Coach says Marve is the man at QB

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This article was published 24/08/2015 (4057 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Robert Marve emerged from the Winnipeg Blue Bombers’ bye week with his status as starting pivot intact.

Head coach Mike O’Shea said the team will look to Marve for the foreseeable future, following a blustery Sunday morning practice just down the road from Investors Group Field, but cautioned competition in practices will be considered.

“I think he’s got a lot of potential and a lot of room to grow,” O’Shea said. “He fits the bill as a CFL quarterback. It’s just a matter of getting experience, getting under fire and making those quick decisions under duress.

“We’ve always talked about competition, because I think competition is important. Putting together a roster that gives you your best chance to win on any given week, that roster should be flexible. Yeah, right now we are committing to Robert and giving him the ball and letting him run with it.”

Players and coaches used their bye week largely to get away for a few days, review film and get over a heartbreaking loss to the Toronto Argonauts.

Marve, who spoke with reporters before O’Shea and wasn’t sure if he was starting, stayed in Winnipeg and worked with receiver Rory Kohlert while looking at the finer points of his game and finding ways to tinker and improve ahead of his second start.

‘More film’

“More film, just kind of learning my lessons from the game and going over them,” Marve said. “(I) got on the field a couple times, got throwing a couple times… it was a good bye week.”

Marve said he learned lot from his first game, noticing the quicker 20-second clock and the physical condition he needs to be in.

“I thought I played OK,” Marve said. “There were times I thought I made some big plays and some times where I thought I played like a rookie. It was kind of in between. It was nice to get out there and I’m excited about the upcoming week.”

Marve wasn’t the only player to put in work during the bye, but some did so in the comfort of their homes.

Bryant Turner and Patrick Neufeld returned to their respective abodes to be with family, but stayed on top of things by reviewing film while refocusing and recharging the batteries.

“It’s good to take a break from football, be home and get your mind right and your body right, relax and come back fresh,” Neufeld said. “You don’t want to go into a bye week off a loss, you want to feel good going into it. But we came in and made our corrections.

“As a D-line, we went back and watched all of our film — the good, the bad and the ugly,” Turner added. “It’s time you can focus on other stuff to work on, sit back and watch games and see other teams make mistakes and learn form their mistakes, so that’s the good part about it.”

O’Shea said the non-mandatory review of film is what he expects of his squad.

‘I think he’s got a lot of potential and a lot of room to grow’

— Bombers coach Mike O’Shea on Robert Marve

“The type of guys we had would be doing the things they need to be doing on the bye week,” O’Shea said. “By the looks of it today, they all kept in some semblance of shape, they didn’t show up right off the couch, these guys have been running around.

“I’ve seen it before. I’ve been a part of other teams where you could tell a whole handful of guys did nothing. That’s not the case with this group. They want it badly, and they put in the effort every single day. The week off wasn’t going to stop them from doing what they needed to do to come back ready to work, which is a good sign.”

O’Shea spent a couple of days away before returning to the office to get prepared for the second half of the season.

“I think it came at a perfect time,” O’Shea said of the bye week. “Coming off a loss, for sure, you’d like to fix that right off the bat, but you understand the players need a break and some time away to take a deep breath, see their families, recharge and refocus.”

A special teams specialist, O’Shea said his team has to key in on a few areas in that department after giving up a couple of returns for touchdowns and a blocked punt in recent weeks.

“Protection, understanding of our coverage, more urgency,” O’Shea said after the Bombers spent a good chunk of practice working on some of the basics of special teams Sunday.

“On a day like this, when you have an extra day, it goes back to checklisting what’s been slipping lately. Today we went back to some drills from training camp, some concepts from training camp.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca

Scott Billeck
Reporter

Scott Billeck is a general assignment reporter for the Free Press. A Creative Communications graduate from Red River College, Scott has more than a decade’s worth of experience covering hockey, football and global pandemics. He joined the Free Press in 2024.  Read more about Scott.

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