Willy ready to absorb more punishment in Calgary

Even though game is meaningless

By: Paul Wiecek Posted: 1:00 AM CDT Monday, Oct. 27, 2014

IT is the stuff of nightmares.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 27/10/2014 (4054 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

IT is the stuff of nightmares.

Your football team has just been eliminated from playoff contention but you’re forced to play one more meaningless regular-season game in a stadium where your franchise hasn’t won since 2002, against the best team in the league.

Snakes? Spiders? Chainsaws? Whatever your nightmare of choice is it pales in comparison to the potential bloodbath the Winnipeg Blue Bombers (6-11) are facing Saturday at McMahon Stadium against the Calgary Stampeders (14-2) in what will be Winnipeg’s final game of 2014.

Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS files
Bombers QB Drew Willy can look forward to more sacks in Cowtown. — Jeff McIntosh / THE CANADIAN PRESS files Bombers QB Drew Willy can look forward to more sacks in Cowtown.

It would be hard to blame a guy like Bombers starting quarterback Drew Willy, in other words, if he elected to take next week off instead of facing yet another savage beating in a season in which the Bombers have already given up more sacks — 70 — than any other Bombers team in history.

But while nobody would blame him, Willy insisted Saturday night — moments after his team was eliminated from the playoffs with a 28-23 loss to the B.C. Lions at Investors Group Field — the only place he wants to be next Saturday is under centre at McMahon.

“I think you know what I’m going to say to that,” Willy said when asked if it might be wise for the Bombers to keep their valuable starting QB safe on the shelf next week. “You’ve been around long enough to know I’m going to play through anything for those guys in the locker-room, for my coaches, for the people in this organization.

“I’m never going to give up. I’m going to do everything I can… We’re going to go out to Calgary and it’s a great opportunity for us to get better as a team and an organization and come out with a win and get momentum.”

While it’s hard to see what “momentum” could come from a meaningless win in the final game of the year, a rare victory in Calgary would at least allow the Bombers to avoid the humiliation of finishing the 2014 season on a nine-game losing streak.

If there’s any good news, it’s that next weekend’s game also means nothing to the Stampeders, who clinched first place in the West Division with a win earlier this month over the Bombers at Investors Group Field.

Of course, last Friday’s Stampeders game at home against the Saskatchewan Roughriders was also meaningless to Calgary — and it still didn’t stop them from breaking the Riders’ hearts by scoring 25 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to stage a come-from-behind victory and improve to 7-1 at home.

‘I’m never going to give up — I’m going to do everything I can’

Bombers defensive tackle Bryant Turner was asked what his team has left to play for in Calgary.

“Pride,” he said. “This is our job and what we put on the film is our resumé.

“So it’s not like we can go out there and just drop an egg. We’ve got to go out there and play for who we are, the men we are, the franchise we play for. So there’s plenty to play for.”

paul.wiecek@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @PaulWiecek