Bombers 411 – Winnipeg vs. Hamilton

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/08/2015 (4015 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg QB Drew Willy comes into Sunday’s game against the Hamilton Tiger-Cats off a career-best rushing performance July 30 in a 23-13 win over the B.C. Lions at Investors Group Field.

All of which made for an obvious question Friday as the Bombers held their final full practice in advance of playing the Ticats in Hamilton: given how effective he was running the ball against B.C., are we now going to see more of Willy tucking the ball under his arm and taking off?

It sounds like if it’s up to Willy, we will. “We’ll have to see exactly how coach is seeing the game. But I think it will definitely help us if I’m able to get a couple of first downs with my legs.

“I like being productive — anything I can do to be successful. I think I can throw it pretty darn well. But if I can get my legs involved as well, it probably makes me a more dangerous player for sure.”

Bombers head coach Mike O’Shea was asked Friday if he thinks opposing defences will now key more on Willy’s running game after he showed with a 72-yard rushing performance against B.C. he can hurt opponents with his feet.

“I don’t know that they’re going to plan to have a person spy him or anything like that like they might have done with Damon Allen,” said O’Shea.

“But you certainly have to understand now that he’s willing to do that.”

SIGNIFICANT BLIP

Bombers receiver Darvin Adams perhaps benefitted earlier this season by flying under the radar of opposing defences that were more focussed on stopping Clarence Denmark and Nick Moore.

But Adams isn’t flying under the radar anymore after leading Winnipeg in receiving two out of the last three games, including a monster 127-yard, one-TD performance last week against B.C..

So, does all the new attention Adams is sure to get from opposing secondaries going to make it tougher for him to get open and generate the big yards after the catch that have quickly become his trademark?

“Whether he’s flying under the radar or not,” O’Shea said, “he’s a very competitive player and I think guys like him rise up to occasions like these… I don’t think he’s worried about being under the radar or now being noticed more. And I don’t think I am either.”

O’Shea is right — Adams isn’t worried. “I’m going to just keep doing what I’ve been doing,” Adams said Friday. “They get paid and so do I. I’m not too worried about what their defence is going to do.”

ON THE JOB TRAINING

Carlton Littlejohn better be a quick learner, because he’s going to be playing this Sunday after less than a week in the CFL.

Littlejohn — a 6-1, 220-pound linebacker out of NDSU who the Bombers signed to their practice roster Wednesday — is going to see action on special teams in Hamilton after Graig Newman came up with an undisclosed injury this week.

“Welcome to the CFL,” laughed O’Shea. “It happens that way sometimes… We’ll see what he can do right away, how he reacts under fire.”

QUOTABLE

“After the game, when we win, we’re not going to be thinking about, ‘Oh, we’re the first team that beat them.’ We’re going to be thinking about that we won the game. So I’m not worried about it.”

— Bombers SB Clarence Denmark isn’t exactly intimidated by the Ticats’ 7-0 record at Tim Hortons Field.

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Plus 8 — Winnipeg’s turnover ratio in their three victories this season

Minus 5 — Winnipeg’s turnover ratio in their three losses this season

6-23 — Clarence Denmark’s catches and yards total in his last two games combined

59.9 — Hamilton’s second-down conversion percentage this season, the highest such number in the CFL

— Paul Wiecek / Jeff Hamilton

Jeff Hamilton
Multimedia producer

Jeff Hamilton joined the Free Press newsroom in 2015, reporting on the sports and investigative beats until he left the Free Press in July 2026.

Every piece of reporting Jeff produced was reviewed by an editing team before it was 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.