/09/2019 (2213 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Chris Streveler has started just seven games as a professional football player, all in the Canadian Football League and all as a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Though it’s not a lot of experience, it’s rare to reach such a milestone before the age of 25, particularly in the modern CFL.

His greatest game, statistically, came in Week 2 of last year, when Streveler threw for 265 yards and three touchdowns in a 56-10 road win over the Montreal Alouettes. He added 98 rushing yards on 10 carries, including a one-yard quarterback sneak to round out a four-touchdown affair.

It was the first time Streveler earned a victory in his pro career — a special moment for any quarterback. But don’t expect him to glean much from the experience when he returns to Molson Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a rematch with the Alouettes.

“No, I don’t look back on that at all. The thing that does help me from that game and any other games I’ve played is just the experience of getting reps,” Streveler said earlier this week. “Those reps in general help me, but it’s a completely different team that they have and completely different team that we have. It’s also a completely different year, so that doesn’t mean anything to me or anybody.”

In a lot of ways, Streveler is different, too. On that day against the Alouettes more than a year ago, he lacked confidence with the offensive playbook and wasn’t all that comfortable with the rules of the Canadian game. He completed 78 per cent of his passes, but that success was more indicative of playing against a dreadful defence than it was chemistry with his receivers.

Streveler still has work to do, including developing a more accurate arm to match his shifty feet. But where he is now with his game is a much better place than before. He has a better understanding of the league and what the Bombers are trying to achieve on offence. As for his stock, it continues to rise.

After his most recent game — a 35-10 win over the Saskatchewan Roughriders — Streveler was rewarded with the league’s first star of the week. He threw for two touchdowns on 186 yards passing and chipped in two more scores on the ground, finishing the night with 70 yards on 11 carries.

It’s earned him the respect of his teammates and coaches, all of whom were expecting Matt Nichols to be behind centre until a shoulder injury in mid-August put his season in serious doubt. With Nichols still needing weeks to recover — and perhaps even more — what could have been a nightmare situation has been tempered by the steady play of Streveler.

“It’s one of those things where it’s just getting more reps and being more comfortable in there and seeing more pictures and getting (in front of) more defences,” Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea said. “I don’t know that the game is fast — he’s fast. Everything he does is fast and powerful. It’s sometimes a matter of him slowing down, not the game around him slowing down.”

Just how many games Streveler will get to start before Nichols is back remains to be seen. The Bombers have a difficult schedule for the remainder of the season, including all six games against teams with winning records.

The hope is that stiff competition will bring out the best in not only Streveler, but the entire group.

“It has to be a good thing. That’s our schedule. We won’t look past Montreal, obviously. That team seems to be all in, playing well and getting good quarterback play and they seem to be tougher on defence and their tailback is really good. That’s a tough challenge for us,” O’Shea said.

“If you want me to look longer-term, everyone wants to be playing their best football at this point. We’ve got to play well from here on out.”

With Streveler, there is both promise and cause for concern. He might be the quarterback of the future, but does he have enough in the present to lead the Bombers to a Grey Cup title? It’s a question without an answer just yet, and something Streveler doesn’t think much about.

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Instead, his focus is on what will be a stiff test against an Alouettes defence that, although ranked in the bottom half of most statistical categories, has a penchant for creating turnovers and is considered among the most physical. For Streveler, it’s about getting through the next day, the next game. The rest will figure itself out.

“I talk about it all the time, where it’s a daily process of continuing to get better, sticking with your process and growing with your teammates. Part of that might be just getting more reps with them — they’re more comfortable with me and I’m more comfortable with them,” he said.

“Guys just working hard every day in practice, trusting their process and just taking advantage of whatever role they might be in that week. We’ve had a lot of guys step up and continue to contribute and it’s been fun to be able to grow with those guys.”

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.