O’Shea expects team to rise to no-contact challenge

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ONE of several new CFL rules this season is about passing, outlawing contact by either receiver or defender beyond five yards from the line of scrimmage.

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea indicated Wednesday the team’s coaching staff has paid plenty of attention to this new directive.

“We go through this in the off-season and we meet with the officials and Barron (Miles, defensive backs coach) gets his clips together and they go back and forth with information-sharing,” O’Shea said. “(Miles) pinpoints it to what is allowed and what isn’t and he figures out how to coach it technique-wise, which he’s doing, and then he’s on them on the field. You don’t hear him yelling. He just pulls guys aside and gives them a quick little reminder of what they’re doing. And in film, corrects them all. I think we’ve been pretty good.”

CFL officials were at Winnipeg’s camp on Tuesday to explain the new rules.

“Is it a challenge?” O’Shea said. “Yeah, but it’s a challenge for every team in the league, so I don’t see us having any more of a challenge than anybody else. In fact, I expect us to be better because we have a guy like Barron Miles, and Richie Hall and Greg Knox. Those guys were all CFL DBs and are coaching that.”

— Campbell