Teammate agrees Bomber QB a star of the week

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This article was published 30/06/2015 (3755 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In Clarence Denmark’s mind, there’s no doubt at all Winnipeg Blue Bombers quarterback Drew Willy was one of the best CFL players in the season’s first weekend.

Willy, who threw for 325 yards and three touchdowns by completing 22 of 25 attempts was named the league’s third star of the week.

Announced earlier today, Toronto quarterback Trevor Harris and Calgary receiver Jeff Fuller were named the top two stars.

“Confidence is through the roof,” Denmark said today about Willy. “When Drew plays like that, I don’t think anybody can beat us. When he has a game like that, he makes it easy on everyone.”

Denmark was the recipient of five Willy passes for 94 yards last Saturday in Winnipeg’s 30-26 victory.

And he may have been fellow receiver Nick Moore’s biggest fan after Moore caught six balls, also for 94 yards, giving the Bombers a pretty dangerous duo downfield.

“You get excited,” the normally un-exciteable Denmark said. “You see Nick make a play and I get pumped up for him. It makes it a little easier on me when he’s making plays. I love to see that.”

Denmark said today that he’s loving the way the Bombers are so focused early in the season.

“It’s all about focus,” he said. “It’s all about what we do. If we play our game, it’s going to be hard to beat us.

“I think it’s coming from everybody, players and coaches. You take responsibility for your job and do your job and if everybody does their job, we win.”

Denmark said the team’s confidence is high because it feels — at least to those who were around last season — that so much progress has been made, even this early in the CFL year.

On the offensive side, that is a deeper offence, he said.

“We’ve got a whole lot more (plays) in,” he said. “The coaches are demanding more from us and we’re responding well. It’s pretty much easy at this point. We had a hard camp and they put the plays in and we went out and executed them in camp and then Game 1 came, and we went and did the same thing. So it’s looking good.”

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Today at Bombers practice, defensive tackle Zach Anderson was given the day off and receiver Rory Kohlert continued to be a spectator.

Anderson will be fine for Thursday’s game, coach Mike O’Shea said after practice.

“He’ll be good,” O’Shea said. “Zach’s a guy you just have to manage throughout the season.”

Kohlert, who dressed but did not see any action last Saturday in Regina, could see rookie Addison Richards take his spot on the game roster this week. The Bombers also have receiver Kris Bastien to play in that spot if needed.

On defence, all systems look to be a go for Maurice Leggett to come off the one-game injured list and make his first start of the season, though O’Shea said no final decision will be made until Wednesday.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca